The Susitna 100 trip has been a rough one so far and I am not feeling up to a full report quite yet so here is the quick summary:
After a snowy and windy week in the Matanuska Valley, the race started in steady snow and wind and any section of trail not protected by trees was blown in and soft. I arrived at the Flat Horn Lake checkpoint with Chris E. at 1:20pm and left at 1:37pm to head north across Flat Horn Lake directly into the ground blizzard currently tearing up the trail. It took us well over an hour to go the next 2 miles and I simply could not stay warm. My base layers were soaked, my core got cold, and then my hands went totally numb. With two sets of chemical warmers in each pogie I finally got my hands back but there was no way I was going dry out.
The wind blowing across the Dismal Swamp was equally as bad as Flat Horn Lake and I decided to pull the plug on my race based on how cold I was and my estimation of how long it would take to get myself back to the start/finish line under my own power. Total time out was 11:45:00.
Even though I know I made the right decision under the circumstances, I am bummed. More later...
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2016 Race Schedule
- Mar 5 - Togwotee Winter Classic
- April 2 - Sage Brush Scramble Short Track XC (tentative)
- April 16 - 6 Hours in Frog Hollow
- May 14 - Coyote Classic XC (tentative)
- June 11 - Knobby 9 to 5
- July 16 - High Cascades 100
- Aug 6 - Pierre's Hole 100
- Sept 3 - Rebecca's Private Idaho 100-Mile (tentative)
- Sept 24 - JayP's Gravel Pursuit 120-Mile
- Dec 2016 - JayP's Fat Pursuit 60K
- Jan 2017 - JayP's Fat Pursuit 200K
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Ramblings on riding, training, endurance mountain bike racing and cyclocross racing with short digressions into fly fishing, skiing and life in Boise, Idaho.
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11 comments:
Hi Dave,
Sorry things didn't go as planned. It sounds like you put in a really good effort, and conditions couldn't have been much worse. An epic adventure at least, eh? I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay in Alaska.
Hey Dave
I think i can understand the disappointment you must feel from my own experiences of going to Alaska and coming away short changed.
Hopefully you can have some fun before you go back home.
Dave, Major bummer, but you made the best decision! Could the conditions have been any worse? It impressive just getting yourself to the starting line in those conditions.
Dave,
I know nothing I can really say will help that disappointed feeling but I still think you did a great job and were smart out there.
Dave,
You know by now the biggest challenge in these types of events is decision making. Hard tho it may be, it sounds like you did an awesome job with that.
12 hours of blizzard exposure? Just think how much simpler the KT will be this year...
Rest up and be good to yourself. Congrats on the huge effort and smart decisions.
That's a serious adventure into endurance. Rest up and congratulations for having the mojo to start and the smarts to survive.
Good job Dave, it's all been said!
Ed
yeah, same as what everyone else said... and i hope this leaves you more hungry to come back and tackle an alaska race next winter.
You definitely made the right decision to turn around Dave.
I'm glad to hear that you are still nice-n-fresh, maybe we can set a new date for a ride up on Togwotee.
all toes and fingers! Great sucess!
What marko said! :)
dave -- way to come back to us! (well, id anyway;-))
hope your internal recovery is speedy, and can't wait to hear about more SnowMtb adventures --- and perhaps some skiing ones, too?
how is M fairing? hope you both are taking good care of one another.
jj
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