SECTION HEADING
THE ULTIMATE ENDURANCE EVENT
BY TROY SZCZURKOWSKI hopefully overcome whatever is thrown their way . To solve problems for them diminishes the experience ."
That right there appealed to me and is my type of fun .
I grew up in the outdoors , bike-packing with my folks from an early age and I ’ d disappear all day on country roads on my own . I raced road and track as a juvenile and junior during high school , and had mountain bikes for tearing around on local fire trails in the 80 ’ s . My infatuation began with the race in 2010 when I first spoke to Dave , a buddy of mine from Tucson , while on a pro mechanics training course in the U . S .
In 2013 the opportunity came to get one of the first Muru Cycles titanium fat bike frames to use for my ITI training camp ( in Alaska ) and a top-to-bottom back country tour of Oregon in winter . The frame arrived a day before I flew to Alaska and I built the bike in a garage with a multi-tool and a leatherman . This was the dream bike that would carry me to McGrath in 2015 to complete the 350 mile ITI . That qualified me to enter the big one – the 1,000-mile race to Nome in 2016 ... and that ’ s where this story begins .
I flew to Anchorage a week before the race to acclimatise , prepare my food cache drops ( they need to be ready a week before the race start ), build the bike and arrange my equipment . Race briefing is on Saturday afternoon and Sunday is race day . The bikes travel by truck and racers by bus out to Knik Lake for a 2pm start . At the lake you go over your bike , go through checklists in your mind , catch up with old mates , tell tall stories and use the rest room often – you ’ ve dosed up your hydration , your body is stressed and going through thermal diuresis as you adjust to the temperature change . You line up and you ’ re still talking it up with your buddies until the countdown and the handgun is fired . Yes , Alaska has open firearm carry rules .
It ’ s a low snow year , Knik Lake is wet and icy and rookies worry that they ’ ll crack though the ice . The hot shots surge forward , eager to get away from the bunch and make ground , as they ’ ll put away 130 miles before they stop to sleep around
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