Bilbao by day and North Coast night ride

 Spent the day in Bilbao although still feeling on the brink of heatstroke with the 90+ degree temperatures and a body which had acclimated to consistent 40°, wind, and rain in Iceland.

Met up with an old Basque friend of Monica's, a wildlife/fish biologist who now spends his days surfing, climbing, biking, and evenings partying. Still working on his PhD dissertation two years after leaving Alaska,"It is hard get any work done. The waves have been great and There's a awesome party every night."   Just Relax! It's the Basque way.  

A Modern master piece with a skin of titanium;  Seeing Frank Gehry's Guggenheim has been on my bucket list for over a decade.  Took more than a few  titanium lust shots with my Merlin. 

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Dual lane bike path, with clear separation from auto traffic.

The day slipped away, and our goal of being on the road by 7:00 pm to reach our goal of Sopelana Beach by a reasonable time was pushed back to 9:00 pm due to drawn out  conversation  with Pablo, some vino tinto in the park, and our first flat of the trip.  We had managed to ride for a week through volcanic debris and razor-sharp obsidian shards without a problem, but one day cycling in the city resulted in the first flat of the trip. There are worse places to change a tube; Serenaded by a Vivaldi  Concerto, we relaxed in the shade enjoying a gelato and café cortado.

 Fully embracing the Spanish lifestyle, "don't rush, just relax and enjoy, it is the way of the Basque" Pablo had lectured earlier that day. Our goal wasto be on the road by 7 PM but we didn't end up leaving until 9.  I wasn't in a hurry forgetting that the sun actually went down at this latitude.

Being on the road for a month, I put together a tool kit would provide the necessary fixes for a variety of problems, while minimizing bulk and weight. Tool kit: Crankbros multi tool, S&S coupler spanner wrench, compass, presta valve adapter, leatherman, misc hex bolts, spare brake and shift cables, P-clamp,  gorilla tape, sewing kit, heavy duty thread, Ti tire levers, zip ties, spare buckle, Tenacious Tape, Lenz road pump tube patch kit, chain lube, lithium grease for S&S threads, Phil-wood waterproof Grease, pen, and paper.
Thankfully only needing to patch a tube today and the gorilla tape to fix the quick release that self-destructed in Iceland.

Once getting the bikes sorted, I was excited for nighttime biking, for the first time in almost a year I saw the stars in their full glory and ad a chance to test out our dynamo headlamps.

Snacks on the road to save time.

Industrial sunset; our route out of the city took us through lesser traveled sections of the city for tourists like ourselves; Another advantage to touring on bicycle seeing the other facets of Bilbao, industrial park, small neighborhood concerts, government housing high-rises.

Lighthouse

Biking through the cool darkness of the night was enjoyable, I'm glad we took our time leaving the city.  The ride was an interesting variety urban pavement, ancient cobble stones, and dirt single track on the coastal bluffs, arriving to make camp near Sopelana Beach around 2:00 am, fell asleep to the sound waves promising a cool reprieve from the morning's inevitable heat.

The Meca of Fat-Biking

Stopped by my LBS this evening to pick up a few miscellaneous parts for my Travelers-Check build.
The pit in my stomach after paying far too much for cones and bearings to rebuild some old Shimano hubs was quickly abated at the sight of a shiny Ti fat-bike rolling through the door.

The pilot of this lust-worthy machine is Troy, who had recently arrived from sunny Australia on a fat-bike pilgrimage to the frozen white north.  Troy came to Alaska to give his new Muru  frame a full shake down and hone his own winter fat-biking skills at the 5 day ITI "Training Camp", learning the requisite skills to survive on a multi-day winter bike-packing excursion.  

This Bike was a beauty. The titanium frame from Muru Cycles was barely visible under a full kit from Revelate Designs, and had a top shelf build: Hope hubs, DuskerDu 120 tpi tires, XO drive train, Surly MWOD cranks.   The frame-set had super-clean welds and I was told it had ben made in China along side other notable titanium bike manufacturers. 

First of its kind, adventure ready titanium fork with six brazons to accommodate the Salsa 'everything cage': 

170mm symmetrical rear with ample clearance for bigger tires...  

It was refreshing to stand around and geek out on a bike like a bunch of kids; just getting excited about how FUN it is to ride a bike in the snow!  A stark contrast to this week's resurgence in all the Lance Armstrong hoopla.  Also great to see the developing ingenuity in the fat-bike niche and the growing world community of fat-bikers.  Hearing Troy's tales of urban adventures in biking around Anchorage since his arrival, gave some some perspective to the logistical intensity of winter-biking that has become part of daily routine.   I wish Troy all the best on his Alaskan adventure!

14 hours, 20 below.

The Iditabike (Iditarod Trail Invitational race/ ITI)  is a 1,000 mile race from Anchorage to Nome, akin to the would famous Iditarod dog-sled race.  The ITI also has a "short course" 350 mile route from Anchorage to McGrath.  This is an awe-inspiring endeavor to undertake.

A few weeks back, I got a call late in the day Friday to tag along on an ITI training ride, so I raced home to frantically throw together my winter camping gear that had been packed away since last year.
I was excited to spend the night riding with some of these racers and hear about their past experiences on the Iditarod Trail, and see if I could keep up...

   

My impulsivity got the better of me and I made a game of packing as much gear as possible onto my bike; resulting in a rig weighing somewhere north of 65 pounds (because that's where my scale stops).  But I had an avalanche shovel, two sleeping pads, french press, hatchet, coconut water, spare batteries, extra headlamp, change of clothes, and flask of booze so I was well prepared for any apocalyptic eventuality.

The ride commenced in just after 10:00 PM out my back door onto the Chester Creek trail to rendezvous with the group.  We warmed up around town, following several of Anchorage's urban trails, then worked our way up into Chugach State Park and of the front range.  My riding companions were all on 27 pound Linsky welded titanium Fatbacks with minimalist gear, so I felt a little over prepared for the evening, and was cursing the weight of my hatchet and shovel during the extended climbs out of the Anchorage bowl.  

The lack of recent snowfall and sub-zero temps had left the trail conditions packed, frozen, and fast.  A surface well suited for their Fatbacks with the standard issue fast rolling Surly Larry Tires.  My Surly Moonlander  on the other hand, equipped with the fattest, knobbiest, tires available, had me spinning hard just to keep pace as the others coasted effortlessly through any section of trail with a moderate decline.  I won the prize for most calories burned.

There is something about biking in -20 degree weather that seems to suck the energy right out of you, so we paused frequently to adjust layers, snack, hydrate, and check one-another's faces for frostbite.  

Somewhere around 4:00 AM, we bed down just off the path to take an early morning nap; and after a bite of chocolate and a shot of syrupy vodka to take the edge off the caffeine infuse energy gels, my bivy never felt so inviting.

Emerging from our frozen cocoons a few hours later, we were greeted by first light, warm coffee, and a promise of a fast icy technical single-track decent back to town.  

Home by noon. Dehydrated, exhausted, frosty, happy, and thankful for a wild Friday night.

Covered about 50 miles with a taste of what the race pace for an ITI would be like.

Definitely not going to sign up this year.