Am I Too Old For Big Bikepack Adventures

Yes, I’m aging. But at age 65, I seem to feel it more. I have less power and speed on the hills. I need more recovery time. I seem to feel tired more than I used to. 

Is it age? Is it burnout from work? (Though I am retiring in just nine months!!) Is it me trying to keep up with the fast, young WOW riders? Most likely it’s a combination of things. Whatever the reason, the big question looms: Do I still have it in me to do the races that I still want to do? 

Those questions ran through my mind as I rode my loaded mountain bike down Goldstream Road on Saturday. Heading off on an adventure that would help determine if my bikepack racing days are over. 

Big Race Plans

In early October, I’m planning to attempt the Arkansas High Country Race (AHCR), a 1,000-mile gravel-and-trail bikepacking race around the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. And next June, I’m toying with the idea of racing the Trans Am Bike Nonstop US, a more-than-4,000-mile road bikepacking race from Oregon to Virginia. 

But it’s been two years since I’ve done a bikepacking race. I wondered whether I could I still push myself like I need to.  I’ve been biking this spring, but I hadn’t really ramped up my miles. And I hadn’t done any rides with a fully loaded bike. I know I have until October, but I knew I really needed to train if I am serious about doing the AHCR.

So, I decided I needed to start soon. The first weekend in June was approaching. The following weekend was already booked with Eric playing at the Fairbanks Folk Festival on Saturday and his sister coming through town on Sunday. And I realized that I’m on call the last week of the month. Who knows what the weather will be like the other free June weekend? I checked the weather forecast. It was good for the weekend. Mid-week I pitched the idea of a weekend getaway to Eric. Stressed from some volunteering duties, he was game. 

I looked online and saw that the newer Mastodon Cabin, twelve miles in on the Mastodon Trail, was available. We’ve biked that trail several times before. It’s fun and scenic. We had stayed at the older Nugget Creek cabin two years ago, but we had not yet stayed at the newly built Mastodon Cabin. 

Pavement, Then Dirt

Since I was training, I decided to bike from home. Eric had no desire to do that. Road riding is not his thing. Especially on a fully-loaded mountain bike. Plus, he had other things he needed to get done. He would meet me at the trailhead and just do the 12-mile trail. Biking from home would give me a 60-mile day. On Sunday, I figured I would bike out with Eric and either catch a ride with him or bike all the way home, depending on how I felt.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm. But I felt sluggish. It had been a while since I had ridden a fully loaded bike (not counting winter trips, which are always slow in the snow and on the fatbike). I felt tired. I had to gear down for all the smaller hills. I thought I was getting into biking shape again this year, but maybe not? I had put on a couple of extra pounds this winter. Maybe it was that? Maybe it was the 5-mph headwind? Whatever it was, I was moving slower than I had expected.

As I was riding, I started worrying about my ability to ride 1,000 miles of dirt roads and trails in 10 days for the AHCR. Maybe my bikepack racing days are behind me? Should I cancel our two-week trip to Arkansas or just turn it into a vacation and check out the awesome mountain biking in Bentonville? Do I want to push myself that hard anymore? Do I want to spend that much time training? Should I just slow down and quit racing?

I decided to quit navel gazing. I put in my earbuds and listened to an audiobook as I turned the pedals for the 48-mile ride to the trailhead. I kept expecting Eric to pass me since I was taking longer than I said I would, but he never did. We had already planned to just meet at the cabin if Eric didn’t meet me at the trailhead. So, after a quick stop, with Eric not at the trailhead, I started up the trail.

Ending the Day with a Hard Trail Ride

The 12-mile Mastodon Trail is fun but hard. Fortunately, it is in great shape for biking. You climb shortly after starting, then descend and cross Mastodon Creek on a bridge. After the creek, there is a long climb with switchbacks to the ridgeline. You follow the ridge around – climbing up and down -- and then finally have a sweet three-mile descent to the cabin. The trail was in good shape with just a few, very short muddy sections. Alaska State Parks did some trail work last year, putting down gravel and trail mats in the wetter areas. Almost everything was bikeable for me, even with tired legs. 

One of the few muddy spots

New gravel made for a great trail in the wet areas

A wildfire had burned through this area several years ago. Dead trees falling across the trail has been a problem. It’s getting better, but there were still quite a few dead trees blocking or partially blocking the trail. I moved those that I could, but I didn’t have a saw with me. I knew that Eric would have his saw, and that he would probably do some trail maintenance on his way in.

Eric cleaned up all of these trees

And these, too

And boy, did he! It was National Trails Day, and he felt guilty about not helping with one of the trail projects in town, so he spent about 1.5 hours clearing trees on his ride to the cabin. On the way out, I only had to pick my bike up over one tree for the entire way. Thank you, Eric, for your trail work! (Although I didn’t have any excuses to get off my bike on that three-mile uphill slog up from the cabin the next day!)

Eric works on clearing the trail.  You can see his hand saw in the trunk of tree where he has almost cut through the tree trunk

After I got to the cabin on Saturday, I relaxed then walked to the South Fork of the Chena River to filter water for dinner and breakfast. The mosquitoes were fairly thick, and my filter was not working well, so getting water took longer than I expected and wasn’t fun. Shortly after I got back to the cabin, Eric arrived. Just in time, as I was ready for dinner. 

Eric arrives at the cabin

We had a quiet relaxing evening and went to bed early. I was tired and was pretty sure I would just bike the 12 miles out the trailhead and then drive home with Eric. 

Relaxing at the cabin

The Long Way Home 

But the next morning my legs felt better than expected, and I made good time on the long climb up from the cabin. At the top, I couldn’t see Eric behind me, so I decided to just keep going. I felt pretty good. Maybe I could still recover and ride big days back-to-back. Maybe I’m not quite over the hill yet! I decided to see how far I could get before Eric caught me. I decided that if he didn’t catch me by the time I got to the trailhead, I would start riding back home on the road.

I'm starting up the climb from the cabin and already pulling away from Eric

I was about four miles on Chena Hot Springs Road before Eric beeped behind me. He stopped, and I told him I wanted to ride to Pleasant Valley Store then reassess. Well, the store was a little further than I expected, so it took me longer than I had told Eric. I saw him pulling out just as I was arriving. He was planning to come back and see if I had a mechanical. Nope, just traveling bikepacking slow on the road.

Even though I was slow, I was feeling OK and that felt good. I had already gone 27 miles that morning, I was almost halfway home. And the weather, which had been forecast to be showery, was still sunny and nice. I told Eric I was going to ride all the way home. I needed to prove I could do this. Plus, I didn’t have anything else I needed to get done. Might as well just ride my bike a little further.

The rest of the bike home was slow but uneventful. I ended up seeing several women bike riders that I know, which was fun. I was tired, especially when it came to the two-mile climb up our road at the end, but I did it! More than 120 miles in two days with about 8,500 feet of climbing. And trails for 24 of those miles. On a fully loaded bike. 

I made it home!

I have a way to go to get into real bikepack racing shape, but it was a good start to summer training. Thank goodness my race isn’t until October. Maybe I’m not too old yet for a couple of bikepack races? I guess I’ll keep training and find out.