Iditarod Trail Invitational - Day 4

The first bikers have completed the 350 mile ITI. Peter Basinger took out the win just 33 mins ahead of equally experienced Jeff Oatley. This was Pete's 4th ITI win. Both riders were in a league of their own, approx a full day ahead of third place Jay Petervary who has yet to finish. Pete finished in 3days 9hrs 45mins. Given the length of this race, Jeff came very close to catching Pete given Pete had built up a 6hr lead going into Rainy Pass Lodge check-point 165 miles into the race.


All of the back of the pack has now passed the half way.

It'll be interesting to see how many continue the full 1100 mile trail to Nome, and also how conditions pan out further north.

Above photo was taken from a ITI flicker photo site; no credit listed.

Iditarod Trail Invitational

The 2010 race is underway, and the favourites (Pete Basinger, Jeff Oatley & Jay Petervary) are leading the way with a wealth of experience in these tough conditions. This year I'm watching from the luxury of my couch, but hopefully next year I can be on that startline myself. What an adventure[:-}

Here's a link to the latest news update.

Here's the current leaderboard:


Pete (race leader) has recently left Puntilla heading towards Rohn. Looks like tough territory even on the topo. I can only imagine what it will be like there next year ....

Mebbin MTB Mudfest

Having been out of racing for ages thanks to a certain desert ride, I was psyched to be heading south for the Mebbin MTB marathon. 75km with lots of challenging hills. Let me at it!

It rained LOTS in the lead-up to this race, and evidently most of it poured into the Mebbin district. I knew all my time yesterday spent cleaning my bike was a complete waste:( Never before have I seen such a mudfest! Clay was alreaedy caked to many bikes prior to the gun after a just a short warm-up.

The race organiser had already shortened our race from 75 to 55km. The 45km was reduced to 35km; conditions were so bad.

My race started ok, well up to about the 2km mark with my first big off. Both wheels slid out under me on a boggy camber. I was up in an instant though and on my way. The course would have been great in the dry; very challenging with some good climbs and technical creek crossings. In the wet, everyone was reduced to the inginity of pushing their bikes up so many long steep climbs. It was not only impossible to get traction to wheels, on many ocassions it was difficult to get traction to shoes.

On several occasions I'd slow down and lean forward to scrape handfuls of mud from either side of my front wheel. Then I'd unclip one foot at a time, and scrape more mud off my rear wheel. This procedure was annoying, bit it did reduce the number of times I had to resort to a stick.

After a painstakingly slow 20km I took an OTB tumble on a steep rocky creek crossing. This place was dangerous in the wet; slipping and sliding from side to side, it would be easy to end up hugging a tree if you didn't exercise a bit of caution and keep speed down.

My third big off was on flat boggy ground, in a deep puddle. I did have too much speed coming into this one. Again, both wheels washed out and one calf landed hard on my bike. Once again, I was up and off in a flash. The remainder of the first lap was an absolute grind. I didn't appreciate it at the time, but my calf had blown up like a balloon.

At the start of the second, shorter lap, I pulled out. The leg was just going to get worse, and I really wasn't enjoying pushing my bike up slippery clay hills.

Casper Oxlee did an amazing job to complete the 55km in 4:01 to take out the win. Given the winner averaged a meagre 14km/hr, and was nearly 40mins up on 2nd place, this is testimony to how tough conditions were.

Prize for courage for the day goes to an 11y.o. riding the 25km race alongside his father. I have it on good advice this lad was already struggling big time at the 6km mark, so kudos to him for sticking it out when I couldn't!


No-one escaped the mud today:(


This creek served as both bike-wash and bath. It felt so nice to be clean again:)


Even after an epic 5 hours plus on the course, we couldn't wipe the smile off Hucap's face. You're a trooper dude!

Epic Aussie Adventures of 2009

It's official ... or at least according to premier Australian outdoor magazine Outer Edge; the 10 deserts solo cycle epic was infact an Aussie epic! Here is their epic adventure list for 2009:


Outer Edge includes some great articles covering amazing and inspirational adventure feats throughout the year inc. mountaineering, sailing, hiking, MTB, kiting, surfing, swimming, diving and more. The mag is definitely worth a read if you need any inspiration for your upcoming "holiday with a difference".


I took the above photo using tripod on my 2nd to last day, approaching Alice Springs. Sand and spinifex make way for rocks and trees.

Spring Mountain

It's always fun exploring a new area. This weekend my mate Clewsy (tour guide) and 10 other keen souls ventured out to the rough and ungroomed area that is Spring Mountain. Being predominantly sandstone in the area, the heavy rain that had fallen was barely noticable on the trails.

The riding was great. Very rough and raw, or was that my arse after some of the rough downhills?!? We crossed paths with one red-belly black, but I was too slow to get the camera out for this one.



Clewsy definitely won the prize for shiniest bike, both pre and post-race. I couldn't also award him prize for best mono since this was his 2nd attemp;)



The riding here was reminiscent of Nerang, but without Nerangs kick-arse hills. Either way, I think a return visit is in order. Thanks for the company lads.

Snakes Alive

It was time for a reccy in Lost world yesterday. I love this place. This time I explored Christmas Ck up to Pt Lookout, and a couple of adjoining trails too.



This bridge crossing was fun, and I'll definitely bring togs next time. There were several tempting water-holes.




It was a special moment to see the site of the Stinson plane wreck. The story of rescue/survival is amazing ... definitely worth the read for those that don't know it. After signing the register myself, I scrolled through the pages of other visitors, and see another friend has also visited this sacred site. Good to see you're still getting out and about Steve (Epic) Turner - lol!



It is definitely snake season. I nearly stood on one black snake, but fortunately saw these two in advance. The carpet python was coiled up, just soaking in the warm sun. It rained on my return to Xmas Ck trailhead, and I picked up a few lazy hitch-hikers. Blood suckers aside, Lost World is an amazing place to visit; definitely worth time to explore.