Iditarod 2022 prologue

 'Antarctica; icy graveyard of hubris, not hostile to humanity but worse, utterly indifferent; a blank wall at the edge of the universe defying us to find meaning in it'  ~ Sterling Archer, worlds greatest secret agent.

I'm in Alaska baby! Kinda snuck that one under the radar, hey. But to be honest, for a long while I didn't know when I'd be back so it was kept on the down low, until all the things clicked into place. It was tenuous for sure, it left me quite distracted and with such a dynamic situation and things changing fast, adopting the plastic mindset (as you do when racing this event) had to be engaged earlier: to adapt, improvise and move forward. 

The Iditarod Trail Invitational (ITI) 2022 is nearly here (Sunday 27th February, 2pm AKST - yes there will be GPS tracking for dotwatchers to follow, closer to the date) and now is a good time to go through the machinations of the 'haven't you had enough suffering yet' motivation for me to keep returning to this race. (Quick facts on the race for those new around these parts - 1000 miles/1600km by bike, self supported solo, middle of winter in the Alaskan backcountry, no roads, just frozen lakes and rivers with a rudimentary route carved into the snow, no dark zones, you decide when you travel, the race does not stop regardless of weather, the responsibility is on you to make good decisions and manage yourself and gear during the race - there is no safety net - just danger zone from start to finish - woohoo!)

Well, Covid kinda ruined my 2020 race with its many sucky parts (check out previous blog posts for that tearful race report) so there's a bit of char to burn in the furnace there, 2021 was in limp mode most of the time, however the opportunity is now there to travel internationally and resume life where we left off - if you go for it. I feel that this is a milestone year, that despite the race being hard enough - there are all these other obstacles in front of you just to get to the startline. This magnifies the intrinsic reward for me - that if you can make good choices, prepare yourself and your gear correctly, overcome these additional challenges and achieve your goal - that's Ubermensch level stuff. Either that or just Archer-ise the shit out of it.. 

We've all been affected in some way and it's all relative to our lot in life, I also acknowledge that some may see my travel as too soon and risky. I get it, but when it's time to move forward and we have that opportunity to move - it's best to grab hold of it. If there's one takeaway from the last 2 years - don't hesitate - do the thing, eat the stuff, go to the place. What we put our bodies and minds through on the race is pretty risky too and I reckon the reward is well worth it. I'm not very politically minded, so all of the stuff on that side of things I just stay clear of, I keep myself busy enough with other adventure related things, that there is just no interest or bandwidth left for it. I wanted to travel internationally and race, so I'll do what needs to be done and move forward - it's time to be intrepid, be that positive influence and inspire people to live their best lives. Considering that Covid is the biggest health risk right now and getting sick from it (or even just testing positive at the pre-race testing with no symptoms) is devastating to my race goals, so IMO vaccination is about the best darn bodyhack/performance enhancer I can get right now! 

I've had some health issues these last two years that I'm glad to put behind me.  My incredibly supportive wife Nyree has changed a lot of things around to enable this to happen, which I doubt I'll be able to repay in this lifetime. Mum has been a constant inspiration of grit and mental toughness, backing me all the way. My business has been slowly building up again thanks to the support from my awesome customers, friends and suppliers. 

This race to me is the ultimate casserole - bikes, extreme cold, camping, high calorie foods, keeping shit real (and if you're a Goggins fan - carrying boats and staying hard haha), gear nerdery and digging real deep into that human performance and psychological ice cream bucket. Terrible way to lose weight, but awesome way to see what you're made of. This year will be my 7th time on the startline and my 5th to Nome for the full 1000 mile distance. My finish position has been improving each year as well - an 8th place on my rookie Nome year in 2016, 5th place in '17, 3rd in '18, 2nd in '19; so you can see where my focus has been the last few years. 

You can't control things outside of your command, but you can control your response to it. 

So after a 30 hour travel time with an added 4 hour delay to Anchorage from LAX, I arrived at the bnb around 2am, but there is no key. No problem, dig out your sleep kit and rack out behind the wheely bins, snack on the choc peanuts in your pack.

Irene arrived a short while later and opened up, she looks after us racers very well and it's a very homely atmosphere, the very best place to prepare for the race - close to shops, a good sized garage and home cooked food.

There is a lot of prep to do. Food and supply cache bags have to be made up (so lots of high calorie food shopping for a month or so) and prepare my kit for instructing at Iditarod Training Camp - a week in the bush with 10 or so enthusiastic rookies where we fill their minds with knowledge, stories from the trail, hints and hacks and loads of other misinformation, to help them get more out of their winter travels and achieve their race goals on the ITI. Then it's a week back at the bnb to do more food shopping (as you run out of things when doing the rest of your drops) taper off the training, more trips to the store for supplies for your drops, bank sleep, fuss over your setup and nervously triple check everything. As an international athlete, this time is essential and a complacent 'she'll be right aye' will nett negative results. Get acclimated! In town it's -4C and about a 40 degree swing compared to home, so it's t shirt on the outdoor walks and shorts and boots only for the driveway workouts. Through the interior it can easily get to -40C and beyond: and beyond that again if the wind is up; simply put, could be an 80 to 100 degree temp swing for this Aussie. I think my Polish blood likes it. 

...and why Archer as my avatar for dotwatcher tracking and as mascot/theme for this year? He's only the worlds greatest secret agent, what's not to like? He's highly competent, doesn't like too much intel before a mission (it ruins the surprise, Lana), always manages to pull it off (phrasing) when things go noisy and when he goes white-hot-supernova-rampage - that's a danger zone you don't want to get caught up in! Danger Zone! Woohoo!