Go Bob!!

Mike's 15 day record is beyond impressive, and the fact that 2nd and 3rd were within a few hours of his time only makes it more so. It was really exciting this year watching Dave come that close to Steve's record. It will be awesome to see when/if someone makes a serious threat to Mike's. It could end up being one of those incredibly long standing records, like Bill Spencer's currently 32 year old Mt Marathon record.

Scott, although the course is no longer run on the same route, the old Iditabike 100/Su 100 record, held by the 'Euro roadies' of 8:47 or something is longer standing than Mike's record, I believe. Although it's only 100 miles, it requires a full supply of bikepacking gear and often takes people, including the winners, more than 24hrs to complete. I've only heard rumor of that record though. Mike could probably provide more details.

4d 19h 13m. Dave's finishing time in McGrath. Phenomenal performance and really unbelievable close to Steve's record.

That's actually a 10.5 hr window. I wonder if he has that in him. Seems unlikely on only 45minutes of rest for 140 miles, but I really hope he does it! Go DAVE!!! There's still a remote possibility that he could pull it off. No matter what, he's going to come closer to Steve's record than anyone, even Steve himself, could. Phenomenal performances all around in this years race. Next question is if Anne or Lorreen will break Lorreen's record to McGrath?

Steve left Nikolai at 2pm. Dave would have to cover the last 50 miles 4.5 hours faster than Steve did.

Eric, can you comment on how fast or slow(stumbling tired) Steve was the last 140 miles? If Dave is well rested, could he cover that distance 7.5 hours faster than Steve did? That's how much later he left Rohn than Steve.

Lackey: 2d 20h 47m! Top five all under 3 days and within an hour and a half of each other!

3rd place is a tie between Oatley and Breitenbach at 2d 20h 7m!! The top 4 were within 51 minutes of each other after 350 miles. Truly epic year on the trail! John Lackey will not be far behind.

Tim Berntson finished in 2nd. 2d 19h 50m. Jay took a huge gamble heading out of Nikolai with no rest, but it paid off. Tim made up quite a bit of time on him, but couldn't close the gap. Tim could probably see Jay on the last long stretch of river.... No word yet on the rest of the field.

Petervary takes the win!

2d 19h 16m!

New route record. Cuts 10h 24m off the old record.

Jay Petervary was first in and out of Nikolai with very, very little rest! Tim Berntson, Jeff Oatley then JohnLackey and Kevin Breitenbach left Nikolai with a little bit more rest. Will Petervary be able to hold off 4 brutally fast and determined racers with no rest? The others have minimal rest, too, but a bit more than him. The race will likely be over this morning with a new, sub 3 day record. Current record is 3d 5h, 40m, which will be 7:40pm Alaska time this(Wednesday) evening. Phil Hofstetter, Eszter Horanji and Pete Basinger should not be far behind with Eszter possibly en route to breaking Lou Kobins ridiculously fast women's record of 3d 22h 20m.

11pm. Still 20hrs 40min to record time. The leaders have not made it to Nikolai yet. I was expecting them to get there tonight, as in before midnight, but trail conditions might not be permitting that. If they had already come through, I would know it's worth staying up....

Steve's splits from '05

yentna 4am 14hrs
skwentna 4pm 1d 2hrs
finger lake 1:30 am 1d 11hrs 30m
puntilla 2:40pm 2d 40m
Rohn 5:30am 2d 15hrs 30m
Nikolai 2pm(next day) 4d 0hrs
McGrath 4d 15hrs

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

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

Bottom of the page.

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

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

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...

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.

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

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

This question may be silly, but I'm trying to find an answer.  I'm planning to race the Tour in 2013 - so I'm training (I'm nowhere near fit enough to do it in 2012) - I have an endurance coach who has me in a pretty rigorous schedule and I'm improving my times, endurance and strength.

this is all great...but I'm having issues with my metabolism.  Basically, I'm always hungry.  Period.  I can eat a reasonable dinner and within 20-30 minutes (if that) I'm having hunger pains.  Sometimes (not all the time) I even get hungry while on the bike riding - usually my metabolism is maintained during rides (I use Hammergel perpetuem while riding).

Generally I eat small portions of meals - so I eat 6-7 times a day actually (like an apple, or a scoop of peanut butter with no sugar).  I don't consume simple carbs or things out of a box - generally it's prepared.  I know I'm lacking in fiber and going to start eating some All Bran cereal to see if an intake of fiber will help.

I tried the opposite of just consuming whatever I wanted and my weight skyrocketed in no time flat.  So that's not working.

So the answers I'm looking for are:

Is constant hunger normal for the level of training I'm doing (12 hours in the saddle average per week)?
Could anyone give me their thoughts and ideas on an eating plan ("eat whatever you want" does not work for me)

thanks guys!

I'm not a nutritionist, so take my concerns/advice with half a grain of salt.

5-7 small meals a day is a good way to boost/speed up your metabolism and burn fat. it's going to make you hungry more often. 1 apple, or one scoop of peanut butter is not a small meal, it's a snack. If you're a sedentary adult, you probably need between 1800 and 2400 calories a day. If you are an active adult who is training, you can probably double that and not get fat. So, I think the reason you're always hungry is that your eating habits have sped up your metabolism yet you're not eating enough to replenish what you burn.

When touring or multiday racing, you'll be able to eat just about anything you want and not gain any weight.

I'm heading down to the Homer Epic that weekend. Really hilly, no overflow, and I've never been to Homer.

Rajko and Andrea passed my group on Flathorn, and they were able to kick and glide for a lot of that. Andrea ended up with some sort of issue with his arm. They both had two sets of what looked to me like 44mm race skis. One skate, one classic. I would think for that race, you would want one set of 44mm classic skis and one set of wide metal edged touring skis. In my limited experience with skiing, it's waaaay faster than snowshoeing on anything even slightly resembling a trail. With 90mm wide skis, trail breaking apparently isn't that bad. That's just conjecture though.

Maybe someone with more ski experience will add some input?