BaseCamp athlete Marcie Cook shared her experience at the 2024 Arna Westfjords Way Challenge in Iceland.
So it’s almost a week post Westfjords Way Challenge and I'm actually feeling human. Got a good hike in today with my pooches, my saddle sores have recovered, and eventually I'll be able to feel my left pinky.
Rather than a "race" report, I consider this an experience report. As Tim Cusick and Namrita Brooke spoke about, I was aiming only for completion. While I'd ridden a number of 60- to 80-mile training rides, have done some hard miles bikepacking, and did some good elevation and lots of gravel training, I'd never ridden 100 miles. Ever. Let alone 150 and having to get up and do it again the next day at 7:30 AM.
There were many times in my training where I thought that I had no business attempting something like this. I'm not a small woman, and while I've been focusing on strength over the last year, I am in no ways fast and am a slow climber…for now. I considered only doing the last stage and bike packing the rest over many more days. But I didn't. And once I showed up to the start line, the thought of a DNF never really crossed my mind.
I did, however, come DFL. 31 people started the 600-mile ride over 4 days, and 21 people finished. My nutrition, despite great advice and training, was definitely not dialed in on days three and four, and my time reflected that. However, I'm taking it as a win. I started, and I finished when a third almost did not. Many lessons learned and an amazing experience.
But….and the real purpose of this post…is the community from this training community. Tim or most probably Kathy had some smarts when they placed Ali Knutson and I in a cabin together at gravel camp last October. After a quick mention and a slight urging, Ali signed up and joined me for the challenge, taking second place. The whole experience was made so much better by sharing it with a member of the BaseCamp community and her husband. Thank you, BaseCamp community!
For anyone who isn't a traditional cycling body and who may not think you can do hard and what some might consider extreme things, you can. And while humbling sometimes to be last, it's totally worth it it to participate.
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