Iditarod Trail Invitational 2013

[sean salach]

The race starts this Sunday. The bike field is stacked with a lot of really fast folks with a lot of experience. A couple of inches of snow are expected on most of the course the next few nights, but temps look like they'll hold below freezing. Should be a pretty epic year. Basinger, Oatley, Petervary, Hofstetter and Warkentin have all won a version of this race before. Horanji, Breitenbach, Lackey, Berntson Dittmer and Buffington have all won or placed top 3 in major winter races in recent years. Vistarini holds the women's SS record for the 350. Several other racers are strong contenders as well.

This is your chance to take a break from TD panic for a week and watch some bad asses suffer through the Alaskan wilderness in winter.

Bike Roster:

Jeff Oatley                 Bike 350
Donald Wood              Bike 350
Bob Ostrom                Bike 1000
Peter Basinger            Bike 350
Steve Wilkinson          Bike 350
Alan Tilling                 Bike 1000
Mike Beiergrohslein      Bike 350
Sebastiano Favaro      Bike 1000
Ausilia Vistarini           Bike 1000
Jay Petervary            Bike 350
Eszter Horanji            Bike 350
Eric Warkentin           Bike 350
Kevin Breitenbach         Bike 350
John Lackey              Bike 350
James Hodges           Bike 350
Jim Barkeley              Bike 350
Brian Hartman            Bike 350
Jason Buffington         Bike 350
Phil Hofstetter            Bike 350
Ken Zylstra                Bike 350
Mike Criego                Bike 350
Dan Dittmer               Bike 350
Charlie Farrow            Bike 350
Lindsay Gauld             Bike 350
Tim Berntson              Bike 350
Kevin Easley               Bike 350
Jay Cable                   Bike 350
Aaron Fanetti              Bike 350
Dan Jansen                 Bike 350

[Area54]

Wish I could be there

[sean salach]

There's a fast moving lead pack right now of Jeff Oatley, Tim Berntson, John Lackey, Kevin Breitenbach and Jay Petervary. They've got a small lead of Phil Hofstetter, Brian Hartman, Jason Buffington, Pete Basinger, Eszter Horanji Dan Dittmer and Kevin Easley. It looks like that group of riders has a pretty solid lead.

Joe Grant took off to an early lead in the foot division, but Dave Johnson dropped everyone in order to build a 1 hour lead in the foot division out of Yentna Station at a pace that rivals Geoff Roes' in 2009. Dave knows the first 150 miles of the course as well as or better than anyone else in the foot division, so that was probably a huge advantage.

Leaderboard is up here:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0ApSjGdk7EFlidHdiMXdSLW9zX0Z1RFJDQm5aSWdkZWc&output=html

Photos from 1-7 miles after the start:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/72475478@N00/sets/72157632848361805/


ITI facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Iditarod-Trail-Invitational/169964759708637?fref=ts

[Area54]

Great to see JayP up there!

[phil_rad]

I'm enjoying this year's race; two of my teammates are racing to Nome. Italian's Ausilia Vistarini and Sebastiano Favaro on SS's  Looks like a really cloes race at the front, any word on why Pete is so behind the leaders?

[Eric]

This is a fast and stacked field, likely the fastest batch of racers in a long time. Tim B is an animal, will be interesting to see how he holds on as a rookie at the front of the pack. Question is.... What's up with Pete?

[caseygreene]

Eric, I was wondering the same thing about Pete. You heard anything yet?

[Eric]

Phil - are they both on Singlespeed's again this year? man... I thought they would have learned something from last time but I guess it made them stronger!
Casey - don't know.

[sean salach]

Seba and Ausi are on multispeeds this year. They wanted to be able to ride a little bit more.


101_0032_edited-1 by anrothardonn, on Flickr

Pete has said to several people that he's not going to be fast this year. Leg speed or not though, his experience and ability to endure suffering could easily propel him right up to the front of the pack.

The lead pack is still together and have been joined by Jason Buffington, who clocked the fastest time between Skwentna and Shell Lake by more than an hour. Looks like a bunch of fresh snow has made the riding slow. It'll probably be that way all the way to Puntilla and a little beyond.

[phil_rad]

Eric, I think so, they always are riding single speeds. I'll look into it :-) either way, going to Nome is nuts!

[phil_rad]

Oopps! I guess I should have the others posts. Thanks Sean for the clarification, makes sense going with gears on this beast.

[phil_rad]

Just curious as to how fast these front guys and girl are averaging per day? (mph) I know it must have a lot to do with snow conditions and temperature. I don't own a fatbike and have never ridden one before so I have no idea. :-) 

[sean salach]

It hugely varies based on snow conditions. That said, they're @200 miles into the race at 1 day, 19 hours in. The lead 4 of Oatley, Berntson, Lackey and Breitenbach have crossed the Alaska Range, and most of the hard part is over. The next 130 miles are usually pretty fast. On the 3 occasions I managed to find McGrath, it took me anywhere from @20 hours to 3 days to cover that stretch. If they cover it in under 33 hours, there will be a new record...

[sean salach]

The first 190 miles or so are mostly uphill as well.

[phil_rad]

Wow! Is all I can say. This race has to be the toughest sporting event on the planet, eh?

@Sean, Were you in last years race? It must have been a mutha.... conditions, so I heard, were horrendous.

[Jilleo]

It seems conditions have been generally soft due to warm temperatures on the coastal side of the Alaska Range, at least according to brief observations and a few of the cyclists and runner I chatted with at Skwentna Roadhouse yesterday afternoon. If the trail on the other side of the pass is similarly packed and temperatures are cooler, the cyclists could make great time. Wind is always a boondoggle.

I shot a few pictures from the sky on the way to Skwentna yesterday. They're mostly of runners but there are a few cyclists in the mix. Link here. http://halfpastdone.com/2013/02/26/iditarod-trail-flyover.

Also like Sean I rode out the first ~12 miles of the Iditarod Trail and caught up to some of the runners. Not a single cyclist took the main trail fron the start this year. I wonder if that's a first? http://halfpastdone.com/2013/02/25/iditarod-trail-invitational-launches.

[Eric]

holy $hit they are in Rohn already, the trail must be amazing.

[sean salach]

I started last year, Phil, but quit at Shell Lake. It was brutal for sure and anyone that finished last year is more of a man than me. Even the women.

Just crunched some numbers with Kathi:

Dave Johnson is within 6 hrs of Steve Reifenstuhl record pace. Steve destroyed the foot division in '05 and set an 'unbreakable' record of 4 d 15 hrs. Second fastest time to McGrath on foot: Steve again in '07 with 5 d 11 hrs. Third fastest in Eric Johnson and Tom Jarding with 5 d 17 hrs 52 m in '10. Other than that all foot finishes have been over 6 days. Dave's pace right now is phenomenal. He's also a mountain biker and occasional 24 hr (mtb) racer.


EDIT: oops, I missed Roberto Ghidoni running it in 5 d 21 h 20m in '04

[Jilleo]

The thing about Steve Reifenstuhl's 4:15 pace is that he held it, virtually without stopping, all the way to McGrath. Didn't Steve say he slept only about four or five hours in the entire race? I think it's still a tall order for Dave but he's certainly strong this year.

[sean salach]

Steve's effort was definitely insane. You can read his write up here:

http://www.alaskaultrasport.com/stories.html

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