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Norwil

Pat's Call from the Yukon
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It's Friday, 6:30pm. I'm in Shaktoolik, Alaska, it's a little spit right on the edge of Norton Sound. And tonight at 1am I will be crossing the frozen Norton Sound to Koyuk.

Mike Curiak is still in the lead, followed closely by Jon Kirschke and hours behind him is Greg Blackwell. Kirschke has been really putting the pedal down in the last two days and has closed the gap. It's anybody's guess who's going to blow first. My bet is Kirschke is going to catch Curiak and then he's going to blow up.

I had my own bit of blowing from Kaltag to Unalakleet, over the Portage. I left Kaltag in 2nd place and about two hours into the ride I just had to pull off and lay down and take a nap. I was just completely pummeled. The trail was three-foot whoopd-dee-dos — spaced so close together, it felt like you were in a choppy sea: up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down and up and down. And I was doing that at about 10 at night. It lasted about two hours.

"Seven-and-a-half-hours later I got to Shaktoolik and it was a hilly 48 miles. Wind was blowing 35 to 40. Side winds — it was everything just to keep the bike in my hands. You know, it's that kind of wind where you lift your hand up, and it moves...."

The next morning I got up and got to the Tripod cabin, walked in the door and laid down and took an hour nap. Got up, went another 20 miles to the Old Woman cabin, walked in the door at three and laid down and woke up at about 6pm– made some dinner and went back to sleep. I was just completely pummeled — I had hit the limit. My hands were numb, my knees were blowing out... my elbows.

I couldn't eat enough aspirin or ibuprofen and I was just a complete mess. I think that in the Portage I had found my limit. It was a pretty humbling, humbling day. It was one of those bad days that everybody has, and I had it in the Portage: 84 miles to Unalakleet. And I got up at one in the morning and pounded into Unalakleet at 5am, cruised around town. Of course, you know, in a village, there's nothing going on at five in the morning. So I cruised around the village looking for some place to get out of the 40 mile-an-hour east wind that was blowing.

And, lo and behold, I found the local police department, and went down in the basement, threw my stuff in the dryer and poured myself a hot cup of coffee and sat there until seven in the morning, and went over to the diner and had a killer breakfast and went to the post office at nine and loaded up my bike. At 9:30 I was on the road to Shaktoolik.

Seven-and-a-half hours later I got to Shaktoolik and it was a hilly 48 miles. Wind was blowing 35 to 40. Side winds — it was everything just to keep the bike in my hands. You know, it's that kind of wind where you lift your hand up and it moves. It was just pretty intense. But it was a beautiful day and there's major break-up out in the ocean, so lots of icebergs floating around. It really was a good day — my hands felt good and my knees felt good. I'm feeling like I'm going to be able to pull this off and get through it.

It's to the point now, for me, where I just want to get this race done, and just say I did it. [laughs] It's a pummeling, hard, humbling race and I'll be calling you when I get to Koyuk, once I cross Norton Sound — 40 miles of frozen sea ice.

That's all.

—Pat Norwil, MountainZone.com Correspondent

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