So a lot has happened...

The build up to the 2010 event event is now well under way. I’m envious of those who will be there, but best of luck to you all. Especially good luck to Roger Leavesley who will be riding my Pug. He’s got some cool new ideas about kit which I’ll certainly be interested to see.

My mate Paul it off to the Arrowhead 135. He’s rolling on a set of good ol’ Snowcats that I had sitting about waiting to be built up as a “Mini-Fatty” for my wife. You can see more about his bike here. Good luck Paul!

As you’d expect, now I've lent out these bits it’s been snowing solidly here. Typical. I've made do with my winterised Trek Soho. OK, it’s just got Poggies on so not quite the same...

Also there seems to be somewhat of an arms-race going on in snowbike design. New Ali frames are available from Speedway and 9Zero7 and both have tweaked their Titanium frames. Speedway also have new lighter rims and some 100mm versions of the 15G cranks. I’ve been using the standard single speed versions of these cranks for a few months now, and they are going strong despite being around half a pound lighter than the Mr Whirlys. Tyres were historically one of the hardest part of a Fat bike to track down. Now the trusty Endomorph has been upped to 120tpi and the sidewalls have been toughened up. However there is also now competition in the form of its brother, the Larry (don’t you love Surly?!), and the, bargain priced Innova Spyder. All good stuff for progressing the fringes of the sport.

Eric, from the one-man, one dog sweatshop, Epic Designs is being forced to change his company name. As, apparently, his handmade bags may somehow be confused with a range of full-suspension bikes from a big company. He’s running a competition to rename the company on his website at the moment. I hope it all works out as Eric’s kit is top notch and he’s a great guy to boot.

Brain-dead

Sorry for the total lack of posts. To be perfectly honest I'm really struggling to sum up my feelings about the whole thing. It was a lot to take in.

If you are at the Outdoors Show at the NEC this weekend my bike is on the Alpkit stand. I'll be there on Saturday so head over for a chat!

Hopefully some pictures will keepthe rest of you amused for a while though...

This just in: me

I'm in. Weather turned out nice and I pushed super hard. Finished 4th. Happy.

James and Chris turned up in a plane. Long story, but an almost very good short cut fell through...

I'm of to drink some more Alaskan Amber. I'll write some more when my head clears.

Email from Nikolai

Just got an email from John. He's in Nikolai alive and well and feeling strong.
He says he's just going to eat lots and dry out his clothes before he heads off for the last stint to McGraph. Apparently its -30 out, which even the locals say is cold! He says it's a minimum of a 12 hour push to the finish.

He's been riding with Alec Petro - and trying to keep safe.

He thinks that James might have got lost along with Chris Wrobel as they were both ahead, but John and Alec didn't pass them on the trail. They have probably just taken a wrong turn somewhere on the way. I'm sure Kathi will post some news soon.

Rohn

So what news to tell. No doubt you have all been following the race by looking at the latest news page. What a hardcore race it is turning out to be. If you haven't already, have a look at a news article in the Anchorage news, to help to get some sort of perspective of the conditions the racers are having to deal with.

The winner of the 350 mile race has never taken more than 5 days. In fact Pete Basinger did it a couple of years ago in just over 3 days. We have already passed the 5 day mark and none of the racers have yet made it to McGraph, the finish point of the 350 mile race.

From the leaderboard and the latest news from Kathi it looks like John has finally made it to Rohn. After, I should think, a good rest there he has the long barren route to Nikolai which is a painstaking 90 miles from Rohn.

I wonder how many of the 8 1100mile racers will continue on to Nome this year. They have already had the race of of their lives and the shorter race is not yet over.

A big hello to two of John's siblings Kirsty and Ali who have been following his progress from somewhere in the galapagos (is that right Kirsty?) and Australia.
Can't wait to see you guys at the wedding in May.

Pushing on

John arrived at Puntilla at 7.26pm Tuesday. Closely followed by Cory Smith, Billy Koitzsch, Robert May and Aidan Harding. They all left Rainy Pass Lodge at around 5am Wednesday. Who knows how long it will take them to get to Rohn over Rainy Pass. As Kathi has quoted, the conditions can be so varied that it could take up to 24 hrs in partularly difficult conditions.
Billy Koitzsch has a SPOT so if you look at where he is, John is likely to be close by.

We may not hear when all the riders get to Rohn, so I think we are all going to have a long wait until we get some news. It gives us all time to move the mouse away from the refresh button and live our own lives for a few hours. Me, I'm going to go spinning and then have a nice long bath.

Fingerlake

John got into Fingerlake in the early hours of Tuesday morning (3.50am). He left at 11.17am for Puntilla and the Rainy Pass Lodge. See the latest news page for more info.

Jeff Oatley is seriously powering along 11 hours ahead of the next group of riders which include James Leavesley and Jay and Tracey Petervary. They are all now heading along Rainy Pass on their way to Rohn.

James took seven hours to get to Puntilla from Fingerlake so I would be expecting John to get into Puntilla late evening on Tuesday, depending on weather conditions.

It's also fantastic news that Jill's frostbite shouldn't require surgery. Rest up and get well soon Jill.