2010 Arrowhead Ultramarathon

I know many of my friends have read Andy “The Good Doctor” Lockery’s version of the Arrowhead and I read it myself with eager anticipation. I’m afraid this will be much more mundane account where I actually try to weave a few facts into the story.

In thinking about this year’s race I’ve come to realize that one of the most valuable assets for any of us who participates in these events is a poor or at least a selective memory. In preparing for the race this year I talked about doing a return to International Falls to make 270 miles. I have a future date with Alaska’s Iditabike on my dance card and thought this would be a good prep. My friend Ian Hall who came along as my support crew last year rightly pointed out that I had finished exhausted and with a rather advanced case of edema. The Arrowhead has so many good memories that I’d forgotten those trifling details.

After last year’s event, I resolved to try and lighten my bike, as it weighed 68 pounds, which is a lot to push up the hills since it is more than half my own weight. I also planned to spend more time actually pushing my bike up hills in training. This is hard to do around Winnipeg as it is as flat as a pancake and most of my snow bike riding is on the frozen Assiniboine River.

Time has a way of getting away from us all and I totally failed on the plan to spend time pushing the bike. File that one away for next year’s preparations. As for the lighter bike, I ordered myself a new Fatback Ti frame along with hubs, cranks, and rims. The frame came in 10 days before the race and I was so excited only to find that the BB threads needed to be chased, as we couldn’t thread in the bottom bracket. We had to send the bike to Tennessee and I’m happy to report that it arrived back safe and sound on Monday, Feb 1st about four hours after the start of the race. Another plan deferred till 2011.

I had looked at a number of the rider’s bikes last year and realized that I could lighten and lower the weight on my bike with some of the bags from Eric Parsons at Epic Designs in Alaska. I left it very late but he was terrific and I got a new frame bag, gas tank and he was kind enough to lend me his girlfriend’s handlebar harness. His stuff is wonderful and I’m going to add a Super Twinkie seat bag as well as a pair of his massive Poagies, which have enough carrying capacity to use as luggage for a weekend vacation. Thanks Eric for the above and beyond service.

My old and dear friend Andy Lockery agreed to come to act as my crew for the event. This is a long and challenging task, which involves a liberal amount of sleep deprivation, long periods of solitude and frantic scrambling to help when your rider appears at the checkpoint. For Andy it proved to have several other challenges as well. Andy was the first person to have a snow bike in Winnipeg and he was scouting out the event to see if his son Dan might enjoy it next year. He’s pretty sure he would so I can most assuredly mark myself down for one place lower in the standings.

We arranged to pick Markus Waivered who was flying in from Montreal and running the race. If you think 135 miles is a long bicycle ride, it seems like a sprint compared to someone going the whole way on foot. We picked him up on the Saturday morning, as we wanted to arrive in International Falls a day early. It’s interesting to be waiting at the airport for someone you don’t know and being able to instantly recognize them. My wife talks about me going away to spend time with my own kind and there is a look or an aura around all of us who do this crazy stuff.

We had a great trip down and got there in time to do our gear check, which meant we wouldn’t be dealing with a long line on Sunday. There is a long list of mandatory equipment to enable you to survive if you are forced to stop outside and they are thorough in checking. It was nice to see some familiar faces and catch up with friends from last year’s event or other races.
When we went to check in to our motel, we had a slight glitch, as I didn’t remember where I had booked. There were only two places on the race website and naturally I went to the wrong one. The woman was cool and phoned the Tee Pee Motel and the problem was solved. We were right across the road from the start and the pre race meeting which was very handy.

On Sunday, Andy and I drove down Hwy 53 to the Gateway Store, which was the first checkpoint of the race. I paid the girl for a large bowl of soup for Markus and myself for the following day so we could stop and get some nourishment without looking around for money during the race. We then went back and went for a short ride on the course to check out what would be the appropriate tire pressure. The Endomorph tire is 4 inches wide and you can run as low as 7 or 8 lbs. in soft conditions or over 20 when it is firm. It was quite hard and my tires with high pressure were good.

In the early evening there was a race information meeting and pasta feast and I saw and talked with lots of familiar faces. The people involved with this race as either competitors or volunteers are so wonderfully friendly that they are a joy to be around. The town of International Falls is now embracing the event and the mayor spoke with enthusiasm about the hopes to continue growing the event. It has grown from 11 people the first year, to 59 last year and 114 entrants for 2010.

I spent some time in our room getting my bike loaded and reviewing where everything was should I need it on the trail. The race starts at 7 am so it meant rising early to eat and prepare. I felt ready and organized and slept well which isn’t always the case. I’ve been racing my bicycle for 45 years and I still get nervous like a kid at his or her first race. I actually enjoy that as you have a real sense of being alive.

Everything was ready to go in the morning and I just needed to fill my Camelbak as well as one nalgene bottle, which would be packed away in my frame bag as a spare. They can’t be filled the night before as you need to start with hot water to make sure the water won’t freeze in the five or more hours between checkpoints.

When I went to fill the bladder of my Camelbak, I couldn’t find the lid. I searched everywhere many times and it simply wasn’t there. This was very distressing as I’d worked on a system to insulate the hose and nozzle and where it under my jacket. I only used bottles last year and each stop seemed to take at least three or four minutes. With the camelbak in training it was reduced to about 30 seconds. Since you may stop as many as 30 or 40 times in the race this is a huge advantage.

Now that was out the window and I was scrambling to say the least. I ended up with 2 small bottles in the back pockets of a cycling jersey that I wore under my jacket. Andy and I frantically asked around the start if anyone had an extra Camelbak and came up empty. I’d gone from what I hoped would be a much better water system than last year to a worse one. An old friend Rick Mangen from Grand Forks leant us an extra Nalgene bottle and OR case but with only a few minutes to the start I stuck with the bottles in the jersey pockets.

The race started when one of the races shouted, “let’s go already” at several minutes after 7 and off we went down the trail. The pace was fast as I found myself scooting along at 16 or 17 kms./ hour and seeing the leading group vanish ahead on the trail. I had no illusions of staying with them so that was fine but I was quite in awe of their speed. I noticed I’d lost my front blinking light, which could be a problem at night but a short while later Charlie Tri came along and asked if the light he found on the trail was mine. Much appreciated. After about 15 kms it really starts to spread out and you settle in to the reality of over 20 hours of effort. I took several drinks but it was awkward and decided to drink more at each stop and stop less frequently.

We turned off the Arrowhead trail after 62 kms and went down a side trail at Gateway. As I was heading there, Charlie Farrow was heading out. Charlie is fast and one of the truly fun people I’ve come to know in sports and I’m not just saying that because I made his prestigious top 10 list which just came out on his blog. When I arrived at the Gateway there was a whole crew there all chowing down on soup from one of the four varieties she had ready. I was able to throw my jacket and headwear in the dryer for 15 minutes while I ate.

The exciting news was that Andy had gone all around International Falls and found a no name Camelbak clone. We moved my hose insulation onto this bladder and filled it with hot water and Heed (an electrolyte replacement from Hammer nutrition) and I was on my way with a renewed spirit.  I saw nobody for several hours until Josh Peterson caught up to me while I was taking a short break. He pointed out that the front of my jacket was covered in ice and I quickly realized the new bladder was slowly leaking. I thought of taking it off and emptying the bladder but it was impossible to open my jacket so I was stuck until the checkpoint. I actually found it a blessing when the nozzle froze and I had to start drinking from my spare bottle even though it took much longer.

I was soaking wet when I arrived at Melgeorge’s checkpoint at just after 5 in the afternoon. This is a resort on Elephant Lake and we had a large comfortable cabin. Fortunately, they had a dryer and Andy carefully helped to pull my jacket off without dislocating my fragile shoulder. I had a change of clothes in my checkpoint bag and was able to dry everything before continuing. The ladies at this checkpoint take wonderful care of all of us. Lisa brought me soup and a grilled cheese sandwich and when I said I was still hungry she brought another full order. I also had hot chocolate and many cookies. This seems like a lot but I’d already been out there for 10 hours and I was about to head out for another 12 hours through the night when it would surely get colder.

I obviously had to forego the Camelbak clone and I shuffled stuff around and carried two Nalgene bottles in insulated cases inside my frame bag. This wasn’t very handy but you do what you have to. I left the checkpoint about a half hour after a grouping of five riders including Dennis Grelk  (3rd last year ) and Dave Grey. Dave is a former winner of the Arrowhead and holds the rather unique distinction of being the designer of the Surly Pugsley. Also in the group was Don Gabrielson, who lives in Virginia and works in the high echelons of the Pentagon. He is always cheerful and great to be around.

After the checkpoint you quickly get into a series of hills, many of which were steep enough that you had to walk. This is very hard as it’s difficult and tiring to push these fully loaded bikes. I was reminded about the time I didn’t spend pushing my bike up hills in training. As it gets dark the downhills are also challenging as you tend to be outrunning your lights and having to react with little warning to any ruts.

After about three hours, I caught a group of three ( Don Gabrielson, Chris Plesko (singlspeeder from Colorado) and Jason Novak form Minneapolis. They were planning on reaching a shelter ahead and building a fire and perhaps bivying. I was feeling fine and had no urge to stop so I carried on by myself.

This is a very tough portion of the course and I took 9 hours to do it last year in the new snow.  When I left Melgeorges, I had just over 6 hours to reach the checkpoint in time to avail myself of the adjacent restaurant, which closed at 1 am. I looked good for several hours but upon hitting the really steep hills quickly realized that there would be no indoor checkpoint for me. I backed off a bit partly because my headlamp had stopped working. It seemed to be the wiring as it would work every so often and the light was bright but then it would cut out for the majority of the time. Eventually it failed completely. I still had 2 headlights on the bike but they only shine straight ahead and this caused some grief.

I couldn’t see my computer but felt I must be getting close to the checkpoint. Two of the guys who were watching out for us on snowmobiles went by and told me it was “not too far”. Anything more precise wouldn’t have helped without the use of my computer. I came to a road and didn’t see any signs but did see some stakes that Pierre had mentioned proceeding straight ahead. It turns out that I had missed the corner. Todd Gabrielson  ( Don’s brother AKA Snowmobile Guy ) came along with his sled and told me the bad news. I had gone 3 kms too far and headed back to the Teepee of despair, which was set up on the parking lot of the now closed restaurant. I had my bottle filled with ice cold water, warmed my hands briefly at the fire and there was nothing to do but to carry on. I’d love to see an arrangement whereby the Crescent Bar could be kept open for the two nights of the race. I’m sure all of the participants would pay a little extra in entry so we could all have a chance  for a warm checkpoint.

It’s only 34 kms to the finish and its basically dead flat but I’ve struggled on it both years. I think knowing there is nobody close in front of me or behind means I tend to let my guard down and give in to the fatigue. My feet were getting cold (I’m sure due to low blood sugar) and I took to walking after every 4 kms for about 3 or 400 meters.  I arrived at the finish at 6 : 31 am  after 23 hours  and 28 minutes. I was 11th overall.

I had hoped to be in the top dozen this year ( after coming 4th last year ) as I was aware that there were a lot of fast guys in the race. The three places right in front of me give you an idea of the quality of the field. Charlie Farrow in 8th  was 2nd last year, Dave Grey in 9th is a former Arrowhead champion and Dennis Grelk in 10th was 3rd last year. Tough company for an old guy.
Arrowhead Part II

My plan was to ride the whole way back to International Falls or alternatively to ride back to the Melgeorges checkpoint and then back to the finish. As Ian had pointed out, I had finished last year’s race in rough shape and couldn’t have considered riding very far if at all. I thought I might take it a little easier in the race and save myself for the return journey. In retrospect, I should have realized that I would get going and want to race.

I ended up pushing hard enough that a double the distance ride was not going to realistic. I arrived at 6;30 am and after storing my bike and visiting with the officials for a bit, I hunted down our room and went to bed for 4 hours of sleep. When I awoke I still felt weary but I knew I had to eat and get ready or I would get lazy.

I headed out at about 3 pm. I had hoped to ride back to the Melgeorges checkpoint but ended up changing my plan.  This would have necessitated Andy meeting me there about 1 in the morning. This  proved to be problematic for a couple of reasons. We had no idea where our passenger Markus was or when he would arrive at the finish AND the Good Doctor felt like he was coming down with something. I decided to head out for a 10-hour ride, which would be about the same as a ride to Melgeorges. In that way, Andy could sleep and be there if Markus arrived.

I had rested for about 8 hours, which is obviously longer than I could afford to at a race like Iditabike, but on the other hand, I expect to go at a more moderate pace in Alaska.  I was pleasantly surprised with how good my legs felt and I headed back on the course for 44 kms. I then turned and rode back to the last checkpoint where I could enjoy the hospitality of the Crescent Bar and Grill. There were three bikes outside when I arrived and I saw the guys over in the corner dozing.  I ordered a pasta dinner at the bar and resisted the urge to have a beer.

The three riders arose and readied themselves to head on their way. We chatted briefly and I wished them well. I said I’d be coming behind them and they assured me that they weren’t going to be setting any speed records. While I was eating, Richard and Laurie Woodbury arrived on their bikes. I’ve met them before at the Trans Rockies as well as at Telemark Lodge and we had a visit before I headed out. They had obviously paced themselves well and were looking very comfortable.

I headed out for my final 34 km ride and what I thought would get me to 200 miles. I’d hoped for 270 miles but this was more realistic. This short ride turned out to be one of the highlights of my trip. After about 8 kms I caught up to the three riders who had left in front of me. I decided to ride the rest of the way with them and help and encourage them in any way I could.
We introduced ourselves as we cruised along. They were Phil Jemielita of Minneapolis (originally from Vancouver) and Chris Finch and John Kurth  both from Duluth.  When I joined them, they had been going for over 37 hours and were all tired. I admired their will and determination and the coping skills they brought into play to make up for their waning strength. They supported and helped each other and it was inspiring to be able to share it with them. I know we talked at the opening meeting about all of the competitors being heroes but my ride with them really brought this home for me. Thanks guys. I hope I was of some help to you but I truly got far more than I gave.

We arrived at 12:30 am so I had put in an additional 9 ½ hours. I said my goodbyes to my riding partners and headed to my room for what I thought was a well-deserved night of sleep

Morning came and our friend Markus arrived after 50 hours and 40 minutes on the trail. He was 6th runner and already planning how to improve for next year. We went to the buffet breakfast and I’m certain that they lost money on me, as I seemed to have the proverbial hollow leg.  We headed for Winnipeg and many of his friends and for sure his wife Val will be surprised to learn that Andy drove the whole way. He swore me to secrecy but I can’t resist.

Andy wrote a wonderful and funny article about the race that I’m sure all of you know is a gigantic exaggeration but it was very kind to me. I want to tell you that Andy was a tremendous and it was great to spend time with one of my dearest friends.

The Arrowhead is one of the highlights of my year. I love the competition but I think the friendships camaraderie are even more important. Each year it’s great to see guys like Charlie Farrow, Dave Simmons, Chuck Lindner, Josh Peterson, Dave and Gerry Gray,  Lance Andre, Dennis Grelk and the amazing Dave Prammon (good luck in Alaska Dave ) . Thanks to Pierre and Cheryl and all  of the volunteers that make this amazing event possible. I’m already excited about next year.

Fort Garry Cycling/Transportation Survey

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TRAVELING WITH AN ICON      PART 3

The Arrowhead 135 really becomes challenging after the riders  leave the halfway check point, both psychologically and physically. It  is here that a spectator, such as myself , also begins to realise that  becoming an ICON in a sport does not depend solely upon physical talent  alone.  Anyone can see from Lindsay’s resume as an athlete that he is  very special. I think you all know that he was an Olympian in 1972,  a  Canadian champion in speed skating and in cycling, both on the road and  on the mountain bike, and has a most impressive record as a XC skier and  adventure racer. In the latter two sports, which he took up late in life  , his results in the International Ski Loppet series are remarkable, his  3 day ski race across portions of the Greenland ice cap was incredible,  and his leadership of his team in the 5 day Quebec Ukutak adventure race  resulted in a podium position behind the world class team from Finland,  in weather conditions that were truly horrendous [ -77C windchill   -36C  actual ]

Other qualities are just as important, especially if you look at the  psychological side of successful sporting ICON”S achievements.  If you  analyse Lindsay’s first attempt at the Arrowhead 135 in 2009 you begin  to see a pattern emerging. The 2009 event was particularly tough as  there was a combination of very cold temperatures and about 5 inches of  fresh snow. This made the race roughly 4 to 6 hours slower than this  years. Lindsay is well aware that the colder and tougher the race ,the  better he does !  However , equipment is very important…… Last year  Lindsay’s Pugsley and the safety equipment, food, and water he was  carrying, totalled 70 lbs.   This year he had spent considerable time  and money to reduce the weight of both the bike and  the equipment . He  also realised, by experimentation , that an insulated camelbak, both  hose and pack , would allow him to stop for water and only lose about 30  seconds a stop, or about 30 minutes for the whole race. Last year he had  to carry insulated water bottles in his packs and each stop of about 50  stops in total cost him about 3 minutes , or about 2.5 hours over the  duration of the race.  At this point one begins to see why, when he  discovered that his carefully insulated camelbak bladder lid was still  in Winnipeg, he left the start of the race in a “right snit”. His mood  was again decidedly sour when the replacement water pack encased his  reproductive organs in an evergrowing ice pack, instead of providing  hydration.

It is only when you add to this ignominy the fact that he spent  nearly $2000 on a titanium frame from Alaskan company Fastback,  purchased very light wheels and hubs , a light bottom bracket and crank  set, extra light inner tubes, and ordered special frame fit carrying  bags from Epic, all for a grand total of $4000, only to find, when these  parts arrived, that the titanium bottom bracket threads were faulty on  the new frame. Lindsay had already paid for special overnight shipping  of the parts and despite doing the same when the frame was returned to  the manufacturer it didn’t return to Winnipeg in time for the race.   In  summary he had spent $4000 and could only use the $10 light  weight  inner tubes, and still had to stop and drink out of water bottles. He  was able to use the light frame bags and so had a bike plus equipment  about 10lbs lighter than the previous year.

The sole purpose of including the above information is to  demonstrate very clearly, to anyone reading this, that an Iconic athlete  has to have the mental ability to perform at their best no matter what  setbacks occur prior to an event or in the event itself.

Returning to the race the next I heard of Lindsay ,after he had  departed the halfway checkpoint, was that he rode right past the 3rd  checkpoint as his helmet light had failed and he missed the turn off the  trail.[ reminder to self ..tell him to buy only lithium batteries for  cold weather events] Luckily for our diminutive hero the snowmobile  patrol had seen him just before the check point and called in to give  the officials a heads up. When Lindsay didn’t show  ,the snowmobiler  went on up the trail and found him almost 3 kilometers past the check.  Our hero had no choice but to turn around and head back to the  checkpoint, thus adding another 5or 6 kms to his ride. Its bad enough  when this happens to you when you are in daylight, but when it happens  after  2am in the early hours of the morning after you have ridden over  115 miles of a 135 mile race and are starting to look like road kill,  feel like road kill, and smell like road kill , even ICONS can be a tad  tetchy !

The last 20 miles of the race from the final check point to the  finishing line are relatively flat and Lindsay completed the race  without further incident, having ridden most of the race entirely on his  own. For more”in race” detail you will have to wait for the Icon himself  to relate his version of the race.

This story doesn’t quite end with the completion of the race , as  our Iconic hero, the ever happy hobbit, or Sea Level as his friend  Murray Crundwell used to call him, had been telling anyone who would  listen, that he intended to have a brief rest at the finish and then get  back on his bike and ride back to International Falls, entirely  unsupported .  He later decided to ride back to the halfway check point  ,then turn around and ride back to the finish for a second time. This  latter idea made better sense as the runners would still be on the  course ,together with the snowmobile and first aid patrol. Privately I  believed this was unlikely to happen as I knew Lindsay well enough that  I was sure he would at some point let his race instincts take over and  hammer as hard as he could . From the halfway point on his time checks  suggest that  indeed he did .

Much to my surprise, after 3.5 hours of resting on the bed he  “rose from the dead ” girded up his loins , and headed purposefully for  the two other loves of his life after Lynne and racing, the toilet and  food. Two sudoku’s later he emerged from the toilet and made a bee-line  for the restaurant{ Note to self Book a room with 2 toilets when sharing  with Lindsay] This restaurant would now be out of business if it had had  an “all you can eat” menu.

So, one hour later , suitably empty at one end and suitably full at  the other, he headed back out onto the trail for a further 10 hours of  riding !

Happenings on this solo endeavour also add to the reasons why some  top athletes are merely top athletes , whilst others move onwards and  upward to ICONIC stature. On his way back he passed many other cyclists  and the top runners ,encouraging them with a few well chosen words,  whilst quietly and modestly, as is his way, letting them know that he  was just putting in a few extra miles to make up for the travelling days  to the race and back, as well as getting a better feel of what it will  be like when he tackles the Iditabike in 2012. [ 350 miles rather than  the arrowhead's 135 miles]  Obviously this quiet encouragement had  worked as I overheard a rider , Phil, I think his name was, telling his  wife what a wonderful person Lindsay was, and what an honour it had been  to ride with Lindsay for a short while.

I have to admit, all be it somewhat reluctantly, that Phil was  right , Lindsay treated his factotum , dogsbody, batman, or whatever ,  with just the same quiet respect and made that misfit feel pretty good  too. In fact I think that it is this characteristic that is required to  reach Iconic stature.

Lindsay is by no means the only Icon in the race, Dave Pramann  the  course record holder, and Charlie Farrow,  absolutely the most handsome  guy in the race, according to a poll conducted by the checkpoint  volounteers[ please forgive the spelling of the names]  are two other  cyclists who are clearly Icons in both this event and amongst the ultra  cycling fraternity.

Well so ends this brief description of a 24 hour period in the life  of one Lindsay Gauld ! A guy who shows up at a very tough ultra distance  cycling event held in the “Icebox of the Nation” at the tender age of 61  going on 83, old enough to be the father of 70% of the racers,  grandfather of 10% , and demonstrably capable of beating  90% of the field.

Andy

TRAVELS WITH AN ICON - PART II.

Before leaving Check point 1 I had the opportunity to chat with Gerry Grey [ I'm not sure if I am spelling his name correctly] Gerry is the dad of Dave Grey, the engineer at Surly who designed and invented the PUGSLEY. Dave also rode the race and finished ahead of our ICON !! Any way, Gerry , as it turned out, was excellent company. He had rented a light aircraft at the start of the race and buzzed the field of racers to get some photos of the action. It also turned out that he was an excellent judge of academic excellence as he was trained for his career as a wildlife biologist and environmental consultant right here in Winnipeg at our very own Delta Marsh research centre. For the techno weenies amongst us his information on the Pugsley development project was priceless. Apparently ,the reason that there was only a rear tire designed for the Pugsley was because the cost of designing a unique tire, for what was initially a pretty small market , far exceeded the cost of the frame and rims. The relatively new LARRY front tire is now proving its worth. Its design resembles the Panaracer dart front tire and its ability to provide directional stability, especially on turns in soft snow, allowed those using it to ride with higher tire pressures and hence a lot less rolling resistance . I persuaded one of the Alaskan riders to let me try their bike, that was equipped with a “Larry”, at the finish of the race and can confirm that it is a MUST BUY for the Pugsley crowd.

Any way, to get back to the race , our diminutive Icon had departed for the hillier section from checkpoint 1 to the halfway point at Mel Georges fishing resort . This section begins to sort out the men from the boys and the women from the girls, so to speak. In 2009 Lindsay had reached the halfway point well after dark, but this year he was anticipating arriving before darkness set in, and true to form he was spotted coming across the lake ice just after 5 o’clock, a little over 2 hours behind the leaders and about an hour behind a very impressive woman from Alaska. Even the leaders stopped here for about 35 to 40 minutes, mainly to eat and drink and dry their clothes in the cabins very efficient clothes drier. A number of riders stayed for several hours to catch a few ZZeee’s and build their reserves for the very tough final 70 miles or so to the finish. It was when I met him here that Glytch #3 emerged ……. It appeared that the new camelbak substitute had a different mechanism for shutting of the bite valve ,in that you had to twist it open and shut on a spiral ridge. By pulling on it our sorrowful Icon had snapped this ridge and allowed the water to drain via the bite valve. The original fill had been of hot water so the effects of the leak went unnoticed for an hour or so but as the water cooled and froze it effectively immobilized his jacket zipper so that he couldn’t get rid of the offending water bag. The water continued to dribble down to his crotch, where it proceeded to form an ever enlarging ostrich egg sized ice appendage with a protruding icicle of impressive dimensions. At this point our sorrowful Icon looked like a diminutive garden gnome as I helped him waddle into the aid station and assisted him in getting out of the jacket by pulling it , frozen zipper and all, over his head and off his right arm ,whilst ensuring that he kept his left elbow below his shoulder ,so that said shoulder remained in its socket. I had just completed this tricky manouvre when I was summarily shoved out of the way by the three female volounteers who ran the aid station. Within seconds they had removed all of his frozen clothing, dressed him in his sweat pants and slippers, and whilst two of them cleared all the other racers from the vicinity of the fire, the third plied him with hot soup and other delectable sources of protein and carbs. I was given a bag of soggy and frozen clothes and sent to another cabin where there was an industrial clothes drier and told not to come back until the clothes were dry and warm.

Upon my return ,a now warm , dry ,and well nourished Icon quickly donned his clothes and set off for the second half of the race where there is only one check point that provides only cold water. Despite the delays whilst his clothes dried Lindsay was back in the race in 90 minutes and moved ahead of the woman from Alaska who departed about 30 minutes after him. I checked my watch as Lindsay disappeared from view and it was 6 50pm. I didn’t expect to see him again for 12 hours as the third check point is purely that , with no indoor facilities for racers or dogsbodies.

I went back inside the cabin to warm up before the drive to the finish and sat with Gerry Grey again . he had told me that his doctor Jim Carrabre was from Winnipeg and I confirmed that I knew him well, as did Lindsay, and that all three of us had competed in XC ski races when Jim was in medical school in Winnipeg. Gerry also spent some time telling me more about his own career as a wildlife biologist, which I found fascinating. At some point he must have twigged that my questions and answers indicated that I knew a bit about the subject and he asked me what I had done for a living. I explained that I was a Prof at the U of W in environmental science, and that I had taught a wide range of courses from “environment and health” , which was popular with the Pre- med students, to courses in Oceanography, climatology , and glaciology. He was curious to know if his doctor [Jim] had taken the Environment and health course from me and I explained that no he hadn’t as I had developed the course after Jim had gone through medical school. Any way, as I was saying my goodbyes ,it transpired that the volunteers had been following our conversation in between catering to the needs of the racers who were arriving and leaving at fairly regular intervals. One, in particular, commenting to another , and for that matter , to any one else within ear shot .turned and said with awe……. Isn’t Lindsay amazing, I had no idea that, in addition to running a chain of 7 bike stores across Canada, and entering all of these Xc ski races , adventure races ,and bike races, that he was a Professor at a medical school and had taught Gerry’s Doctor. Once again, without Lindsay being aware,  our ICON’s reputation and stature had grown by astronomical increments .

PART 3 TO FOLLOW

TRAVELING WITH AN ICON…….THE RETURN OF THE MESSIAH.

PART ONE

This week I traveled down to the Arrowhead 135 as Lindsay’s factotum  and general dog’s body when this iconic cyclist and sport hall of famer returned to this rigorously challenging FAT-BIKE race through the Voyageur National park snowmobile trails.   This was my first visit to this wonderful world of the PUGSLEY and it’s Alaskan derivatives set up for racing, and it was fascinating to see the different equipment both in terms of bike parts and bags for carrying equipment. I will put my photos online shortly and mail everyone the site URL.  What totally threw me for a loop , however , was the truly Iconic stature of our diminutive cycling courier at this formidable race, where every year less than half the competitors reach the finish, and those that do finish look like they have aged 20 years in 20 hours. The brief account that follows may give you some insight into the awe inspiring abilities of our favourite courier.

We arrived in International Falls at 3 .40pm on the Saturday prior to the Monday race. Registration was open until 4pm so we headed there immediately to avoid having to stand in line the following day when most to the competitors arrive. This year the number of entrants had almost doubled from last year and as it turned out 105 of the 114 registrants started this years race.

I first realised that Lindsay was someone very special in this race when we entered the gymnasium where registration takes place. All of the officials and the volounteers dropped what they were doing and came over to greet Lindsay, much to the puzzlement of the first time entrants who had no idea what this little old geezer, with more wrinkles than a used garbage bag, was doing there in the first place. They were even more surprised when they discovered that he was a competitor, and not the janitor !

Registering is quite a complicated procedure as the competitor has to convince the race organisers that they have all of the required survival equipment, from 3 headlights and two flashing tail lights to food , a cook stove , water carriers, sleeping bags rated to -40C etc etc. The cluster of people around Lindsay grew as more returning racers came by to greet , backslap and hug him.

Life returned to normal for our hero when we left the registration venue and headed over to our hotel, the Voyageur. Lindsay spent about 20 minutes trying to convince the girl behind the desk that he had booked a room for two nights. Eventually she showed remarkable degree of initiative , as well as demonstrating that she was also a very good judge of character, when she phoned around some of the other hostelries and discovered that Lindsay had indeed booked a room for two nights, but at the Tee Pee motel and not the Voyageur.  I also had a premonition that my role as Lindsay’s general dogsbody might be a tad more challenging than I might have anticipated.

Sunday dawned clear and cold in this community that boasts the logo on its town pin of ” Icebox of the Nation”. Our itinerary for the day was to check through the equipment for the race, go out for a cruise on the trail to check the best tire pressures for the race…[ I rode on soft tires with 6 to 8 lbs pressure whilst Lindsay was using closer to 20 lbs. The trail turned out to be firm enough for the higher pressure tires to be the correct choice]  Following this astute move our hero headed back to the motel for a nap prior to the pre race meeting and spaghetti supper that began at 3.30 pm that afternoon.

Once again I was quickly made aware of Lindsay’s status at the race when  vast numbers of the previous years racers came over to greet him and in many cases brought their wives and or girlfriends to show them that they were on a first name basis with our “Cycling  Icon”  At this point I was starting to feel a little claustrophobic as the crowd around our hero continued to grow.,luckily I spotted the bar had cleared of customers who were joining this crowd around Lindsay and decided to go grab a beer while Lindsay, as I glanced back , was busy  autographing the “T” shirt of the 5 month old   son of a highly delighted fellow competitor .

When the meeting got underway and all of the routing , check point information, and safety issues had been addressed , the mayor of International Falls rose to greet everyone ,and it was of no surprise whatsoever when she called out Lindsay’s name and presented him with an official letter of welcome and the key to the city, what did surprise me was that she didn’t include her phone number.Our evening ended early as we hit the beds at 8.30 pm in anticipation of rising at 5.15am on race day morning to prepare for the 7am start.

Race morning dawned early and Lindsay was busy cooking breakfast and filling his water containers with hot water. At this point glitch #2 occurred. Our hero had brought his beautifully and painstakingly insulated camelbak and hose, to reduce his stops for a drink from last years race of 3 minutes a stop to less than a minute per stop. Unfortunately camelbak bladders require a filler cap to seal in the water and our hero’s cap was back in Winnipeg. So, after begging an extra bottle from his factotum and another from a guy from Grand Forks our hero set off on his venture in a “right snit” as they say in my part of the world. Needless to say, after the 7 am start, I had to wait around for an hour until the stores opened at 8am. There were a number of ‘Outfitter Stores” in International Falls that sell 35 different calibers of ammunition and enough weaponery to exterminate a small town,but have never heard of a backpack containing a water bladder. Much to my surprise I finally walked in to a store and described my needs and the owner dusted off  the very item in demand ,he even gave me a small discount no doubt based upon the fact that it was already several years old and had been taking up space where he could display the latest in automatic weaponry. After spending about 30 minutes transferring  the insulation onto the hose and around the bladder I set off for the first check point to ensure that Lindsay’s day would brighten along with the rising sun.  I arrived at the 35 mile check point with ample time to spare and sat at a table with a bowl of soup and a bottle of water whilst I awaited the arrival of the first racers. Other helpers , mostly wives and girlfriends of the other racers joined me at the table but continued to chat to one another  without including me in the conversation. Feeling somewhat like a coat hook in a nudist colony I pottered out into the -30C morning air to catch the first cyclists to go through the check point. They didn’t bother to dismount , just shouting out their race #s and headed out to the 70 mile halfway check. About 35 minutes later our hero arrived and headed into the checkpoint cafe to get his bowl of soup that he had paid for the previous day, thus saving the weight of carrying a $5 bill, but also and perhaps more telling , saving him from having to remember where he had put the darned bill. Needless to say ,the news that I had acquired a replacement camelbak delighted our hero who gave me a hug around the knees and returned to his bowl of soup. A short time later he departed with renewed vigour and I returned to my seat at the table of groupies to spent a couple of hours in the warmth before driving to the halfway checkpoint.

What an incredible difference there was at the table when I returned . They young ladies had witnessed the kindness bestowed upon me by our Iconic courier, and suddenly I was no longer as interesting as 3 day old road kill because I clearly was aquainted with THE ICON.!!   I was barraged with questions about Lindsay ,ranging from was he really 83 years old,[ my reply was thereabouts] to how long had I known him . Any way, I selected a few of Lindsay’s accomplishments, like representing Canada at the Munich Olympics in 1972 [the eldest of the wives was actually born before those Olympics in 1969]  I also mentioned that those Olympics were the one where the Olympic athletes from Israel were attacked by terrorists, and that Lindsay was in the adjacent accommodation in the Olympic village. I told them about him XC skiing in Greenland in a race over 3 days , and about his amazing performance in the 5 day winter adventure race in Quebec , the Ukatak, where his team finished on the podium in a race marked by horrendous winds and windchill temperatures .  Feeling quite proud of being the centre of attention at a table of beautiful young women I watched as each of their partners arrived ,fed , watered and left. It was just before most of them left that I began to understand how Iconic status is achieved in this world of ours. I had moved over to a different table adjacent to the previous one to make room for a racer with frostbitten feet, and was listening with astonishment when the racer’s wife explained to him, and others , how she had met Lindsay and that he had single handedly disarmed a terrorist  at the Munich Olympics.

PART TWO   OF  TRAVELING WITH AN ICON WILL BE SENT OUT TOMORROW