Follow @itialaska for general race updates, itidiaries.blogspot.com for Ryan updates.
TL; DR: Warm temps, gold miners, and the beginning of a long slog.
Ryan’s ride (all times in AKST):
*Left McGrath @ 9:08a and made it to Ophir (346) at 5:30p, didn’t stop.
*Bivvied (367.2) from 2:09a - 7:52a
*Arrived @ Carlson Crossing (374) at 10:15a, departed 12:30p
The “wild side” thus far looks like this: warm temps (about 42 degrees at the time of writing eek!), soft trails, 1in. of fresh snow, slow, slow, slow. Ryan messaged about 9p AKST that some gold miners snowmobiled through at just the perfect time (that never happens!), right as the temps were starting to drop. Temps dropping + snowmachine = firmer trails. Score! Ryan was in good spirits throughout the varied trail conditions (just don’t bring back the tussocks!)
He enjoyed a cup of coffee at Carlson Crossing cabin, messaged with some friends who made it to McGrath (yayayaya) and started to pedal the long slog to North Fork cabin (416). Pictures and communication will be sparse for a while, as this is the remotest part of the course.
What Say You Ryan?
Day 7: What is your least favorite thing to do when you get where you’re going for the night?
Make dinner (unless it’s pizza, it doesn't bring as much joy, but he can't deny his hunger)
Talk to other people (as long as it's on his own time, probably his favorite)
Calculate distances to next checkpoint and figure out how long to rest (he's a trail savant in this regard)
***Resort the bike (if you've seen our garage, I needn't say more)
Day 8: (Keeping in mind we weren’t expecting 42 degrees)....Which would you rather? And, I got his ranking, so you can put them in order if you’d like (1=most preferred, 4=least preferred)
Overflow (open freakin water)
Deep snow (physically exhausting, mentally frustrating….so slow)
White-out (mentally exhausting/tedious)
Bone cold (really freakin cold)
Comment with your guess and I’ll reveal the answer tomorrow!!
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