I finished the 2017 Iditarod Trail Invitational, riding to Nome. I placed first, with one of the slower times in recent times. A bit bittersweet, as the one of the other Fairbanks locals, Kevin, had to scratch when he reached the coast after coming down with a GI bug, that later turned out to be giardia. Up to that point he was having a great race, and would have finished well ahead of me.
It was a completely different experience from last year – I really missed the steady presence of Kyle and the socialness of Bill. The section from Ophir to Ruby nearly broke me, with nights in the mid -30fs and day time highs in the single digits combined with not seeing another person for nearly 48 hours. I did however, see many dog teams, and got to experience the trail in a completely different way.
It was a huge learning experience for me, one that I am still processing.
I am mostly recovered now, nearly a week since I finished. I am finally not waking up 3am by dreams were I still haven’t arrived at Nome and need to get up and ride 🙂
I am going to put together full write up, but meanwhile Bikepacker has some of my photos and a bit of the story up at here.
I hope everyone is enjoying spring!
Tags: iditarod trail invitational, nome, stub