Iditarod update from Andy Heading - Bike Magic

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Iditarod update from Andy Heading

ROBERTO, the 6’6″ Italian ski champion, swallowed two platefuls of
spaghetti before he even spoke.

“Andy,” he said “I was so hungry I wanted to eat TREES!”

I knew exactly what he meant. After leaving McGrath at the 360-mile
point of the race to Nome, we’d faced a 222-mile stage to join the Yukon
River at Ruby. At about the half-way point – Cripple Landing – a drop
bag had been sent by specially chartered ski plane a week earlier.
Each competitor had paid $50 towards the charter fee, knowing that the
stash of food and stove fuel would prove vital.

So off we trundled into the wilderness – happily bivvying out (well,
fairly happily) at -42C the first night, knowing a big dump of food was
just around the next corner. At 4am we set off for Cripple, steadily
climbing all day until dusk. A passing snowmachiner assured us the
checkpoint was “just over the next hill.” At 3am, we were still
looking. By 4am, as the mercury dipped below -40C again, we gave up
and bivvied.

By dawn, we were facing a 112-mile slog to Ruby fuelled by a half-full
bag of peanuts and raisins – about a twentieth of what we’d actually
need. As Roberto later confirmed, we weren’t alone.

Another 22-hour day and brief nap in an abandoned cabin saw finally saw
us into Ruby, where an Athabascan elder took pity on us and doled out
spaghetti by the gallon.

We slept for a couple of hours, then left at 1am, completing the 110
miles to Nulato by 7pm, where the leader in the Iditarod dog-sled race,
Martin Buser, finally caught us. Another long day brought the Yukon to
an end, followed by the 90-mile Kaltag Portage, which we started at 6pm
last night and finally completed at 11pm tonight. A wild night on the
summit involved white-out conditions and hauling the bikes out of the
air as they blew sideways.

Down at the coast now in Unalakleet, where the wind’s still howling and
we’re facing 250 miles of sea ice and coastal ‘breezes’ before getting
into Nome. Hopefully the borrowed bike will hold up – had a few
problems with punctures and tyre walls, neither of which are good news
when the temperature’s low enough to stick bare flesh to metal…

Andy


Iditarod Trail Invitational kit list:

 

BIKE –

*Orbit Romany, made in Sheffield – lubricated with Mag-1 ultra-low
temperature grease
*Snowcat double-width rims from All Weather Sports, Fairbanks, Alaska
*Beazobeana snow tyres by Nokian
*Ride-on Goretex cables
*Middleburn twin chain-set
*USE suspension seatpost
*Vaude panniers
*Karrimor bar-bag

CLOTHING –

all by Patagonia:
*Das Parka winter coat
*Zephur trousers and jacket
*Essenshell windjacket
*Activist fleece tights
*Capilene zip-t base layers
*Capiline linter and expedition weight socks
*Cool Weather top
*Bunting gloves and capilene liner gloves
*head bands, neck gaitor and fleece cap

by Salomon:
*Powder GTX winter boots (-40C rated)

By Black Diamond:
*Shell Mitts

by Polaris:
*padded liner shorts

OTHER –

*North Face Dark Star sleeping bag (-40C rated synthetic)
*Garmin Summit GPS
*MSR 2-litre Titan pan
*MSR Whisperlite stove and fuel bottle
*MSR Insulated mug
*Nalgene spoon
*Platypus Breakaway hydration pack
*Platypus 2-litre big-zip bladder and insulated drink tube
*Therm-A-Rest Z-Rest
*Expedition Foods dehydrated foods
*GPush Energy Drink
*Ricoh GR1 camera
*Fuji film
*Adidas Eyewear
*Bibler bivvy bag
*Black Diamond Spaceshot headlamp with remote battery pack
*Pogies (handlebar gauntlets made in Alaska by someone’s mum!)

MANY THANKS-
to First Ascent, SPAR International and the many other
individuals and companies who have supported our venture.

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