[Experience 2021.04] Toni Lund: Shared His Unforgettable Experience with Xiphias Wheels in Alaska

In 2018, I achieved a dream that I didn't think was possible at all. I completed ITI's 1000-mile journey on the southern route to Nome, and as the first Finn. The conditions of the race were extremely difficult and slow and in every way a huge struggle for survival. Nevertheless, very quickly I thought that during the trip I learned a lot about hiking a long distance in the extreme conditions of Alaska and new dimensions about myself. I totally crushed my own boundaries. I would still like to see and experience how well the lesson was delivered.

I already made the decision in the spring of 2019 to participate in ITI the following year when it was the turn of the northern route. Even though the start of the race was still less than a year away at that point (March 1, 2020), in many ways the race already starts at the point when you decide to participate and the registration is entered. The year 2019 was really good for cycling. The mileage was 16,460 kilometers, which was also my own record. But in November and December there was no information about the winter conditions in Varsinais-Suomi. The thought of snowy jacking exercises was washed away by continuous rains.

2020 started extremely dramatically when I had an accident on 7.1 while riding my bike to work. In the middle of the journey, I ran into a schoolboy in bad conditions. Fortunately, the student was not injured in the crash, but I flew into the asphalt at high speed and my left elbow took the hardest hit. The pain was severe and while waiting for a taxi at the bus stop, I was pretty sure that this time it was going to be bad. It felt like ITI would remain a dream and all the hard work had gone to waste. An x-ray was immediately taken at the health center, which clearly showed that the elbow is broken. The doctor's estimate of the healing time was two months.

The doctors at TYKS were also of the opinion that ITI would arrive too quickly and would not be possible. However, I did not give in and argued back.  Fortunately, the fracture was not severely fragmented and the surgery went well. After I got out of TYKS, the doctor who performed the surgery said that my race might still be possible.

The hand was in plaster for three weeks and it was clear that training and preparation would suffer. To minimize the damage, I took walks almost every day and rode the trainer a bit. After getting rid of the cast, the hand rehabilitation started and thanks to the insurance, I got to Mehiläinen and physiotherapy, which turned out to be excellent. A good two weeks before the race, I had an X-ray and the Orthopedist stated that ossification has started well, meaning a green light for the race. Even before the last X-ray, I was pretty sure that I would be able to participate in the race after all, because my hand felt surprisingly good after I had done several runs. In January and February, the winter snow still didn't come to Varsinais-Suomi when the weather continued to be amazingly mild. Even though the situation was pretty bad in every way, I didn't let it bother me.

There was quite a rush with the final preparations before the trip. I mailed Finger Lake, Rohn and Cripple drop bags to Anchorage last night to the ITI organizers. According to the monitoring, it seemed that they had not arrived there by the deadline. My friend in Anchorage helped with the new drop bags. Later it turned out that the originals were also included, but their reception was not visible in the tracking.

When I left for the trip, I got a small flu, which luckily stayed small and went away in a week, just before the start of the race.

Instead, the winter in Alaska had been cold and snowy. Despite everything, I had set a goal to improve my performance compared to the experience of 2018. It was clear that especially the first week should be taken with patience and understanding. One goal was also to travel alone as much as possible, if possible.

The race traditionally started on Sunday at 14:00. The weather was quite calm and it was five degrees below zero. However, the weather forecast was not very promising. Heavy snowfall was expected later in the afternoon.

After the fast road section of the beginning (approx. 10 km), the route goes back to the trails, the so-called gas line section. There was a lot of snow, so driving was quite slow. Soon the predicted snowfall also started.

After reaching Flathorn Lake, the slow driving stopped and the reining and pushing began. The Flathorn section is already reasonably long, after which driving was no longer successful, and quite soon after that, the long swamp section, Dismal Swamp, began. The race started and continued in a way where the 2018 race ended. Such slow and heavy conditions in the very beginning have been quite rare in ITI. After Dismal Swamp, there were very short sections under the cover of the forest that could be driven, but mainly the progress was slow. It was already midnight and the snow continued. I saw no reason to continue walking through the first night, especially since the going was heavy, so I ended up bivvying in the snow with many others on the edge of the Yentna River.   After less than six hours of sleep, the snowfall and snowing continued on the Yentna River.  It says a lot about the slowness of the weather and the extremity of Alaska that at this point I was at 37 miles (~60 km), while in the super fast weather of 2015 I was already in Finger Lake, 122 miles (~196 km)!

Sleeping through the night was good, and despite the heavy weather, the recovery went well. Walking runs seemed to be clearly beneficial. After the morning the snow finally stopped and gradually you could also drive on the river. In 2015 and 2018, the Yentna river went into the night, so this time there was something new to see in terms of scenery.

I arrived at the Yentna Station checkpoint during the day. I ate and rested for about an hour and continued towards Skwentna. The journey was interrupted right at the beginning when there was a moose at the river's edge. The racers had been warned about moose, because due to the heavy snow winter, they moved a lot on the route.

Footmen Beat Jegerlehner and Chris Moroch waited to see if the moose would move on. However, it had no intention of going anywhere, so we tried to go around it a little further, following the snowmobile track, which was very smooth. As we approached, the moose started running in the middle of the river and we got back to the bearing groove and past the moose.

The sky was almost cloudless, the sun was shining and the journey was easy to drive. In the early evening, however, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped clearly. By the end of the evening the wind was already quite strong and we had to do some serious work until Skwentna Roadhouse (86 miles / 138 km). The day as a whole was quite tough. I ate and slept in Skwentna where there were a handful of other racers, including Jussi Karjalainen whom I saw in the morning.

In Skwentna, the night and morning were cold, about -20 below zero. As I continued the journey, the temperature dropped to close to -30 degrees in the first long gap and I had to add air to the tires.

Apart from a few bumpy bits at the beginning, the journey went smoothly and the route was surprisingly good all the way to Shell Lake.

In previous years I had not stopped to take a break at Shell Lake Lodge so this time it was my turn. I had an excellent hamburger meal and continued towards Finger Lake. At this point, the route became clearly worse and gradually the driving became just a matter of pushing and shoving.

At the same time, the wind picked up constantly, and from the afternoon on, there was a full storm. The intensity of the storm was terrible. For the rest of the journey, the Gusts were so strong that they wanted to take the bike with them. There was no room for mistakes. I trudged with determination and determination all the way to Finger Lake (122 miles) where I arrived late in the evening after dark.

At the Finger Lake checkpoint, you could eat and warm up in a small cabin. The larger cottage has not been available to ITI for a couple of years. There is a heated tent at the edge of the lake where I slept overnight. The storm did not abate and tore the tent furiously throughout the night. The next day was also very windy and the route was anything but in good condition. The wind had blown a lot of snow and driving was impossible. It was another slow and hard day in Tieto, when pushing was coming anyway at Happy River Steps. After a hard first day, I was able to drive a wide fairway that had been driven by some big machine. It is a route to the mining area that deviates to the left from the actual Iditarod route. Judging by the tire tracks, many others had also ridden it, so I thought that apparently it would be possible to get through that too and faster. 

The route descended to the Skwentna river where the fast section ended. On the river, the wind came up with full force and the route was completely messed up. I saw from the GPS that it was necessary to get back from the river to the actual route.

Even though the hills of Happy River Steps are steep, I finally got some shelter from the wind there.

Even in the early evening, the wind was strong in the open areas. Jussi and Petr Ineman were close by.

Towards the end of the evening, the wind finally calmed down and I arrived at Puntilla Lake just after dark.

It was another slow and heavy day. I decided to sleep all night in Puntilla because I was quite exhausted and the next day I had to cross the Alaska Range via Rainy Pass and there might be heavy and stormy weather again. The timing at Punt was perfect because I knew that the next day I would finally get to see the majestic Rainy Pass in daylight!

A new cottage has been built in Puntilaa, where I ate a couple of canned chili con carne and also noodles before going to bed, as usual. In the morning, the weather was still dusty and calm, a little above freezing -20. The route gently climbs for a long distance towards the Ptarmigan Valley. From the beginning I saw a lone fox. After that, the wind picked up and was soon in gale force again, but after a long rise the storm calmed down.

After the valley, the wind died down almost completely and the weather was glorious to the top of Rainy Pass. It was still around -20 degrees below zero. The scenery was amazing!

Descending from Rainy Pass was at least as amazing an experience as going up there.

After the descent, Dalzell Gorge was still ahead, which is also a wonderful and rugged place.

I also saw wolf tracks that were huge! I arrived at the Rohn checkpoint in the early evening. The last miles before Rohn, like when approaching other checkpoints, felt long and exhausting. It was cold in Rohn, -25, but I got to a warm tent to eat bratwurst hotdogs. I slept in a tent for the first time, after staying outside in previous years, but only for a few hours because I had already decided to leave at night because it is a long way to Nikolai, 72 miles (~116 km). I woke up already in the middle of the night when more other competitors came to Rohn. So there was a long wilderness of Farewell Burn ahead. Something new came there too when the initial part had to be driven in the dark. The night was cold, it was about -30 degrees below zero, but the route was in good shape. However, it is difficult to drive very fast in this cold and breathing started to feel heavier than before. I knew I would probably have to poop at some point in the morning. In the morning it was -33 degrees below zero. I purposely only slept for an hour.

I ate and continued the trip, but after biviting, breathing felt even heavier and I wondered what was wrong. My spirit was not going well and I had to drive more slowly.

Near Sullivan Creek Jim McDonough (a 350 miler) caught me and we rode one distance. I filled my thermos bottle from the river, but later the bottle cap got stuck to the bottle.

Soon we were passed by three snowmobilers. The trail was clearly snowier and softer from Sullivan Creek on anyway, and the sleds destroyed even the slightest load capacity. In places you could drive with low pressure, but a lot had to be put up with. There were still a good 20 miles to Nikolai. At some point I missed Jim's ride when I stopped to add air to the tires. It seemed that the route would handle a little better, although the composition of the snow was somehow strange and the driving was very sticky. At this point, the plastic nozzle of my mini pump also broke. I was still able to use the pump but it was more difficult and slower. After dark, I tried to drive harder, but I got out of breath and got so tired that I had to slow down and also take short breaks. The lack of sleep also started to come on, which in itself was not a miracle.

The last 10 miles to Nikolai seem like forever and one of the reasons is that both the 10 and 5 mile markers are incorrect. 5 miles is actually 7 miles. I was already so tired at this point that I tried to stay awake by pedaling, but I still had to stop sometimes and put my head against the handlebars. However, I had decided to go all the way to Nikolai without a bivit because there wasn't that much to go anymore. Tired, those miles to Nikolai are unimaginably exhausting and long as there are many long open spaces alternating with short forest sections. In the last two miles, I was so passed out that I was hallucinating. At the last section of the forest, I thought I saw a small cabin on the edge of the path with firewood stacked on the wall. I finally reached Nikolai at midnight and was warmly welcomed by Checkpoint volunteer David Frearson. Tracking the GPS balloon had clearly been a bit worrying. Nikolai's Checkpoint is in the municipal hall and offers great food, home-made hamburgers and even salad. I ate two hamburgers before going to bed and more in the morning.

I took a longer break in Nikolai (approx. 17 hours) because the coughing felt so bad and the lungs obviously needed more time to recover. In this situation, the situation outside didn't seem very attractive either.

Nikolai had a laptop from which he could see the tracking of the Trackleaders and could see the speed, or slowness, of the others towards McGrath. It seemed that many people had trouble starting the trip, but after that they could generally drive. I left for McGrath in the afternoon.

The snowfall continued until late evening and did not stop completely even at night. However, driving went better than I expected. Still slowly, but breathing seemed to work a little better.

I stopped to spend the night at the edge of the route. After getting into the sleeping bag, breathing felt very heavy and every breath whined like it was the last day. I was very surprised at the situation. I was lying down and at rest! I still tried to breathe as calmly as possible and not to panic. I cough almost uncontrollably at times. Gradually, I was able to calm down, but I was a little scared of the situation. Around the same time, a snowmobiler came speeding from Nikolai's direction. He got stuck in the snow project but said he was startled when he saw me. I said that I could come and help, but there are so many difficulties with breathing that it is better to take a break. A little later, the sledder's friends came from behind and pulled him off the hook. The idea was to spend only a few hours, but the condition of the lungs felt that it would be better to try to sleep until morning.

During the day, the weather cleared up, but the route was very slow and heavy due to the snowfall. I could also drive, but the speed was around 5-6 km/h.

"Normally", which is normal here, it takes 10-12 hours (48 miles / ~80 km) to drive to McGrath. Now it took almost two days! I thought why come here, clearly to the toughest winter race in the world where I got sick for the second time? The last 10 miles to McGrath were again extremely slow but I managed to get there late in the evening.

Getting to McGrath (it took no less than 7 days and 8 hours) certainly seemed easier, but I was frustrated and disappointed. It was clear that I would have to take a longer break because it made no sense to continue in the condition I was in. ...to be continued...