St Croix 40 Winter Ultra (Part 5)

Friday January 10, 2025

What a rollercoaster I've been on over the last week! The extended forecast a week ago showed little to no snow in the forecast so I fully expected the race to be somehow altered. I wasn't sure how, but I knew it wasn't going to be possible to pull sleds without destroying them. Obviously, skiing wasn't possible! For bikers, I assume they could somehow attach their gear to their bikes. But, for runners, our only option would be to carry it on our backs? I mean, I know this is a thing, but it's not something I was prepared for! 

So, a week ago, the race directors sent out an e-mail that basically said there is no snow, but the race is still on and to figure it out! I assume some people might put gear in a jogging stroller and push it or in a burly and pull/push it? Since we got rid of both of ours a few years ago, I was pretty confident this was a DNS for me. With only a week to go, I just wasn't sure how feasible it was to look for a used one somewhere. 

My dad, however, sent me a photo of the skeleton of an old burly he's kept in their attic since I was a kid. I spent 7 hours with him on Saturday (one week before the race) desperately trying to figure out how to turn it into a rickshaw of sorts. With only two wheels, it continually wanted to pitch down to the ground as we couldn't figure out a way to securely (and rigidly) attach it to my waist. At one point, we thought we had something figured out, only to realize it fishtailed wildly which was also not an option. On the way home that day, I thought I had a new solution, but it would require borrowing Rolf's poles. On Sunday morning, I tried my idea with his poles by attaching them to the top of the frame. I quickly realized that the stress being put on his poles as they were holding all of the weight from my gear was also not an option as I didn't want to destroy (or break them). 

At this point, I decided I needed to go back to my original idea - I just need a sled on wheels. At first I contemplated building a frame with casters on it, when I remembered we had a bunch of moving dollies in our garage! I took the sturdiest one with the strongest wheels and attached the sled to it. Then worked on a new bumper as I assumed the sled would still have a tendency to nail me in the back of the legs on declines. I then took off and did a 6m hike. While technically it worked - meaning the sled didn't fall off and I got home in one piece - it also wasn't sustainable for 40 miles. For one, my back was killing me! Sleds also have a mind of their own (even ones on wheels) and will always take the path of least resistance so it had a tendency to slide to the side if the path I was on wasn't perfectly level. It managed hills very well and obediently stayed behind me. It rolled over most terrain surprisingly well (grass, roots and sand were no problem, but it wasn't a huge fan of gravel). However, it was also very VERY loud. 

While taking a shower, I knew I had to give a backpack a shot. I mean, it's called rucking for a reason, right? So I pulled out backpack we had in storage and spent an hour or so trying to figure out how all of my gear would fit inside. It did, but barely. And then getting it on was nearly impossible for me to do by myself and this was without wearing any outerwear! There was no way I'd be wanting to stop and take it off during the race and I couldn't figure out a place to carry my water so this was also a nope. Unpacking it took nearly as much time as packing it! 

So I went back to the rickshaw and decided that the poles needed to be coming from the base of the weight and not the top of the weight. Having never taken physics, I'm sure there's a reason why here, but for me it was just trial and error. This time, instead of using Rolf's poles, I used some 5 foot 1/2" PVC I'd bought months ago when I was training for this race in warmer weather and was trying to build my own system. I attached them securely to the back and the front of the frame at the bottom where dad had attached a thin piece of 1/4" plywood as a base. I attached the end of the poles to my waist belt and called it a night as it had been another full day of trial and error!

On Monday morning, I went for a 7m hike. Before I even made it to the end of the street, I realized the waist belt was not going to work as the poles fishtailed too badly. So I removed the belt, but left it attached to the poles. I then just used my hands to hold onto each pole. This worked surprisingly well and when I got home, I decided this could work! But there were some tweaks I wanted to make. I was going from a hands-free system to a two-handed system and since I still wanted to be able to eat and drink freely, I needed a one-handed system. Every time I removed one hand, fishtailing happened. So I needed something rigid to hold the poles together, but far enough apart that they wouldn't rub against my hips. On Saturday, Mom had brought a pair of bike handlebars Dad was no longer using and I wondered if this could work? 

Notice the kickstand?
Dad's idea,
very much needed!

On Tuesday, I headed back to Dad's to try! At first, we tried to figure out how to attach a straight bike handlebar, but the 90-degree curve into the poles was frustrating us so I reminded Dad about the curved handlebars. Of course, the opening to the handlebars was just slightly too small to slide onto the end of the PVC. So dad whittled down a couple of wooden dowels until they fit firmly into the end of the PVC. Then he filed down the PVC a bit until they fit firmly into the end of the handlebars. Added some tape to the connection and foam to the handlebars so my hands don't get cold and took it out for a spin around their yard. Best yet! We worked on securing my poles a bit better and added some wooden dowels to the opposite ends, too, for added security. 

My body needed a bit of a break before Saturday so I'll be honest, I haven't taken this newest system out for more than a few laps around my yard, but I'm pretty confident it'll work. What I like is the ability to easily attach the bike lights to the back of the frame and to the handlebar. I also like the freedom of not having to wear the waistbelt. It's very easy to turn around, put the kickstand down and get stuff out of the baskets. Marcus also suggested I figure out a way to be able to use the waistbelt for a hands-free option. At first, I tried with hardware, but nothing worked. Then I realized I could simply attach the belt to the handlebar directly by wrapping the velcro around it tightly! So now I have a hands-free, one-hand or two-hand options. To be honest, I can also turn around 180 degrees and "push" the handlebars were I to need to. 

HOWEVER...AFTER ALL THIS...

It snowed Thursday night. Of course it did. Less than an inch, but when I went out to test both the sled and the rickshaw, either seemed to work, at least in areas that hadn't yet been trampled. Added to the equation is the fact that it's supposed to start snowing the night of the race and continue snowing all night long, accumulating another 1-3"! I mean, what? 

It's Friday afternoon. We're leaving tomorrow afternoon. At this point, I'm bringing both systems and will just have to decide once I get there and maybe see what other people are doing. While the sled doesn't need a lot of snow, it does need snow to protect it. I don't think an inch of snow with gear in the sled and multiple people on the trails is smart, even knowing more snow is coming. The rickshaw, on the other hand, travels over all terrain very easily, including snow. I had no problem going through the inch that fell. The question is, how well will it go through 2" or even 3" of snow? As of now, I'm leaning towards rickshaw and its the one that's packed with the gear. 

THE GEAR

(some tweaks have been made, but this is mostly what I'm bringing)