Iditasport 200 Race Report

Iditasport Original 200 Mile race. Photo take from Facebook

Iditasport 200 race report. Friends, tendinitis, and wolves!

Get some popcorn, this is a long post.

I've watched numerous friends over the past few years participate and compete in Ultra marathon races. Ever since I've started attempting longer distances I've always had trouble with both cramping in my legs and tendinitis in my knees on rides of 50miles or more. The Frosty Bottom 50mile, the Talkeetna Trio 60mile. Then came the Susitna 100mile race. I trained more for that but still experienced cramps and tendinitis around the same distance mile 40. Salt, ibuprofen and 5 miles of soft pedaling in first gear got me back on track and I finished very strong without pain for the remaining miles and a respectable time of 10hrs 40ish minutes. This, I thought, was as far as I needed to go. 100 miles is such a nice round number. 

Two years later I started thinking about how I recovered mid race to finish the Susitna strong. I thought, maybe I have it figured out and have learned enough to avoid knee pain on longer rides. So 

I decided to put it to the test this year and entered the Iditaport Original race to see what I could do. This years course ended up being roughly around 165 miles for the "original" There are also people riding to McGrath 300+ miles and even to Nome 1000 miles. I was very anxious the final few days before the race. (Just ask my wife!). It's hard for me to pack for these races, and I triple check everything I need to bring, or not bring. I get all worked up in the details, but the morning of the race I was ready and excited to start!

The race started 12pm Sunday Feb 19, 2018. It was a balmy 25-30f as we headed out of Eagle Quest lodge. The snow was soft, so I made sure to start out front and not have to start behind any runners that would chew up the soft snow and make it hard to ride on. Within the first mile or so several of us had jumped out ahead and we quickly stopped to make a tire pressure adjustment as the snow was getting tougher to track straight in and we were trenching too much. If in doubt, let it out! We continued on and I even led the race for the first 10 miles or so zig zagging trying to find solid snow to ride on and breaking trail. It started out at a pretty easy pace it seemed but then it became apparent to me that in this soft snow I was probably working too hard and getting too hot. I stopped to take my jacket off and Kevin passed by making it look effortless and he slowly drifted further away from then on. He's headed to McGrath and he's a much stronger rider than I so I didn't mind him pulling ahead. 

I got to the first check point called Scary Tree at mile 17. There are heated tents, water, and a place to rest if you needed but it was very early in the race and I just did a quick check in and continued onward. The trail continued to get soft and I kept Kevin and Luca, who had just passed me also heading for McGrath, in sight for a few more miles until finally they got out of sight around some 
of the winding river bends. Tim Kirk caught up to me and we stuck together and rode to the next check point Yentna Station mile 32. It's an interesting place to say the least but it was a very welcome stop. We had just ridden 32miles of what felt like sand and my knee was already starting to show signs of hurting. Josh who was doing the quick 100 kilometer race showed up right behind us. This was his turn around point. We all ate delicious hot grilled cheese sandwiches, soup and drank Coke. Josh headed out back to the start/finish and ended up winning his 100k race! Tim and I carried on. The next stop wasn't for another 30miles so we wanted to get moving. As it started getting dark out 
the temperature on the river cooled off to close to 0f and below in some places. This was a good thing as we were able to regulate our temps better. 

My knee however was getting worse. Every few miles I had to get off my bike and stretch, walk for a minute and then get back on. This is the only way I can continue without making it unbearable. So we carried on averaging maybe 6.5 mph or so until we got to Skwentna sometime around 11pm. 11ish hours in and we were at mile 62. We had just missed Kevin who had stayed for a break and then took off again. I ate the biggest bowl of Chili and the largest corn bread muffin I've ever seen and I wasn't even full. Then the tough decision came, so do we rest up more or continue? 

I was ready to rest a bit because I thought it would help my knee, Tim was in the 300+ mile division so he could have taken off but he decided to stay and rest as well. It's nicer to have someone to ride with between checkpoints at night so I was grateful that he wanted to stay awhile. We slept there few a couple hours, got up and headed out again sometime between 3 and 4am toward Shell Lake lodge. The cold temps at night firmed the trail up and we made good time. Tim was strong and charged forward. My knee didn't agree so he got ahead of me but I could see his tail light for a while. Tim rode up the Shell Hills, my knee couldn't take the torque so I wisely pushed my bike up on foot. It was a joyous ride down the back side being able to rest a couple miles without pedaling much! Tim got to Shell Lake mile 77 just ahead of me and we were welcomed with the nicest check point people ever. Sorry I don't remember their names. She gave us hot chicken noodle soup. It was a short rest and then we continued on as the sunrise began. Here was the turn around point for me where my course takes a different way back to Skwentna and Tim would carry on toward McGrath. We said our goodbyes, we really both enjoyed having company for the many miles so far so I was a little sad because I would be alone for the next 88miles of trail, but also happy that I was starting the return leg. I turned left and entered the leg of the race that was probably the least favorite for me. 

This section of trail start out beautiful, going through the trees and rolling hills and was pretty firm and fast for 7miles then it turned to punchy snow. There was not enough traffic and the sun was now up and softening things up. It was a balance act for the next 20miles on softer snow than we even had at the start. I let more air out of my tires. I balanced, fell, pushed my bike, rode my bike some and generally struggled. It was sunny and beautiful but I would have taken dark and cold over this as it was too soft of snow. I finally got back to Skwentna mile 104. It was mid day and there were more people who had just gotten there (about mile 62 for them). I ate the spaghetti and garlic bread this time and considered pressing on. Trail reports from the other racers who were still coming up the trail indicated the sun was making that section soft as well. This made the decision to sleep easier. I rented a room and slept for about 3 or 4 hours so that I could ride more during the cold night. I was able to check in with my wife and friends and enjoyed the encouraging messages using the wi-fi there. 

I geared up, re-organized my snacks in my bike bags and carried on. The trail firmed up really good over night. The same right knee was getting worse though and the left knee was starting to do the same. I was getting what I like to call "warning cramps" in my quads and my hamstrings so I took it easy. It was super dark and foggy out that night enough so that it was getting harder to navigate as 
the reflective markers were getting harder to see as I got closer to Yentna because the river bends back and forth a few times. A few times I had to pull my phone out to double check I was still on course. I really missed seeing Tim's tail light that night! 

I got to Yentna Station around after 11pm and luckily for me they were willing to cook a hot meal so I didn't have to eat the same old trail snacks. After awhile any variety feels better than m&m's or larabars or shotblocks. It was Hot grilled cheese and soup again for me and I decided to have a Corona. This magical Corona at mile 134 tasted like the best beer I had ever had. I decided to rest my knee up longer and planned to sleep from about 12:30am to 4am. I slept through my alarm but luckily someone knocked on my door at 4:19am and asked if I was getting up. I got dressed and headed out to get as many miles during the remaining cold hours as I could in case the temps would rise again. 

I got about 5miles away from Yentna and through sound of snow crunching under my tires I thought I heard a siren in the distance. I stopped to stretch my legs and knee and now that it was quiet, I could tell I was hearing a pack of wolves behind me. My first thought was, OK there is probably a cabin nearby with mushing dogs. So I continued on and further down the river I heard it again. It wasn't any louder, or any quieter. It was wolves. I decided I better pick up the pace so they don't think I'm "breaking down" or vulnerable. Both knees were protesting, my body wanted more rest breaks, my mind said NO, do not stop. I checked again for sound. Again the wolves, the same volume as before so I knew they were following/observing me. I'm assuming they were in the woods off the bank of the river but I never saw them. I could hear them for about 7miles. Previously I was taking short breaks every time my knee would hurt bad, the wolves were motivation to push through it as all I wanted to do was get to the next check point. I didn't hear the wolves the last couple miles coming up to Scary Tree check point. Mile 149 I checked in and sat inside the tent with the checkpoint workers and told them about my ride there. I never planned to stop there more than a minute but I decided to stay for awhile longer because going back out in the dark just didn't sound like fun with wolves out there somewhere. I'm not sure how long I stayed and chatted but it was daylight when I decided to leave and the comfort of being able to see made me comfortable again to ride. 17 miles left to the finish! 

After 150miles of not seeing any moose, I saw 7 moose out on the river for the next couple miles. I'm guessing the threat of wolves flushed them out into the open early that morning. 

I was enjoying the final leg of the race there's no pressure to rush when you are the only biker in the "200 mile" category. There were several on foot and one skier so there was never a chance of them catching me. Even so, the excitement of finishing had me pressing on motivated to finish out the ride.  
It was a beautiful morning ride, it was sunny, the temperature didn't get high enough to soften the snow much so I made good time. I got to the final hill that takes you off the river 3 miles from the finish. It's a steep push up but I didn't care, I even enjoyed pushing my bike at this point as it felt better on my knee than pedaling it. The rest of the way back I wondered, who is watching me? I know my maker is watching me, but I was wondering if any of my friends and family were watching the little dot on the tracking map. Did they know I was about to finish? I thought about all the times I had watched the little dots on my computer tracking racers during these races and how excited I'd get 
when I would see my friends' progress during the race and cheering them on from afar. I was the little dot this time! 

At just 2 miles or so away from the finish I stopped at an overlook and took a few pictures and yelled out in joy from the top of the Coral hills looking down over the river. Even though I wasn't even sure if my friends were watching my progress at that moment, I felt the love and support at that moment and it felt good! 

I got back on the bike and finished out my ride. At mile 165 I crossed the finish line after 46hours and 39min and was done riding! After a short rest the check point worker offered me a ride to where I parked my car. I said "great because I don't want to get on my bike". 

Will I do it again? Will I ever try for McGrath in the 300+ mile? I don't know. Right now, I would say not likely. Time will tell if I can figure out how to ride long distance without knee pain. I have no regrets for this race. I made good choices, selected good gear and put forth my best effort. I could have carried way less food, but then again it could have also snowed a foot or turned to slush for 165 miles so it never hurts to error on the side of over prepared.  

I'm looking forward to my knee pain to calm down and see how it feels to ride my bike without all the gear weighing it down! Thanks first of all to my wife, who took care of Addy while I was gone and has let me go on many adventures and training rides. Thank you to Tim for riding with me for the first half of my race, even when you could have gone a little faster, it made the ride better having you there pushing me and giving me company. You are a very strong rider and I'm cheering you on as you finish in McGrath soon! Thanks to Nick for loaning me the warmer version of pogies which were perfect to keep my hands comfortable the whole time! Thanks to all the friends that have given me tips and shared their experience with me over the years. Thanks to the Iditasport organizers and volunteers. They are the friendliest and most encouraging people out on the trail.

Andrew at the finish! Photo from Iditasport Facebook page.