| Mike Curiak of Grand Junction, Colorado, sponsored by Marin and Clif Bar has just set the new human-powered record on Iditasport Impossible, riding from Big Lake nr Anchorage to Nome in the north of Alaska, a distance of over 1000miles. The fact that he’s done it at all is quite remarkable, and the fact that he’s done it in just over fifteen days more remarkable still. Temperatures regularly dropped to -40C and riders have been through untold physical horrors. Close friend of BIKEmagic, Pat Norwill reports on MountainZone.com, and this section struck us as one of the most sobering… From Nulato to Kaltag is 38 miles, and that’s going to take me six hours to do that. And the distances, they’re not that far if you’re on a road bike on the highway, but on a mountain bike, pulling a trailer with 30lbs of gear on it, on 15lbs of air pressure in 2.4 bloated out tires, man, it is like slow going. My hands are completely numb, I got carpal tunnel; elbows are bugging me; my knees are sore. I’m eating Tylenol like…the bottle says you’re only supposed to eat eight a day, well I’m eating like 16 a day and then that’s not even including the ibuprofen I’m eating. I feel like I’m a walking pharmaceutical experiment. And then it’s like ‘how much food can you eat in a day?’, I’m eating six packages of Oreos, three packages of Fig Newtons, beef jerky, energy drink mix; I’m drinking like 230 ounces of electrolyte a day. And I get into any place I can make some food and I eat like three Cup of Soups, two packs of Top Ramen, and then I got chocolate-covered almonds and I got licorice. I mean I’m going through so much food a day I can’t believe it. I can’t get enough food inside me and I’m still right on the edge, ‘I gotta eat, I gotta eat, I gotta eat, I gotta eat.’ This race is just totally bizarre. Read more of what Pat thinks at http://www.mountainzone.com/mtbiking/2000/iditasport/wheels/dispatches.html Details: http://www.iditasport.com/iditasport/xtremeroster.html |
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