The Susitna 100 is a 100 mile race across frozen Alaskan. You can bike, ski, or run/snowshoe. Here is a map of the course.

Zoomed-in map. The course starts near Big Lake, and more or less follows the Iditarod Trail. The course is shaped like a giant lollipop. Go 30 miles out to the Susitna River, do a big loop, then come back the way you came. Checkpoints and mile markers

Here is all the gear I took on the race. I took a tip from Tim Kelley, and instead of using my normal race skis, I got a shorter pair (184 cm) of wood-core skis. My Atomic NX-11's were created for the full-combat, air-catching, twisty-turny sprint mayhe

I agonized for a long time about whether to tow a sled or take a packpack to carry my required gear. The list of required gear is: a Minus-20 sleeping bag; Insulated sleeping pad; Bivy sack or tent; matches or lighter; Stove; 8 oz. fuel, cooking Pot; 2-

All geared up and heading to the start line. At this point, I said to Linda, "I just hope Tim doesn't drop me in the first 20 minutes."

My friend Martin (right) with two of his bikers friends from Fairbanks, Stacia and Heike.

Start of the race. I am on the left.

And they are off! Tim was a little late getting to the start line, but you can see him making a sweet move up the right side to get to the front.

Martin and others at mile 0.01 of 100.

More starters.

Since I didn't take any pictures during the race, I stole these next three pics from a Mountain Bike discussion board about the race. These pics were taken by Eric Parsons (I think) of bike...

As I said, it is the Iditarod trail, and it sees quite a bit of traffic all winter long. I saw two dog mushers, and probably 20-30 snowmobiles during the race. You are well off the road system during the race, but with all the traffic and the cabins and

The last of Eric's pictures. A lot of the trail was like the foreground: one snowmachine wide. I did a lot of double-poling, sometimes because it was too narrow to skate, other times because my legs were too tired to skate.

Photo by Linda Grover. Here I am refueling at the EagleSong lodge checkpoint, which is about halfway. The low point of the race for me was at mile 30. Tim and I were fighting a headwind going across Dismal Swamp, and I was very tired. "There is no

Photo by Linda Grover. Tim was faster at the checkpoints than I was. He would refill water, and boom, he was gone. I would refill water, move some food from my pack to my front pocket, and maybe change my shirt or socks. This was my pre-race plan, and

Photo by Linda Grover. Tim and I leaving EagleSong checkpoint. At this point I was feeling better. The narrow, winding trails were fun to ski, and I was beginning to notice that I didn't feel any worse than I had at mile 30 (I didn't feel any better ei

By the time we reached Flat Horn Lake (mile 75) on the way back, it was starting to get dark. Tim, who was still recovering from the flu, wasn't feeling so hot, but I felt pretty good (relatively anyway). I had a bowl of warm jumbalaya at the checkpoint

Tim finished a short while later. Skiers ended up taking the top 5 spots. The soft course gave us a huge advantage, but I am really impressed by all the bikers and runners who still finished in these conditions. About half of the field dropped out, whi

In the lodge, about 45 minutes after I finished. I'm smiling because I am done and I'm in warm dry clothes, but man am I tired.

Links:
2005 Su 100...