Somehow I managed to find my way to FreeSpirit Wear who have some really cool cycling jerseys. I especially love their Oregon and Washington jerseys, but by far my favorite is the upcomming Denali jersey. Their wind jacket looked really nice with a solid front removable sleeves and mesh back. The design on it was really nice as well, designed and named for an ultra cycling race in Alaska. I used to love doing the centuries, especially in Arizona, and this really looks like something I would love to tackle as a challenge…maybe do the 400 before I’m 44? That’s Anchorage to Valdez and back!
Oddly enough Google Maps reports the distance of the course to be 256 miles. Granted a mouse click is not terribly accurate, so there are a couple of miles…but not 56. I wonder if Google fully takes into account that 1°λ = 111km × cos φ. Either that, or the Fireweed 400 is more like the Fireweed 500! Hm…maybe I’ll see about getting a run at the 200 by the time I’m 40 and verify the distance for myself.
Edit Aug 9th 2006: After watching the DVD from the Fireweed 400, which George Stransky kindly sent to me, I realized that the start line was not in any town setting. The start for all of the Fireweed races is located outside of Sheep Mountain Lodge. Unfortunately, on Google Maps it is located by their PO Box address in Palmer, Alaska but they are actually located some 50 odd miles further east at mile marker 113 on Glenn Highway. So that explains the 56 mile error I got from plotting the route on Google Maps. The DVD by the way was a great introduction to the ride/race. If you are seriously interested in this ride (in any of it’s lengths from 50 to 400 miles, tandem, relay or solo) I suggest contacting George throught the Fireweed 400 site (The announcement of the DVD is on their news page).
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