A bit of a warning – this post is on the long side..
As the sun set halfway between Ophir and the Carson Crossing Cabin, I — for the second time in the last couple of hours — heard voices.. I thought for sure I could hear people talking.
Me: “Kyle, can you hear some voices talking?”
Kyle: “Ah, no, I don’t hear any voices…”
This was followed by a pretty skeptical look from Kyle. Clearly my sanity was in question.
I stopped for a moment, and in a moment of silence, I discovered the voices were coming from my pocket. My audio book player was on.
“Ahh, I nevermind, I think I found them..”
Nome.. After my second bike ride to McGrath on the Iditarod Trail among some of the racers who continued on from Mcgrath, I started thinking about going all the way to Nome.
The Iditarod Trail Invitational is a race on foot, bike, or skis from Knik to Mcgrath in its shorter 300 mile version, or Nome, on the Iditarod Trail.
Initially the full race to Nome seemed so far out of reach — too far, too hard — but I figured it would be fun to try, and if I didn’t make, no big deal. I had thought Nancy wouldn’t be excited about me being away from the family for 20+ days, but after sounding her out I was surprised — and excited! — to get the OK from her. So, I started planning in earnest. Thinking about going to Nome was pretty scary, with so many unknowns: lots of new trail, new areas, wind, cold, the remoteness of the Ophir to Ruby section, working out the logistics for resupplying with food, etc. Lots of things outside my control, and so many things to worry about. The race to Mcgrath is pretty simple by comparison — you just need to pack up your bike, send out two drop bags, and you’re good to go.
As usual the race started in the early afternoon at Knik Lake. My brother John lives in Wasilla, which is a 20 minute drive from the race start, so he dropped me off at the start. The start was a bit of a madhouse, with lots of people. Eventually everyone lined up, and we were off. Knik Lake was snow-free, with a tiny bit of water on it, so the the first quarter mile was icy and slippery, but soon we were off onto the trail, which was a mix of slush, water, mud, and ice. After a few minutes I looked down and noticed my drivetrain was all muddy — just thing I wanted to see on the start of a 1000 mile ride. The next few hours sped by. I ended up mostly riding with a friend from Fairbanks, Morris, to Flathorn Lake, where he zoomed off, and it briefly rained on me.
The rain had me pretty worried. It was just a few hours into a several-week-long race, and I didn’t want to start things off by getting soaked. I briefly stopped to take my pogies off, but as I took them off the rain stopped, so I put them back on and kept riding. Otherwise, the ride to the first two checkpoints was uneventful, but very fast, as there was only a little snow on the river, and lots of bare ice. After a bite to eat at Skwentna, Morris, Bob O from Anchorage, and two folks from Minnesota, Frenchie (Alan), and Ken, headed on to Shell Lake lodge to get some sleep.
We arrived sometime after midnight, and I was surprised to see the lodge was still open — hurrah! We snagged one of their cabins, and after getting a shot of Jack Daniels from the bar, I hit the sack. The cabin was a bit hot, but that dried off my pogies and the rest of my gear. The ride from Shell to Finger was fairly fast, and after a stop at the Finger Lake checkpoint, Morris and I continued on to Puntilla. A few miles down the trail we were passed by some snowmachines, and the the riding got a bit slower, as they churned up the snow and it was slow to set up in the near-freezing temperatures.
Ken, Bob, and Frenchie quickly caught up, and I ended up riding with them to Puntilla, over Rainy Pass, and to Rohn. The ride (and walk) up to Rainy Pass was a bit slow, but nothing epic.
The Happy River was open were the trail crossed it before heading up into Rainy, so I got to use my Wiggies Waders for the first time in the ITI — hurrah!
I got to use them once more heading down the pass, then they stayed packed up for the rest of the race.
This was the first time I got to travel Rainy Pass in the daylight, and I enjoyed the views of Denzel Gorge.
Ken and Allen aka Frenchie
The trail after Rainy Pass was fantastic, and we zoomed down to Rohn, where Frenchie, Morris, and I continued on to Nikolai. The trail was in great shape, and the riding was very fast.
I had forgotten how many hills there are in the first 30ish miles outside of Rohn — lots and lots of little hills.
I was having a very hard time keeping up with my two riding partners, and eventually they zoomed off, and I caught up to them in Nikolai. Nikolai is always a great place — Nick, Olene and Stephanie are always welcoming and are wonderful folks. I really needed more sleep at this point, and since it was quiet there and I wasn’t that concerned about my time into Mcgrath, I crashed for 6 or so hours, while the the other guys took off after a few hours of sleep.
The ride to Mcgrath was uneventful and fun, with firm and fast trail conditions. I arrived in Mcgrath in late afternoon, and I was soon helping myself to the endless buffet of food and happiness that is Peter and Tracy’s house in McGrath. I was able to wash my clothing, get some sleep (almost 10 hours!), and load up my bike with stuff for the next section. I am afraid I sort of stumbled around like a mad person in a bit of a daze while I was in McGrath. Hopefully I didn’t offend anyone.
I had been dreading the ride to Mcgrath, worried I was going to end up in a pack of people, with crowded checkpoints and general hubbub and madness, but it was actually very fun and enjoyable. I could have gotten a bit more sleep, but it was fine. I really enjoyed traveling with Ken, Frenchie, Morris, and Bob on the way to Mcrath – thanks guys, it was great sharing the trail with you!
The next morning I headed out with Kyle Amstadter. I had never met Kyle before, but I had emailed back and forth a bit with him before the race. It was fantastic to meet him in person, and I was to ride rest of the way to Nome with him and Bill, who joined us later. Kyle and Bill are fantastic guys, and wonderful companions on the trail.
I was pretty excited about the next section of trail — it was going to be all new to me, and from my point of view, where the “real” adventure started. The ride to Ophir was mostly uneventful.
As I biked into Takotna, the first community we passed through after Mcgrath, I was greeted by a huge dog, who was tall enough to stick his nose into my pogies while standing on the ground. I was a bit startled, as it was a “big dog”, but I guess they were starting to smell a bit funky at this point, and he was very friendly.
After Takotna we made way to the next place on the map, Ophir, which is an old mining community. The trail between Takotna and Ophir seemed to be an old road, complete with well aged AKDOT road signs.
In the early afternoon we reached Opher, where Iditarod dog race folks who man the checkpoint were outside building some new outhouses. They waved us in, and gave us hot water and coffee, and we talked for a bit. It was an awesome unexpected bit of welcome, they were very nice, and I enjoyed talking to them and petting their cute dogs.
After leaving Ophir we were were joined by Bill F, who rode with us to Carlson Crossing cabin, where we spent the night.
Carlson Crossing cabin is a neat cabin, but while it had a fancy Honda generator and was wired for lights, it didn’t have a saw. Fortunately Bill found wood and after some use of a pulaski he found lying near the cabin, it was broken up, and he had the place warmed up in no time. Just before we hit the sack Bob arrived. In the morning Kyle, Bill and I all headed out together, with Bob staying for a bit more sleep. The trail was fast, but bumpy! It reminded me of the Fairbanks area, winding through swamps and black spruce forests.
Early in the day we found our last set of drop bags piled up on the side of the trail. A this point there was only one racer ahead of us, Phil, and we had been following his tracks since leaving McGrath. Phil had apparently biked right by the drop bags — apparently he was in a hurry! (Later I learned he had been ahead of the plane that dropped the bags off, and they were dropped off after he passed through. )
After a hot lunch and restocking bikes, we headed off, with plans to bivy near Poorman. Bill zoomed off ,planning on scouting a “good spot”, and Kyle and I eventually caught up with him after Poorman around midnight, and bivied outside along the trail, in a small stand of little spruce trees.
In the morning we rode on to Ruby. The last section into Ruby is on an old mining road, and was surprisingly hilly. I have flown over this area, and was expecting hills, but was pretty amazed by how many of them were were — lots and lots of little 500ft climbs and descents.
Eventually we arrived at Ruby, and we spent the night at the River Edge BB — fantastic folks! They had apparently just got back into town, and were a bit surprised to see us, but didn’t seem to mind too much.
In the morning, just before we departed, Bob showed up. He had apparently arrived in Ruby in the middle of the night, and after a quick spin through town and didn’t finding anyone awake, so he made a little fort of the straw bales at the Iditarod dog race checkpoint and bivied there, which sounded pretty awesome.
Next up, Part 2!
Tags: arduous, iditarod trail invitational, nome, snow biking
Great post and pics, Jay! I like how one of the tags for the post is “arduous,” but you make it sound like a fun tour!
Thanks. The arduous tag is a bit of a joke, as I was being accused of saying everything was “mellow”. It was a bit of a tour, not really a race. We slept a lot. I hope you are enjoying spring!