Fat Bike Cyclist Smashes Iditarod Record
350-mile race winds through Alaska Range
Thirty-six-year-old Anchorage cyclist John Lackey, riding a fat bike, blew through the 2015 Iditarod Trail Invitational human-powered ultra-distance race that began Sunday, breaking two records, reports the Alaska Dispatch News.
The 350-mile race winds through the Alaska Range, from the Cook Inlet to the community of McGrath in the Interior, along the same trail the Iditarod follows. Lackey finished Tuesday in 1 day, 18 hours, 32 minutes, obliterating the previous record by 10 hours and the best finish by Iditarod dogs by eight hours.
“I thought it was going to be a fast year,” Lackey told the Alaska Dispatch News. “But I didn’t think it was going to be that fast.”
A few are attributing the record to lack of snow, which has been a problem for the Iditarod in recent years. The trail this year was mostly brown and only peppered with snow. “How long does it take to ride a 300-mile sidewalk?” said five-time invitational winner Peter Basinger, who didn’t race due to an injury, to Alaska Dispatch News.
