Eszter Horanyi Arrowhead 135 Blog: Puzzle Pieces

Read Part I and Part II of this blog series.

As of right now, I am 16 days out from the start of the Arrowhead 135.  The thought is slightly terrifying because until I bought my plane ticket to Minnesota two days ago, the race seemed like somewhat of an abstract event in my future.  With less than two weeks until I board a plane in Denver and head north, the reality of the situation is becoming very real.

Getting ready for a race like this is like putting together a 1,000-piece puzzle.  First you flip all the pieces right side up and separate out the borders.  Then the edge goes together building the framework. Then the major features in the picture go together, and then lastly, the pieces between the features, the nitty-gritty details, the background, go together, turning 1,000 individual pieces into one, giant picture. 

Looking at the winter schedule, including factors such as work, summer plans, and finances, was analogous to flipping all the pieces over.  Signing up for the race was putting the border in, setting the foundation.  Then came the features: learning how to stay warm, getting a bike, gathering required gear, and training.

Staying Warm

In the last blog post, I lamented about the reasonably warm weather we’ve been having this winter.  That hasn’t changed, and doesn’t appear to be changing in the next two weeks, so I’m going to make some educated guesses about dressing for 30 degrees colder than I’ve experienced here and hope for the best.  Someone offered to contribute to the ‘Eszter Therapy Fund’ after I rode in to work on a -10 degree day.  I had overdressed and sweat, which makes me believe that I’ll be able to handle -40.  I’m pretty good at being delusional.

I’ve also worked on my foot system.  I really wanted to avoid having to ride without clipless pedals, so I did some internet research in the form of looking at Mike Curiak’s website.  As the master of cold weather riding, he’s developed a footwear system that has taken him across Alaska countless times.  I’m not going to reinvent the wheel on this, I’m going to copy the best.

Bike

My weapon of choice for this adventure is the Fatback.  If you’d like a full review of the Ti version of this bike, peruse Mr. Carr’s article on it.  For me, a bike is either fun to ride, or it’s not.  Due to the all around lack of snow around here, I’ve taken the Fatback, or as I call it, the Purple Monster, out on some dry singletrack, snowy singletrack, and snow-packed roads.  After careening out of control down a winding trail, I couldn’t stop grinning.  Paired with the fact that on a well-packed track, I can clear almost anything uphill that I can clear on a normal bike on a dry trail, I’m totally sold on big tires.  After piloting it down a dry trail, I’m starting to understand why people ride them around year-round.  4-inch wide tires at 8 psi are maybe the most fun you can have on two wheels.

Gear

The Arrowhead 135 has a fairly good-sized mandatory gear list including a -20 degree sleeping bag.  Compared to the 40-degree bag I took on the Colorado Trail Race, the winter bag is a beast.  Combined with double, maybe triple the clothing I took on the CTR, the pile of stuff to put on the bike is impressive.  On the plus side, the race allows a 15-lb drop bag of food halfway, which means that I only have to carry half of my food with me at a time.  Well, half of my food plus the extra 3,000 calories that each racer is required to have on them at all times.  That’s approximately a pound of butter in case you're curious. 

Under recommended gear on the website is an important item (that I think should be put under mandatory gear): A sense of humor.  After strapping my sleeping bag to my handlebars, wedging two Revelate Designs feedbags in underneath it and then putting the pogies on, I had to laugh.  I started pushing straps around trying to make room for a light mount and a GPS mount.  It’s going to be a full cockpit.

Training

I told a friend earlier this year that I was doing the Arrowhead.  She emailed me back, ‘Arrowhead 135 sounds burly! That sounds like a really good new challenge. I mean, you have the "ride your bike forever and then ride some more" part figured out, so why not add another element? Cold, alligators, zombies... a girl needs a challenge.’  

I admitted to another friend that I was nervous about the cold.  He told me to stop being silly as it wasn’t going to be any colder than conditions that I ski in.  Still, I tend not to go on 20+ hour ski tours, not regularly at least. 

So, to summarize, I’ve been doing the work to prepare my body to be on the bike for 135 miles, but at the risk of not giving the distance the respect it deserves, the distance isn’t what I’m worried about.  It’s the stinkin’ cold.  To train for the cold, I walked the dog without gloves this morning.  It was nearly 40 degrees out.  Maybe that wasn’t really training but I’ll work with what the weather is giving us.

The Background

It’s about the time that the many pieces of the puzzle need to start fitting together.  It’s time to start piecing the background together and making the big decisions, like, ‘Should I take chocolate covered almonds, chocolate covered raisins, or both?’

Two weeks.  Oh boy.