Classic breakfast - Clif bar, double Quaker oats, hot chocolate, peanut butter cups, Nutella chunks, some cheese and salami. Hehe, all the foods that can bung you up.
So many places to enjoy the sunrise from. This was the view from my bivvy spot:
...or through the picture window in Kurts cabin:
A daily duty is to check over the bike, routine maintenance etc but also provision for the day. Pogies have an amazing capacity to store stuff close at hand - like lollies. A handful in each side helps in more ways than just satisfying an energy need. I find when sleep deprived, if I keep my hands active I can fight off the sleepmonsters easier. However, add in a handwarmer to keep them tasty and edible...at ambient temps they closely resemble a doggy rawhide chew toy...
Today we were getting a later start from base. Plan was to head to back out to the Susitna river, ride up to Kroto slough and the confluence of the Skwentna river. The snow glittered like a billion diamonds.
It pays to adapt your tyre pressure to suit ground conditions. The same trail can change in a matter of hours, dependent on sunshine, temps, precipitation etc and there are a variety of key indicators - sound being one of them. At warmer temps (still below zero C) the snow can sound crunchy, but as the temps plummet, it starts to get squeaky under the tyres - the consistency changes too. A warm front may blow through and melt the surface slightly, then refreeze it into a thin ice crust, or the wind can mould and excavate it into hard sastrugi sculptures...
...or pillow it into marshmallow shapes...similar to when you loaded the dishwasher with washing up liquid and mums' kitchen filled with foam...
Kathi dropping in the Susitna river entrance.
Out on the river you could really feel the plunge in temperature. The humps are from broken surface ice slabs crumpled together, with snow filling in the gaps. Lots of crevices to lose footing into if you go off trail...
Will Meucke.
For a few of us from other times zones the time shift can play out in various ways. I was starting to feel the effects of sleep debt from the weeks preceding the trip - too many late nights and not enough time devoted to time-slipping my sleep patterns for the Alaska schedule.
By the time we got to Kroto slough, I was ready to sleep. It was about midday, and I was starting to hit a low point. The guys were discussing a run up to Skwentna roadhouse for a burger, all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball for a snooze. I had a gel and some food, put on all my gear for warmth and walked in circles around the group. Some headed for a burger, the rest of us headed back to find our own spot to bivvy for the night.
I enjoyed the marvellous sunset riding back along the river, then found a neat, isolated spot just off the trail on the sheltered side of a large tree. It was 4pm, I set the z-lite pad down and near instantly fell asleep for 20 mins.
The face of fatigue: the red rimmed eyes and general lethargic demeanor tries to break the core of your being. Fight those sleepmonsters.
I was surprised how the level of fatigue had risen so quickly, but being the last night you switch off the raceface a bit and relax - perhaps a bit too much. Dinner and cleanup done, I was asleep by 6pm. Alaska still had some more lessons for us all that night...
Good stuff, now get the rest of it done.
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