…for “This Year’s Adventure I Envy Most”: Nabesna to McCarthy bikepackraft
Archive for the ‘Activities’ Category
Early leader in the clubhouse…
Friday, July 3rd, 2009Pete’s Great Divide Race Ends Early
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009I’ve been following the two Continental Divide mountain bike races that are currently taking place in the Rocky Mountains between the Canadian and Mexican border. The races (I’m not going to get into why there are two separate races, its a rat’s nest) caught my attention because a few Iditarod Trail Invitational racers (Pete Basinger, Jay & Tracey Petervary, Jill Homer) were competing. Jay & Tracey just finished the race on a tandem, which is just insane. Pete wasn’t so lucky.
About a year ago at this time, Pete basically saved a girl’s life after her now-infamous bear attack in Anchorage. This year, Pete was on the other end of a nasty mountain bike accident. He was descending a pass in southern Colorado when he was hit by a truck towing a horse trailer. Luckly, it sounds like he escaped with only a broken clavicle. That’s good news, but a broken clavicle is still a bummer unless you’ve got Lance Armstrong’s medical team.
Before the crash, Pete was absolutely crushing it in BOTH divide races. In typical Pete fashion, one 2,500 mile race wasn’t enough, so he worked some logistical magic in order to do both at the same time. He started in Banff (the start of the Tour Divide race) by himself and then managed to make it to the Montana border in time to offically start the Great Divide Race as well. He was possibly setting course records along the way, but it was hard to tell because he was in stealth mode. It took days before people even figured out he was on the course. It was a really cool feat and was the most interesting story line of this year’s race. It’s a shame he didn’t get to finish it off.
Pete is a remarkable athlete and a great guy. I feel very lucky that got to ski near him for this year’s Iditarod Invitational. Get well soon, Pete!
Off and Running
Thursday, June 25th, 2009[Programming Note: I am hopeful that this will be the last extended post about my Achilles tendon tear. I think I am passing the point in my recovery where I can stop writing about the stuff I wish I was doing, and start writing about the stuff I am actually doing. Any subsequent posts probably mean I've done something very, very bad. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.]
Today I went for my first run since tearing my Achilles tendon in March. Come to think of it, this was my first run since November. That’s the longest layoff between runs since I was eleven years old. It was the most pathetic run ever - twenty minutes on a track at a 10 minute mile pace - but it was a big step in my rehabilitation.
My biggest revelation during my layoff has been how much I love running. I haven’t thought of myself as a runner for twenty years…
[Glory days alert]
When I was a six-foot, 150 pound high school sophomore in New Hampshire, I finished sixth in the state in cros-country running. In the state championship race, everyone ahead of me was a senior. My running future looked bright. I began wondering if I should focus on running as my primary sport. But over the next few years, I added twenty-five pounds to my skinny frame, and my running only got slower from then on.
[/Glory days alert]
I quickly came to view running simply as a training method for skiing. Sure, I enjoyed running, but I never looked forward to it the way I looked forward to skiing, or a hike, or a long bike ride. I did it almost with thinking about it. Like breathing. Or eating. Running was always there, it was an easy fallback. Just put on my shoes and head out the door. I took it for granted. I could always go running.
Until I couldn’t.
I’ve said before that I’ve dealt fairly well with the mental aspects of being injured. I ‘ve been able to stay upbeat even when I see or hear of people skiing, biking, or hiking. But my heart sank every time I saw someone running. It was an unexpectedly vicious blow to my psyche that surprised me every time it happened. I think I had subconciously decided that, until I could run again, I was still injured. The biking and walking were just rehab. In my mind, I wouldn’t be healthly until I could leap forward with both feet off the ground.
On Monday, at my physical therapist’s recommendation, I went to the track to do a jogging pre-test. I walked ten minutes to warm up. Then I jogged for 30 seconds, followed by a minute of walking. I repeated that for ten minutes. My leg was feeling great. I had to really pay attention to my pace. If I let my mind wander, my tempo would start to increase too much. For the following ten minutes, I picked it up it to one minute of running, one minute of walking. Still everything felt good. I finished with one full lap of jogging, which I did in a barn-burning time of three minutes. I would have jumped for joy if I could have.
So after a few days of rest, I was ready to up the ante to a full jog. Tonight I went back to the track and ran for twenty minutes straight. My leg felt fine, which was a huge relief. It was mentally exhilarating and physically exhausting. Having passed those tests, the next task is to improve my fitness.
The irony of this whole situation is that my main purpose for doing the Iditarod Inviational was to get back into shape. Yet here I am three months later, in the worst shape of my life. There is a long road ahead and the next month is going to be crucial. The doctor says that in 4-6 weeks I should be back to doing “anything your wife would have let you do before the injury.” But not only does my leg need to be healed to do that stuff, but I also have to be in shape. So this month’s task is to regain fitness without overdoing the Achilles rehab. It is a delicate balancing act. I’ve already found out the hard way that rehabbing an Achilles tendon requires patience and restraint. Overdoing it, even just a little bit, can set me back weeks.
The training year starts now. It’s about time.
Adventures in Commuting, part 3
Friday, June 19th, 2009My wife and I both wish we could commute to work by bike everyday. But because of our daycare arrangement and that pesky “You must work 8 hours a day” rule, it simply isn’t possible.
So instead we’ve worked out a complicated compromise. I bike to work early in the morning. She drives in later after dropping the kiddo off at daycare. In the afternoon, I bike over to her office and get the car. I go pick up the kiddo, and she bikes home later. So we each get to bike one way. It works out pretty well, except for one hitch: there is no good route to get from my office to her office on a bike. Its only about a mile, but I have to take my life into my hands and cross the worst of midtown traffic.
I am constantly looking for a new route that is safer, more scenic, or at least shorter. This past winter I heard about a new path being built in a lesser-known park in midtown. Could this be a missing link I needed? Earlier this week I decided to give it a try. I found the park easy enough, but I couldn’t find any trails. So I started busting through the tall grass, carying my bike.
Midtown Anchorage - Anyone know where this is?
The bad news was that in a matter of minutes, I was up to calves in muck and it was getting deeper. The good news was at least this covered up my fashion faux-pas of wearing argyle dress socks with cycling shoes. Turn around? Are you kidding? I was not about to accept defeat from a tiny park in midtown. I pushed on.
I felt bad that I was probably disturbing the wetland habitat, but I have to admit that I was loving it. The best summer adventures usually involve some degree of bushwhacking or mud-slogging, but since I’ve been injured I’ve been missing out on all that fun. I desperately needed up up my slog quotient.
It only took a few minutes to cross the bog and I found the trail (still a work in progress) on the other side. I didn’t find a magical corridor through midtown, but I did find a nice little slice of the outdoors hidden in the middle of the city. I like living in a pace where my commute from work can turn into a mud-filled adventure. And besides, its not really summer in Alaska until you’ve bushwhacked through a mud bog.
Chulitna Float Trip
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
Last weekend I floated the Chulitna River with a large group of guys. It was a bachelor party, which means “what happens on the river, stays on the river.” Sorry, no stories here.
The only reason I’m posting this is because I use this website as my outdoor journal. When I can’t remember how far a trip was, or how long it took me, I look it up on in my blog. I think the Chulitna offers some great opportunity for family float trips or short packrafting runs in the future, so I want to make sure I’ve got some of the vitals written down.
If you’re looking for info on floating the Chulitna, this might help. If you are looking for sordid tales of debauchery… man, o man have you come to the wrong place.
We put in on the East Fork at the Parks Highway about 4:30 PM on Friday. We floated for about two hours to our first camp at Honolulu Creek. This nine mile section (and the next several miles after the camp site) were wavy Class II. Quite a few boulders created holes and eddies to practice in. There were some sweepers which were easily avoided. This section was a lot of fun.
On Saturday we floated about 30 miles in seven hours, including stops. The river became braided and flat, but was still moving between 5-7 mph depending on the spot. We camped on a huge gravel bar in the middle of the river. Sunday we floated about 20 miles in four and a half hours (with fewer stops) to complete the 60 mile trip. We took out at the highway bridge near the Princess Lodge. The Tokositna river came in about an hour and half before the takeout.
There is no gauge on the river, but flow appeared to be average for this time of year.
Packrafting Montana Creek
Monday, June 1st, 2009One way that I have consoled myself during my healing process has been to think about packrafting. Of all my favorite activities, its the only one I figured I could do while injured. Well, maybe not the “packing” part, but definitely the “rafting” part. I’ve been scouting road-accessible floats that don’t require any hiking. And now that I am starting to bike again, that will open up a few more options. With my leg on the mend, I am ready to jump into the boat again.
Linda’s parents are currently visiting us for two weeks. We took them to a cabin on Benka Lake near Talkeetna this past weekend. One of the things we give up by living in Alaska is having grandparents (aka free babysitters) nearby. So when they come to visit, we generally exploit them so that Linda and I can have some play time, sans toddler. This time, Linda and I were able to sneak away during the little one’s nap for a short packraft/bike ride loop near the cabin.
Linda on Montana Creek
We put in on Montana Creek at the Yoder Road bridge and floated eight miles down to the Parks Highway. It was a decent float at the 6.13 foot water level, but lots of strainers and sweepers in the river kept it from being truly fun rafting. Without the wood, it would be a leisurely class I-II float. As is, the obstacles make it a solid class II that requires attention to each bend in the stream. There were about 5 places we had to get out and bushwhack around trees that had fallen across the entire creek. It was similar to the lower part of Willow Creek just before the Parks Highway. The photo is from one of the rare sections without any strainers when I had enough time to get out the camera.
The most excitement came when we spooked a mother moose with calf. She darted across the creek in front of us and up onto the opposite bank. Baby followed, but couldn’t lift himself out of the water. As baby struggled with front legs on the bank, hind legs in the 3-foot deep water, momma moose charged towards me as I tried to float by. When I became convinced she was about to jump into the water and stomp on me, I bailed onto a gravel bar on the opposite bank and ran back upstream. Momma continued to parallel me, but thankfully she stayed on her side of the creek. Baby eventually got up onto the bank after a couple minutes of trying, and they both quickly disappeared into the woods.
When we reached the Park Highway, we grabbed our previously-stashed bikes and rode 8 miles back up to the cabin off Yoder Road. It was a fun little nap-time outing. A perfect warm-up run, since we hadn’t been in our boats since last summer. Two hours of rafting, half an hour of biking.
I was glad to finally be doing an activity where I didn’t need to worry about my leg. I wore my leg brace so I’d be prepared for those times when I needed to jump out of the boat, and it was fine the whole time.
Even better, I was glad to be able to have an outing with Linda. Its a rare treat when we get to packraft together these days. Biking and hiking are easy to do with a two-year old. Packrafting, not so much - he really hates it when I bungee-cord him to the bow.
The new normal
Friday, May 29th, 2009Normal. Throughout my achilles tendon healing process, the goal has alway been to get back to normal. But it been so long (10 weeks), I’ve forgotten what normal used to be. Hobbling around on one leg is now normal. A short walk around the neighborhood has become my normal workout.
But I am making progress, and every few days I get a new taste of the old normal. I’m finally doing some easy bike rides again, after holding off for a few weeks because of a minor set-back. On Wednesday, I did orienteering for the first time this year. I walked the Red course. Even though I was slow, it felt great to be back out there. And I didn’t even finish last!
These small bits of my normal life are like rays of sunshine through the clouds. The trick is going to be avoiding another set-back as I increase my activity level. That is a tougher balancing act than I anticipated.
A Quick Hit At Portage Lake
Wednesday, May 6th, 2009I should have known that one ski trip to Skookum Glacier wasn’t going to satiate my lust for crust this spring. Like any true addict, “just one” fix quickly leads to an overwhelming urge for another. My body may be injured, but my mind still craves copious amounts of sun and snow. No amount of bike riding was going to make the urge go away.
So yesterday I succumbed and headed to Portage Lake. With weekend temepratures hitting 70 degrees in Anchorage, I wasn’t sure the lake would still be skiable, so I had Turnagain Pass in mind as a back-up plan. When I arrived at the lake, it looked perfect. The crust was firm and smooth. There was a bustle of construction activity (lots of people and trucks) at the rock slide site, which led me to believe that there wouldn’t be any blasting anytime soon. So I geared up and headed across the lake.
Its about three miles to get back to the glacier. The first mile was great skiing. Fast and flat - perfect for my leg, which is still in the walking cast. After the first mile, though, the snow started getting punchy. At this point in the spring, the “snow” on the lake is really just a foot-thick layer of slush on top of ice. So each time I punched through, my foot dove into a soggy mess. For the next mile, I did my best to stay on top of the snow. But soon the crust was completely gone and I was trudging through slush. Bummer. At this point, making it to Portage Pass was out of the question, so I decided to trudge ahead until I could see the glacier, then turn around.
Proof that I made it. All 2.5 miles of it.
When returning to the car, I played around on the firmer crust on the north end of the lake a bit, watching the rock slide work. I finished skiing about 9:00 AM. When I got back to Anchorage, I found out that the blasting began a few hours after I left. I wish I’d been able to stay and watch! I found it amusing and slightly aggravating that the last time I was there, there were a bunch of warning signs even though the blasting wouldn’t take place for almost two weeks. Then yesterday, with the blasting only a few hours away, no signs at all!
Apres Ski
Even though the skiing wasn’t very good, it was great to be on skis again. And the trip was worth it for the drive alone - I saw a coyote, a fox, a moose and a bison along the way! (Okay, okay, the bison was at Big Game Alaska. But the others were legit.)
The Last Temptation of Crust
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009Attention: Everyone who selected April 22 in their office pool for “the day that Cory finally ignores Doctor’s (and wife’s) orders and goes skiing,” please pick up your winnings at the front desk.
Monday of this week was the first day of excellent crust ski weather we’ve had so far this spring. Blinding sunshine, frozen snowpack. But I was a good patient and stayed home (well, at work actually).
Tuesday was also an epic crust day and I probably would have given in, except that my son was sick. I figured that if my wife had to stay home with vomiting toddler, I should probably go to work and contribute to the collective family good, rather than go play in the sun. I’m very sympathetic like that.
But when Wednesday morning dawned with clear skies and cold temperatures, well, I think we can all agree that no mortal man can be expected to resist that temptation three days in a row.
One reason I hadn’t been skiing (or doing anything mildly active) prior to today was that my ankle has continued to be swollen. Not good for healing. No matter how I try to baby it, the swelling doesn’t go down. But then yesterday, I had my first real physical therapy session. The therapist really stressed the ankle a lot more than I ever had in the past six weeks. At first, the tendon felt extremely tight and weak, but the more I worked it, the better it felt. And then, when I woke up this morning and saw that the ankle was less swollen than ever since the injury, a lightbulb went off in my head. Maybe a little bit of activity is exactly what I need to reduce the swelling, to get the blood flowing and flush out the ankle. That was all the excuse I needed to grab my skis.
So this morning I drove down to Portage Lake. I picked Portage because its a short, flat, easy ski with spectacular scenery. I could get my crust ski fix without pushing my Achilles too much. But when I got there, there were signs saying “DANGER! Blasting in area - Stay off ice.” The lake looked fine and it didn’t look like they were blasting today, so I thought about going anyway. But I was by myself with no one else around, and on a gimp leg, so I decided to play it safe. I drove down the road to the Placer River valley and headed towards Skookum Glacier instead.
The crust was near-perfect: rock hard with no volcanic ash. My technique was a little sloppy, and I fatigued quickly (did I really lose that much fitness in six weeks? Ouch.), but the ski was spectacular.
I knew I needed to be extra careful of my tendon while skiing. So it was fortunate that I had a pair of Salomon’s latest top-secret prototype boots to protect me. Currently I think there are only three pairs in existence. Mathias Fredriksson has a pair, Andy Gerlach had a pair, I have a pair. Check out my photos.
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The whole trip made me so happy. Early morning drive down Turnagain Arm, cruising on top of the firm snow while the crystals sparkled in the sun, feeling my blood pumping again, soaking up the sunshine, and even stopping for a snack at the Tesoro on the way home. It was great to be back in the spring routine again, if only for a day.
Iditarod Trail Invitational Post-Script
Monday, March 23rd, 2009This is a collection of musing on the race that surprisingly didn’t fit into my tome of a race report.
Thank You!
First off, it’s time to finally thank the people that made this race possible for me:
My wife Linda - I know, I’ve thanked her a lot already, but I can’t say enough about all she did. Plus if I mention her again, this post will get a “Linda’ tag, helping her increase her lead in the ‘number of times tagged’ (see the tag cloud in the right hand column). This is apparently very important to her. I’d also like to thank our kiddo for holding his “Why did you leave us?” grudge for only three days after I returned.
My parents, and all of the friends and family who supported me and followed me during the race. It was great to come home and read all the messages afterwards. I’m fairly certain that none of them had any idea what I was getting into until it was too late to stop me.
Greg - for offering to fly out and get me from any checkpoint along the course. The offer was tempting many times. And thanks for coming to get me (and Alec Petro) once I got to McGrath. I was able to get home a day earlier, and we had a spectacular tour of the race course on the flight home. Although Alec’s view during the flight wasn’t quite as good as mine. Sorry Alec!
Cindy - for helping to design and then sew my sled cover, and modifying my pogies. And also for helping to keep Linda sane at work while I was away.
Jen and Ian - for their last minute modifications to the sled cover.
Tim - for sharing his sled design, and answering my questions about gear. And for all he has taught me over the years about “Performance backcountry skiing.”
Mike - for sharing his suspension sled pole design.
Ed, Pete, Jay, Tracey, Jeff, Billy, and all the other racers who knowingly, or unknowingly, helped me along the trail. All the racers were amazing, friendly people. As I said before, I really enjoyed being around the other two skiers for the entire race. I was really psyched that all three skiers finished, when there had only been four skiers finish in the last four years combined.
Bill & Kathi Merchant for pouring their hearts into this race, and all of the checkpoint workers along the way for keeping me fed, rested, and motivated, especially Dan the Mountain Man, Nick and Olene Petruska and Peter and Tracy Schneiderheinze.
Jill Homer, Kathi Merchant, Mike Curiak and everyone else who has written about their experiences on the trail. I read them all as I prepared for the race.
Here are a few questions that people have asked me recently…
How did your gear work out?
GEAR THAT WORKED BETTER THAN EXPECTED:
My boot/insole/sock system - I had a lot of anxiety about this stuff prior to the race, but it couldn’t have performed any better. My feet were never cold the entire race. Never. I only got one small blister the entire way. I choose boots that were a size too big (so that I could put an extra insole in them), and this proved critically helpful as my feet swelled throughout the race. The vapor barrier socks were a revelation for me, and I plan to use them a lot more in the future.
Down booties - I almost didn’t bring these because they are bulky and heavy. But they were really handy at the checkpoints, when I needed to get my feet out of the ski boots for a little while.
My sled pole - I really liked the suspension. It was a huge help for classic skiing, although the elastic was getting worn out by the end.
My headlamp - I came very close to buying a new headlamp for the race, but I’m glad I didn’t. My headlamp was made by Nite-Hawk, which sadly went out of business. It was powerful enough to using skiing while on the ‘low’ setting, which gets over 100 hours of burn time. I used one set of lithium batteries for the entire race. I was kind of bummed to leave so many expensive Lithium batteries behind in my drop bags.
GEAR THAT DIDN”T WORK VERY WELL
My skis -To be fair, the skis worked as well as I could expect them to. The problem was that I chose the wrong pair. For months, I had been planning on using these skis. I did all my training on them. But at the start of the race, because of the new snow, I had a pair of classic racing skis in the car, just in case I thought the trail looked really bad. I spent the entire race wishing I had grabbed those skis instead.
My sled - Again, I feel bad putting the sled under “Didn’t Work” especially considering the hours I invested in building it. For 90% of the race it worked great. It was a great sled for a packed trail. But when it got caught on alders, or tipped over in deep snow, it was a real liability. It was a perfect sled for the Susitna 100, which has a better trail, but less perfect for the ITI.
How did your food work out?
I had a lot of different foods with me, and I enjoyed having the variety. I ate some of everything. I had way more than enough food. I think my favorites were Snickers, Buckeyes (peanut butter balls), Pop-Tarts ( a surprise to me), Oatmeal cookies, and Gu (caffinated Espresso flavor). The only thing I wish I had more of was Snickers bars. I had one Snickers and one Hershey bar for each leg of the trip, but I wish I had three Snickers bars instead. I packed way too much summer sausage. Usually I eat a lot of that during long adventures, but not this time. I planned for a one pound stick of sausage for each leg of the trip, and only ate one stick the entire race. Bummer, because that was a lot of weight. Surprisingly (and unfortunately), when I got home I wasn’t sick of junk food. In fact, I think this trip only increased my addiction to junk food. Withdrawl sucks.
How much weight did you lose?
I weighed myself about 36 hours after I finished, and I had lost 4 pounds. At that point, I had already eaten about six big post-race meals, and my feet and ankles were still very swollen. At the finish, I was probably 6-8 ponds lighter than normal. For the first week afterwards, I was consistently eating 5-6 full meals a day. I weighed myself again a week later, and I was back to my normal weight. All in all, not a lot of fluxuation.
How would you rate your level of stink after wearing the same clothes for a week?
I was definitely foul. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being ‘I just stepped out of the shower’ and 10 being ‘I just swam across town in the sewer system,’ I think I was a 6 when I finished. Okay, maybe a 7. I thought I would smell worse. Except for my feet. They were an 11. Those wool socks might get thrown out.
What does Linda get in return for letting you do this?
We’re not sure yet, but she definitely gets something. Maybe a vacation of her own, or maybe she gets to focus on training for her own event, or maybe she gets a new toy. Or maybe all of the above. At the very least, I think there is either a road bike or cyclocross bike in her future.
What’s your next adventure?
I cashed in a lot of chips at work and at home to do this race, so it will be a while before I do anything on this scale again. Actually, it might be a while before I do anything at all again, because of…
My Achilles Tendon injury
My feet and legs had been feeling steadily better for the past two weeks. I went skiing (very mellow) twice this past weekend, and my feet were sore, but my Achilles tendon didn’t hurt at all. So I was optimistic as I went to the doctor’s office this morning.
The doctor killed that positive vibe pretty quickly. I have a partially ruptured (torn) Achilles tendon.
Its never a good sign when you take off your sock, and at first glance the doctor says, “Yep, there it is. It’s torn.” He estimated that the tendon is about 50% torn, but I need to have an MRI to be sure. So I am now in a walking cast and looking at about three months of recovery time if things go well. Or surgery and six months of recovery time if it goes not-so-well.
I’m pretty bummed. So much for enjoying Alaska’s Better Half. And just to be safe, its probably best if you not make any mention of crust skiing to me for the foreseeable future.
But on the bright side, I guess I can be glad that it’s not completely torn, and that it didn’t give out in the middle of the Farewell Burn. Knowing that the injury is kind of serious makes me feel better about my decision to play it safe towards the end of the race. I have to admit that, as the pain and the satisfaction of finishing subsided over time, I had begun to wonder if I should have pushed through Nikolai and tried to hold my second place standing. I was starting to wish that I had been in race mode, just a little bit. But now, knowing the full extend of the injury makes me realize that I did the right thing. Well, the right thing might have been to scratch from the race when it first started hurting. But I think I did the second-best thing.
The doctor seemed to have an understanding of the athletic stuff I am used to doing, so he knows the kind of shape I want to get back to. I guess he figured that out when he asked “How did this happen?” And I answered, “By skiing 350 miles.” He also knows how to deal with athletes who are not happy about being laid up. One of his main concerns was finding alternative ways for me to work out during the next few weeks. For the time-being though, I’m not in the mood to push it. I’ve got a lot of non-athletic things to catch up on, and I could use a little rest. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go mount this boot-thingy onto a skate ski.
