Arrowhead 2012

Dittmer

Doom, Smiling as he punishes us

This sign, sweet salvation

Crossing Elephant Lake

Gray, Farrow, Myself somehow smiling

Winter Camping?

The scene for the last 20 miles

Perhaps the best sign on the trail

For Dave

It's over! The months of prep have finally come to and end. I had high hopes for the race this year but ended up doing really shitty. The pace in the beginning was extreme, hitting 15-17 miles per hour for a while. Even when it calmed down to around 12 mph it was hard going. Being the idiot that I am, and not listening to my screaming legs, I stayed on the lead group until the first checkpoint at Gateway. I backed off a little after that, by then it was too late. I was in no mans land and would battle with my inner thoughts of throwing in the towel the rest of the race. I was so pissed at myself for doing this it only made it worse. Getting to Melgeorge was really tough, the trail had deteriorated to the point that there were about six different lines to follow, none of which seemed any faster than the other. My only goal was to get to Melgeorge and try to "reset" myself and continue on. At checkpoint two I gave myself 45 min to get fueled up and get underway. When I left Melgeorge about an hour after I came in, I felt really good. I was riding strong for a while, and then as the dark settled in, so the did the demons in my head. I started getting tired, the trail wasn't very fast and I began doing the math in my head figuring how long it would take to get this thing finished. At my pace I wouldn't finish until 2 am or later. Between the hours of 1and 4 am, I can't function, this is my Achilles heel. Around 9pm I found a nice spot about half way up one of the massive climbs to build a fire and bivy for the night. I hung out by the fire for about an hour, only seeing one guy pass me (Bill Shand), before going to sleep around 10pm. It was such a great night, warm and comfortable I laid on my back catching a glimpse of the moon as I was falling asleep. I now felt like I was salvaging this race and enjoying the "Great North Woods". It didn't last long about an hour later I was awoken to rain hitting me in the face. I pulled the bivy sack over my sleeping bag and myself and proceeded to turn it into a sopping wet mess from the inside out by breathing inside of the whole apparatus. This is why I hate bivy sacks they just don't breathe. I woke around 5am with my right side wet. This was the side I was laying on. This is not a good way to start your day, but at least it was still warm out. I laid there a while trying to dry myself off by dispersing the water to other parts of the bag, using the top and sides like a towel. I got rolling before 7 am, and to my horror less than a mile down the trail the groomer was hard at work making 4-8 inches of mashed potatoes. I really was not having a good time now. With no way out I had to move on down the trail. It took two and a half hours to reach the Tee Pee check point, not even ten miles of trail. The thought of quitting at the tee-pee was in the back of my mind but there was no way in hell I would go this far and drop out. The trophy would be mine and I will have earned it even if I had to walk the rest of the way. To my surprise the trail conditions improved right after the Crescent Bar. All I had to do now was gut it out on the longest, flattest, most boring section of trail of the whole race. Two hours and forty minutes later I would cross the finish line adding one more Arrowhead trophy to the five that I already posses. It's over.................................for now .....................