Going Long and Hard.

[Steve Vai]

The Start.

Sean drove me and Rob out to Knik in the morning which was awesome. We got to bypass the insanity of trying to load ourselves and gear into the bus at the hotel for the shuttle. Knik is about 1.5 hours away from Anchorage. Stopped at a grocery store so Rob could get some more supplies and I bought lunch because I knew they were only serving Cheeseburgers at the start.

There was no snow in Knik at all. With the warm temps it was even wet and muddy. I brought doubles of all my clothing because I figured we'd be soaked straight through 10 miles in.

The lake was frozen with a melted top layer so it was deadly slippery. A lot of us contemplated walking across it just so we wouldn't wipe out 3 seconds into the race.

Kathi was counting down and someone randomly shot a gun and scared the hell out of us. We rode across the lake at 1mph so we wouldn't die.

That's Nina next to me also rocking the kermit look.

The first couple miles were just an icy death trail. The only thing I would've changed is to run a studded rear tire as well. I couldn't make any of the climbs in the ice. Turned to mud not far after that and reminded me of the D&L. Sloppy and soupy. Made sure to keep the race in view so I wouldn't get lost in the maze of roads and trails coming out of Knik. People take all kinds of routes out of town so I wanted to be sure I was on the fast one.

Was riding at Threshold for much of the first section, I was surprised to see just how fast the 350 mile guys were going, felt more like an XC race than the start of a multi-day wilderness race.

Went by a bunch of folks that I lost ground to in the ice once we hit the road to the powerlines. I just tucked into a TT position and opened it up. Caught a 350 miler from Denmark and we took turns pulling until we hit the snow on the powerlines. The trail split and we both went a different way. I was following a GPX track from Jay Cable so I figured mine was right and my new Denmark buddy was gone, wrong, he popped out on the trail just ahead of me and we were together once more.

 

[Mumonkan]

the petervarys are adorbz. also jays front bag is kinda nuts.

i love your "mmkay so this is happening i guess" face

You're messing with us. Right?

i wish.

but to be fair im on staten island, not either of the cool boroughs. the only reason i even consider it NYC is because everyones from brooklyn anyway

 

[huffster]

I like this "feeding it to us 1 spoonful at a time" routine. I'm riveted. Seriously, thanks for sharing!!

 

[rick81721]

Those pics are crazy - hard to believe it's Alaska in Feb. And what's the deal with the guy in red on the right in the 5th pic? Looks like he has an easy chair strapped to the front of his bike

 

[huffster]

He just ate some edibles

EDIT: My comment applies to the guy in the red in the 8th picture. The comment may make more sense now!

 

[Steve Vai]

Those pics are crazy - hard to believe it's Alaska in Feb. And what's the deal with the guy in red on the right in the 5th pic? Looks like he has an easy chair strapped to the front of his bike

That's a non-inflatible insulated sleeping pad. Most of the racers had those, his was just mounted out front more than everyone else's.

 

[Steve Vai]

 

[Mumonkan]

howd the one brake work out? use it even once?

 

[Steve Vai]

Powerlines - Swentna Station.

The powerlines were made up of super fast terrain switching from hard snow to ice. Myself and the Denmark guy swapped back and forth throughout this section taking turns pulling. Our pace was fast through here and we weren't too far off the lead group. At this point I was still hopeful to bridge across and get into that but hot damn are those folks fast!! With JayP and Jeff Oatley out front drilling it catching them really wasn't an option.

A third guy bridged up to us and our group got stronger. The darker section in the pic above was overflow. Some of them were frozen over and fast while others were soft and slushy. You just had to sort of brace for either. This whole area is a frozen swamp and impassable during the summer months.

After 30ish miles we picked up the actual trail and were in real snow. Trees all around, big mountains in the foreground, this is what racing in Alaska is about!! (Mt Susitna in the pic)

There were a bunch of river crossings heading up to Flathorn Lake. Some of the banks were sheer drops onto the ice and a climb out of the other side. One of them was a 2 story descent that was completely iced over. Only running a rear brake, I locked up the rear tire and slid down completely out of control and crashed at the bottom on the ice. Was carrying enough speed to slide across the ice to the opposite bank. Luckily it was more funny than fatal and I got right up and continued on but my 2 homies were gone.

Bunch of spectators rode out to Flathorn Lake to watch the race go by, Sean and Joe Stiller were out there taking pictures and videos. I was scared riding across the lake because of how big it was. We don't get enough cold for a lake of that size to freeze enough to ride on so it was foreign to me.

As far away as the treeline is in this pic is about the same as it was in front of me. Miles of lake with no point of reference on the other side to aim for. Luckily visibility was good enough to see my 2 homies on the horizon and I just aimed at them. I never caught them and was now on my own.

There's a bunch of swamps and overflow in the last section before making a right hand turn and heading North on the Susitna River. It rained on and off for a couple hours. It was around 40 degrees so the rain felt good. Outdoor Research shell FTW, no head gear at all.

The river is really wide and there are tracks from all kinds of snow machines and such. I kept dipping from side to side looking for a faster line but it seemed the same and I just settled into my groove and enjoyed the last of the daylight. This is where it hit me how friggin' awesome this was. While I was racing and not spending much time lollygagging, I wanted to take the experience in. All of the 21 minutes I spent off the bike during the race was in the first 53-miles.

It wasn't dark too long before I rolled into Yentna Station, checkpoint #1. 5 and change hours. I signed into the book, bought a soda, and chatted for a couple minutes with a few of the other racers. Before I got too comfortable, I hooked up my iPod and headed back out into the night.

 

[ChrisG]

This shit is amazing. For real.

 

[Steve Vai]

Yentna Station - Swentna Roadhouse - Winter Lake Lodge

From here on out I was in the dark, so no more pictures unfortunately.

I left Yentna just behind a group of three so I had some lights to follow. At this point I was warmed up and the legs were getting better and better, as the duration goes up, so does my pace. I didn't pass too many folks on the trail, it was all in the pits as they say.

The temps dropped down to 20 or so which was perfect, I just settled into a zone and kept the pace steady and hard. I knew this is where I would start to make up ground so I wanted to make the most of it, was in 5th or 6th coming out of Yentna.

I was going through a bottle every 3ish hours and was still good on food about 10 miles south of Swentna Roadhouse, that's when I made the call to not refuel there and make up time. Rolled right up to the steps, dropped my bike, walked in the door, signed the log and turned straight around. Back on the bike in a minute and rolling again. That move would put me in 4th and give me a little street cred for passing 10 or so 350 mile guys.

Next landmark would be Shell Lake Lodge. The trail heads West overland and into the foothills of the Alaska Range. It was snowing hard and tire tracks were disappearing. By sheer dumb luck I made the left at Shell Lake because I saw the Lodge out in the distance. I stopped to swap my bottles around and put on a cap, the snow was freezing my dome.

The next section was a long steep climb that I had to walk. There were fresh tracks in the snow so I knew someone was close by. I caught them resting at the top, it was a 130 miler, and we were about 30 miles from the finish. We mounted the bikes at the same time and I took off in front of him. When the trail got soft I put in huge efforts to get a gap bike length by bike length. I could see his light getting dimmer but I didn't want to look back to check the gap. Eventually it was dark behind me, he cracked, 20 miles to go.

I see a headlight in the distance and I dropped a gear to close the gap. It was several miles at a brutally hard pace to get within striking distance. They fall a few bike lengths in front of me. I stop to see if they're ok and see that it's Tracey. She's like "JIM!!!" I was like "Tracey!!!". We rode together for about a mile and she insists I push as hard as I can to the finish as I could still win, the group she was in isn't too far ahead. So I do. I go hard. REAL hard. Especially considering we're 12-hours in at this point.

I see another light. I'm gaining ground fast so I figure they've bonked. If I pass by fast enough they'll be discouraged and won't chase. I do, they don't. Unfortunately it was a 350-mile guy. The last 5ish miles are like riding a pump track. Big woop-dee-doos and berms through the woods. So much fun. Flat run across Finger Lake and up to Winter Lake Lodge for the finish as I was just getting going.

Roll into the lodge to find JayP and Charly Tri in there. Jeff was sleeping, I caught the front of the race. This is good news for next year as it gives me the confidence that I can ride at a respectable pace next year even as a slow starter. I also have a year to possibly work on warming up quicker if that's important.

3:25am finish.

I set-up my bivy to get some shut-eye, a bush plane wouldn't be around to take me home until after Lunch so might as well make myself at home.

Pic was taken once the sun came up.

We survived throughout the following day by eating rations left behind by racers that passed through. Charly dropped out due to a back issue so he was waiting for a plane as well. We had a blast ripping jokes and talking smack as tired racers came through.

And back to Anchorage we go. If you've not been in a super sketchy Alaska Bush plane, I highly suggest it. I was positive we were going to die no less than a dozen times. It was cool to see the landscape we missed while riding through the night, the Susitna runs right along the Denali Range and was gorgeous in daylight. I took many shitty pics but I will post some of Charly's instead.

 

[JoeLee]

So effin' awesome.

 

[Mumonkan]

kickin ass and takin names, good shit man. so excited to hear about the next big thing

what was the story with the petervarys? i heard jay grabbed someone elses shoes that were the wrong size but i didnt know tracey ate it. did they just want to finish together or did those issues have anything to do with it?

 

[huffster]

This is GREAT!!!

One of my favorite parts is:

Rolled right up to the steps, dropped my bike, walked in the door, signed the log and turned straight around. Back on the bike in a minute and rolling again. That move would put me in 4th and give me a little street cred for passing 10 or so 350 mile guys.

What a FVCKIN' rock-star move!!! LOVE IT! You were in the zone.

 

[Magic]

She's like "JIM!!!" I was like "Tracey!!!"

Good stuff Jim! I love when your write ups come in these excerpts, especially when you end with something epic and suspenseful. Thanks for sharing your adventure with us, and hope to see many more of these. Congrats again! That plane ride must have been awesome.

 

[pooriggy]

Nice job. Good to see you concur the elements in Alaska!

 

[Steve Vai]

kickin ass and takin names, good shit man. so excited to hear about the next big thing

what was the story with the petervarys? i heard jay grabbed someone elses shoes that were the wrong size but i didnt know tracey ate it. did they just want to finish together or did those issues have anything to do with it?

You had to take your shoes off to go in the Lodge so there was a pile of shoes. Everyone has 45nrth shoes so I can see how it could be pretty easy to grab a different pair. They all met back up down the trail and swapped back. Jay was having nutritional issues and stayed in Rohn long enough for Tracey to catch up. They rode together from there being Jay was no longer in the hunt.

 

[Mumonkan]

i figured 99% of people would have the same shoes there so i totally understood how that could happen

sucks he didnt put down a soulcrushing time but its cool they finished together. i love that they did TD on a tandem, theyre awesome

 

[Steve Vai]

Tim just put in a brutal effort to win Susitna a few weeks ago which shares some of the same area. Being a local definitely helped this year, the podium of the 350 was all locals.

 

[Steve Vai]

I had the day to myself on Tuesday so I went out and explored some of the local Anchorage trails. There's like a zillion miles of trails and bike paths just in the local area. I wanted to get to the mountain range in the background pictured below but it ended up being restricted land so I went west towards the end of town.

I feel like Alaskans have the opposite problem of us, I don't think anywhere is rideable in the summer months when the ground isn't frozen. So many of the trails cross large stretches of lake and swamp and just don't exist when it's warm. Also, you can't go anywhere without full studs, everywhere is ice, even the bike paths through town.