ITI 2025 Day 10: North Fork Innoko River Cabin (416.2) to So Close to Ruby (495.6)

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TL; DR: Magical trails, major motivation, moose making life ruff (on the bum)

Ryan’s ride (all times in AKST):

*Arrived @ N. Fork Cabin (416.2) at 3:32a, departed 2:50p

*Next stop is Ruby (495.6)...should be in tonight, 7 miles out!

What a difference a day makes!  Rest, fuel, and on a schedule that promotes firm trails (night time riding)...all for the win! Ryan spent a few hours at N. Fork Cabin nappin’ and snackin’.  He left in almost the cover of night, and given the borderline euphoric messages (“trail is magical tonight!), I think he was pleased with this strategic plan.  Today’s nemesis (oh yes, even on a good day these persist!) include: long slog climb out of Poorman/into Ruby (he says, “how quickly I forgot these climbs”) and post-holing moose (punching through the trail, which on bike apparently hurts the bum bum).  I think he’s looking forward to Ruby, but grateful for the day.  He done good today.

A note about drops: racers resupply using drop bags/boxes they send to either the race or to villages along the way.  The only stipulation is that any contents must be consumable (food & batteries mainly).  When the race re-routed, there was one race-supplied drop (originally Iditarod, now Cripple), but a trail to the normal drop wouldn’t be in, so racers were instructed with coordinates of where they could pick up their drops (4.5 miles on trail instead of 6ish that routed them around the trail).  No troubles had and Ryan’s in possession of his beloved stash.  More on rifling through the stashes in future posts!

What Say You Ryan?

Day 9: Audiobook or song you’ve enjoyed most on the trail?

1. Pucking Around (a surprise for sure, not so much an entertaining one)

2. “Big Bamboo” (there’s a time and place.  And this isn’t it.)

1. **“Tennessee Whiskey”  (it’s fun to serenade the trail when it gets good and fast)

2. Into the Wild (actually not a fan of Krakauer, certainly not of McCandless)

Day 10: Trail snack you get sick of first…

1. Reese's Pieces (the years and years of these…turns out there is a limit)

2. Jerky (you’d think with all the candy, it’d be welcomed…it’s just not.  Lots o’ chewing)

3. Dehydrated meals (too long to make, I’m all about instant gratification)

4. Salted Nut Rolls (have all the potential of a great fuel source, but fail bc frozen they are jawbreakers)

Comment with your guess and I’ll reveal the answer tomorrow!!