You snow-cycling enthusiasts probably already know about this, but the Iditarod Trail Invitational starts this Sunday.
Billed as the world's longest human-powered race, the event starts in Anchorage and follows the famous Iditarod sled dog race course across a frozen landscape to either McGrath — 350 miles, or Nome — 1,110 miles.
Of the 46 entrants, 12 are going by bicycle to McGrath and 10 are riding their bikes to Nome. The rest are hiking or skiing.
Popular blog
As someone who got into bicycling because I liked getting outside and feeling the warm sun on my arms and legs, I cannot even fathom tackling something like this. But readers of Jill Homer's popular Up in Alaska blog know about the beauty, danger and exhilaration of such rides as she explains them.
Jill is one of the 12 snow cyclists who are riding to McGrath. She has been sharing her training experiences and preparations at her blog. On Wednesday, she wrote about how her snow bike has apparently been lost for the time-being by a shipping company — as if she doesn't already have enough to worry about.
There also have been frequent reports about Jill's efforts to prepare herself at NPR's BryantPark Project.
By the way, Rob Lucas at UltraRob's Adventures knows from his own experiences with RAAM that mounting an effort like this can be costly. He raised money for Jill at his website earlier this week. If you'd like to help her out, this post at Jill's website explains how.
Little support
Just for an idea of what these folks will be facing, here's an excerpt from the Iditarod invitational website about support, which is very little:
The only support provided to the racers is two snowmachines in front of the leaders as far as McGrath insuring a broken trail once and seven checkpoints where food and lodging are available. We supply three food drops along the route: Fingerlake ( mile 130) Rohn ( mile 210) and in Cripple/Iditarod for the Nome racers. Between checkpoints racers have each other. Racers continuing to Nome are completely on their own except for one food drop provided by the race between McGrath and Ruby. They use village stores or send packages to the village post offices to re-supply with food and fuel for their stoves. Schools are often the only place to spend the night inside a building along the route to Nome.
History
The Iditarod sled dog race got it start in 1973 to commemorate the delivery of medical supplies to Nome in 1925. The human-powered races began in the 1980s.
An early group of mountain bikers made the trip from Anchorage to Nome in 22 days in 1989; the record for the fastest time on that route is 15 days, 1 hour and 15 minutes. The record for fastest time to McGrath is 3 days and 8 hours. Here are some other amazing race records.
Bikers
Jill isn't the only bicyclist competing in the event who has a blog. Here's the list of bicyclists and links to the ones who write blogs or have websites:
Peter Basinger
Ted Cahalane
Pierre Oster
Louise Kobin
Bill Merchant
Kathi Herzinger-Merchant
Christian Cullinane
Dario Valsesia
Philip Hofstetter
Brij Potnis
Jeff Oatley
Tim Stern
Jay Petervary
Carl Hutchings
Aaron Benetti
Jill Homer
Antonio Frezza
Rocky Reifenstuhl
Rok Kovac
James Leavesley
Alessandro Da Lio
Adam Bartlett
Jacques Boutet
Dave Hart
Eric Warkentin
You can check the Iditarod Invitational website for updates during the race
Let's hope for safe weather for the racers, and that Jill's bicycle, Pugsley, makes it to Anchorage for the start of the race. (Update: Good News! Pugsley made it to Anchorage.)
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