Well here he goes again!

So February 27th 2011 at 2pm Aidan started the Iditarod race in Alaska. Aidan is covering a distance of 1100miles from Anchorage to Nome. Two years ago he did the shorter version, 350 miles to McGrath. Now he is in for the whole hog.

So far he is doing really well, in 48 hours he . . . → Read More: Well here he goes again!

Iditarod Waypoints

I’m well into preparations for Nome now: reading all kinds of arctic-ey stuff, watching all kinds of arctic-ey stuff, sanding and painting over the rust on my Pugsley, riding hard, all those things.

And I’ve just finished one rather useful task that I’m happy to share:

Bill and Kathi publish a list of Lat/Long co-ordinates . . . → Read More: Iditarod Waypoints

West Highland Way – The Intention

OK, it’s time to ‘fess up.

When Rob Lee made an unsuccessful attempt at the West Highland Way Double, it piqued my interest a little. It’s always interesting to read about what people are up to in the world of riding bikes a long way. It’s rare to have such a candid account when the . . . → Read More: West Highland Way – The Intention

Mistakes

I’ve been making stupid school-boy errors recently.

First, I happily advised someone I was going riding with that Camelbaks are OK below freezing as long as you blow the water back into the bladder to stop the pipe from freezing. I then forgot to do so myself and ended up having mine freeze solid. Doh!

. . . → Read More: Mistakes

Iditarod 2009 Part 5

Damn. I’m way behind. It’s August and I still haven’t put down everything that happened out in Alaska. That very fact has been stopping me from writing about all the other stuff that’s happened this summer. Maybe I’ll get there eventually. I’ve been on a CTC Mountain Bike Leader course, Emily’s swum the length of . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 5

Iditarod 2009 Part 4

The checkpoint at Rohn is tiny. Just a wall-tent to hold as many racers as arrive at once. We were lucky enough to coincide with a few guys leaving, so Billy and I could get our sleeping bags down without having to head back outside – others were not always as fortunate.

Getting to the . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 4

Iditarod 2009 Part 3

Another big gap between instalments. In the unlikely event that anyone is holding their breath – sorry. I’ve been looking for a new job, enjoying the dusty trails and still ploughing around on the Pugsley. My normal bike is just about ready to go again, but there was one more outing for the Pug this . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 3

Iditarod 2009 Part 2

It’s beautiful and sunny in England at the moment and, due to my lack of other working bikes, I’ve been bulldozering around on the Pug. It was the North Downs yesterday for dusty trails and the constant accompaniment of people’s muttered comments. Usually I’d be able to make out only a single word, “tyres”, in . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 2

Iditarod 2009 Part 1

Wow, it’s been a month now since I set off on my big adventure. Time’s flown for various reasons but here it finally is: the first instalment of my Iditarod story…

Alaska is an amazingly beautiful place – just looking at it from the window of the plane filled me with excitement and anticipation. . . . → Read More: Iditarod 2009 Part 1

Getting back on the horse

It’s been ages since Iditarod, and I’m finally back onto bikes and blogging…

The briefest possible story of my experience is that I finished in McGrath after 6 days 22 hours; it was spectacular and difficult; I’d love to do it again.

Some of my photos are on Facebook. Bill Merchant’s video is here. . . . → Read More: Getting back on the horse