Quote:
With 35 pounds of gear on their bikes, competitors in the Iditarod Trail Invitational in Alaska race along a 1,000-mile course as frigid and isolated as anywhere in the world.
Most years, racers push their bicycles through feet of fresh snow, sleeping only a few hours a night. Only a few dozen people have ever completed the race, which can also be run on foot or on cross-country skis. The fastest finish was 15 days, achieved in 2000, a record that many thought might never be broken.
But early last month, Jeff Oatley, a Fairbanks engineer, reached the finish line near the Bering Sea in 10 days, a near-inconceivable time. And then Aidan Harding, who came in second place, finished in 11 days. And then Phil Hofstetter, the third-place finisher, did it in 12 days.
The stunning finishes have left the racing world baffled even as the sport’s record books are rewritten. Few suspect that doping, the scourge of many broken records, played a role here.
Instead, some experts and athletes have identified their own culprit: the weather, which they suspect is part of a changing climate.
endquote
In short, they were able to RIDE their bikes the whole way. It's a whole new race!
Cheers
PS: this is not the dog sled race.
