What an amazing experience this race was. I came into the race doing it mostly to have a reason to visit Iceland. I was surprised by how challenging and perfect and awesome the race itself actually was. There is a reason why more and more people keep signing up for this race with this year’s all time record of 1200 people racing either the 100K or the 200K version. I opted for the 200K, which ended up being a bit longer at 127.5 miles.
My friends Michael Staley and Rick Swagler had taken on this race last year, loved it, were excited to come back, and encouraged me to join them on the adventure this year. Prior to that, I also remember following my friends Jason and Wendi Shearer in their race in 2022. Even after hearing great things about this race, it’s not until you are out there at the start line waiting for the gun to “go wild” and rolling out of town jockeying for position in the fast neutral start, making that turn onto the first lonnnnng gravel climb signaling the end of the neutral zone in a pace line so fast and finally entering the first several of many creek (river, really) crossings that you realize the challenge ahead.
For me, that realization especially took hold after the leaders separated themselves from the front of the Open Men (we started together) and I moved up into one of the first few groups behind them. I was going at maybe 80-85% of a maximal effort at a pace that was certainly harder than I could maintain for the entire race, but not wanting to lose the faster riders I was with, and holding out hope that the group would tire and slow down a bit enough for me to continue holding on.
Catching and passing riders
It was tricky as we started to catch the slower riders coming off the front group or the open women who had started 30 minutes ahead of us. It was tricky because of the nature of many long sections of gravel on the course which were well defined double track with either deep loose sand or thick rocks separating the two double track lanes. You could see where other riders had crossed leaving deep tracks in the sand (lots of momentum loss) and even one or two wipeouts.
Meanwhile either side of the double-track was hard packed in most places, sometimes with hard rocks that were also energy sapping and bone rattling. So when our pace line would need to pass somebody on our side of the double track, we would all need to figure out the timing to cross over onto the other side. I stayed with one or two different riders I felt sure was from Iceland or who had raced this race multiple times … always leaving a disintegrating group behind from a punch climb or tricky crossing to pass riders.
During this endless climb, I remember looking at one point at how far we had covered, thinking it would be nearing the halfway point, but we hadn’t even made it 30 miles yet! Eventually we made it to the top after rolling on some quite steep downhills followed by even steeper hike-a-bikes. Somewhere through here on the first steep section that was still rideable (but quite long) a group of dirt bikes passed us … It was tricky for them too because the long steep climb only had one good line and all the cyclists were on it, so they had to get down into the loose rutted sections or wait. It took forever for them to get around because of it. They were kind though and I never felt in danger or that they were getting impatient.
Dirt Bikes and Switching Modes
The dirt bikes did stir up a lot of dust, however, and I started sneezing through here and again later in the race, too. After the first long rideable steep section (some were hike-a-biking), we went down to another river crossing and after that turned the corner to see a steep non-rideable hike-a-bike wall. It was here I lost the group I was with as I still cannot bend my left foot and have to hike-a-bike flat footed on the left and tip-toe on the right. Also through here my GoPro battery died just as we were getting to some spectacular views. I had been blurting out “wow” a number of times. I was in awe of the scenery, lack of trees, tall mountains, volcanic rock, and glaciers peaking out from around turns and hills in the course. So I decided to stop and take a few pics, videos, and put the fresh GoPro battery in. That decision meant I had switched “modes” out of the hang-on-for-dear-life and try to finish as high up as possible to the “just-have-fun-but-still-ride-fast” mentality.
After a particularly long steep descent with loose sandy conditions, we made it to a rocky, twisty double track section with actual berms built into the gravel road. It was my favorite part of the entire race. I was on my own through here and for a good long section. I was also out of water by this point. There would be 4×4 vehicles setup either to take pictures for the race or just out there in the “highlands” doing their own thing (hiking, ATVing, or dirt biking) and it wasn’t clear to me what an aid station would look like so I just kept on going.
It was interesting how there would be long flat or gradual false flats leading into steep climbs. One of them that was laughably steep where you could see the riders hike-a-biking up it from a long ways away. There was some wind through here and a faster small group of three riders caught me here that I hopped onto. I stayed with them for a while until getting dropped on the next hike-a-bike.
Running out of water and washboard torture
After that hike-a-bike the next major thing I remember was a long fast descent with a small creek crossing towards the bottom. I had vowed to just stop and scoop water out of the next creek I saw, so I did! After filling up one bottle, I continued on down for another mile or two before coming across a large, deep river crossing where we intersected with riders coming back after a loop I was about to start. There was a large van setup, some dirt bikes, lots of bikers, several 4×4 vehicles but no evidence of it being an aid station (the main aid station was far on the other side of this setup kinda hidden from view by the cars). I had plenty of water now thinking that surely I would hit the aid station any minute (not realizing that was it) or that I would beg for water from someone in this area on the way back.
So I kept on going as we intersected a heavily traveled dirt road. This one was full of washboard from edge-to-edge sometimes with smoother sections in the middle, but mostly all the way off to either side of the road. The road was very wide, though, so you were pretty much limited to the far right side which was sometimes quite soft at which point you’d have to come back over to the middle and just rattle your bones on the washboard. There was a heavy crosswind through here, and I couldn’t see anybody ahead or behind me … until a pair of riders who were riding MUCH faster than me came blowing by on the washboard. I was desperate because of the wind and had not actually been riding very hard (maybe Zone 3?) so I hit it hard (Zone 5) to catch back up to them and then hold their wheel all the way around that loop, which had some nasty washboard sections and nasty sections. We caught and passed several riders who I had been with earlier and only one was able to latch onto the fast pace these two riders were setting. The others quickly disappeared into the distance behind our train. If there wasn’t a line off to the side, they would just ride the washboard at full speed while I hoped my bike would stay together in one piece.
Drinking water from the river
I came off on the last hill before a short downhill back to the loop starting point where thankfully I discovered after a water crossing that all that activity was indeed the aid station. They had all kinds of candy bars, which is my go-to training fuel these days at all the rural gas stations I can find. So I grabbed four bars, filled up my bottles using a hose that was coming directly from the large river crossing. I laughed at the sight. It was so great.
The others in my group were stopped a bit longer so I set out with a fairly large group leaving (maybe 6-7 riders including myself) and we had a good paceline going for many miles despite the washboard sections, lots of oncoming 4×4 traffic, and hills, and headwind and crosswind. I stayed in this group all the way to the next aid station where only three of us decided to skip it (probably a big mistake for me). The three of us set out on the shorter … but way rougher and windier … loop that we needed to do next. This one had about a mile long section of a rock strewn causeway we rode over. These were big rocks that you could not ride over at speed. It was hard work and we slowed to maybe 10mph for this entire section. It was just two of us, though, because the third rider fell hard early right onto the rocks. He said he was OK, though, and waved me on when I slowed to check on him.
Wind and cramps
This terrible causeway had a nasty crosswind, too. It ended on a nicely paved road as we made a 90 degree turn so that we had a massive tailwind. I barely hung on as a third even faster rider (probably flatted earlier) came flying up to us. We averaged 20-25mph through here and I had to pedal out and tuck carefully on some of the downhills (it was mostly flat, but there was a couple rolling hills) since I only had a 36×11 as my hardest gear. The race gradually turned into the wind so that it became more of a crosswind and eventually a headwind again. I was already on my limit (probably upper Zone 3, but tired) and fighting cramps as I had run out of water through there. I had no idea where the next aid station was going to be and decided when I saw that we were turning back onto double-track gravel to just let them go knowing that if I continued at that pace, I would have a full leg lockup and have to hobble the rest of the way in.
The pace we had been setting was so fast, though, that nobody caught back up to me at my Zone 2 pace for probably another 5 miles! Eventually, I settled into the back of a small group of four for a little while before coming off at the next washboard section. A couple solo riders passed me through here and I was just settled into Zone 2 by this point having been out of water for a while now.
The course was following a large river at this point, but we were also in farming territory and much more populated so I wasn’t sure how safe it would be to just drink out of the river. Also, logistically, the river was a deep canyon that would have taken a while to figure out how to get down to it. So I opted to just enjoy the amazing scenery, contemplate life and be grateful for the chance to be doing what I love in such a beautiful, wild, unique place. Then a large group of 7-8 riders caught me at the top of a hill (I didn’t even realize they were coming). So I hit it hard to catch onto the back of them and rolled with them to the aid station.
Thankfully, they all needed to stop, so after refilling both bottles, getting a Pepsi, lots of food, I was ready to go. We all took off and it was a crosswind. I helped pull for a while with the group, staying with them for maybe 10 miles but came off when we hit a steep hill that I just knew I couldn’t hit as hard as they were going without cramping. So I watched yet another group of riders roll away. I figured I was somewhere around 100th place by this point and wondered as each rider passed me if this would be the rider that knocked me out of the top 100.
Long climb to nowhere
As much as that would be cool, though, I didn’t let it bother me and just continued to push as hard as I could in Zone 3. That steep climb was the beginning of a much longer climb that was hilarious to me. Straight ahead and to the left was a snow covered glacier that I knew we wouldn’t be climbing. And to the right was a very sharp, steep Rocky Mountain that also seemed impossible to climb on a bike (or even hike) and in between the two was a very large saddle that also seemed unlikely we would climb. I kept looking for a pass to appear or for the riders disappearing into the distance to turn back to the right and cross over in front of the steep Rocky Mountain where the land appeared to drop off again back down towards the ocean. Nope … we just went straight to that steep saddle, which turned out to be more long than steep (hard to judge distances without trees) but was probably a 1,000 foot climb over about 5 miles. It had a river crossing at the bottom, which I recognized from the way out.
I passed a few people through here – a couple people with flat tires, one woman who just stopped riding, a man who was going a bit slower. But eventually two riders caught up to me towards the top, and I latched onto the back as we began a fun long double track descent that we had climbed on the way out. This eventually turned to pavement as we made the right turn onto the highway taking us straight into a headwind with about 8 miles left to the finish. They were happy to have me join in a small pace line, but I didn’t pull very hard or very long when it was my turn. So when we closed in on the finish I let them roll away.
Wrapping up
Along the way to the finish, the race passed by the airbnb where we were staying and I saw that our rental car was gone, so I thought maybe Kristine and Josiah would be at the finish, but I also knew they were going far away during the race to do some fun things and thought it unlikely they would be back in time. And sure enough, they were just sitting down to dinner after having hiked up to a waterfall about an hour away. I was handed a patch and a beer as I crossed the line and headed over to the tent to have traditional Icelandic hot dogs (which are so, so, so good). After chatting with a couple other finishers, I figured I had time to bike back to the airbnb backwards on the course about 5 miles, shower, change clothes, and then bike back to the start to cheer on Michael and Rick. So that’s what I did!
They did a fantastic job with the results. I was able to see that I had finished in the top 75 (eventually turned out to be 65th) and also the estimated time for Michael and Rick! I saw that they must be riding together since they had the same estimated time to finish and that I still had about an hour and a half to wait. So I rode all around Hvolvsvöllur (the start/finish town) on all the bike paths and played some Pokemon Go. A rain storm moved in, though, so I made my way back to some shelter under some trees and when it stopped raining rode around on the bike paths along the course waiting for Rick and Michael. Not too long after the rain stopped, Rick and Michael rolled into town. I gave them a big cheer and then went back to have another hot dog with them. Michael and I then rode back to our AirBnB and said goodbye to Rick who was staying at a different AirBnB.
Rick had just broken his collarbone, broken ribs, collapsed lung in a bike wreck a few weeks ago. So it was amazing he had healed enough to even attempt this race and here he was finishing it! Because of the collarbone he had had to ride a bit differently and his back was killing him later in the race so that they had to stop and stretch a lot. Many Kudos to him for preserving and making it through to the finish! Michael was the awesome friend to stick with him to the end, too, instead of trying to finish faster. I was the goofball who took off like a bandit at the very beginning and finished a few hours earlier. But we all three finished and had a great time. Also, Michael had had FIVE flats the year before on a rental bike, came back this time on his own bike and had an easy finish with no flats.
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