Life in Alaska - Part XVIII

[Nanuq]

POLE, BERM IN THE WAY

"I was pushing it really hard to make up some time, and I just pushed it too hard into a corner and didn't make it," said Juhlin, a 27-year-old heavy-equipment mechanic for Alyeska Pipeline Co. "I was headed right for a snow pole and decided I was going to have to go off the road so I didn't hit that pole."

With a deep snow berm looming, Juhlin thought his race was over.

"I figured I was going to get stuck in the snow and fly over the handlebars," he said. "I didn't know what was going to happen."

But Juhlin managed to ride it out and get back on the road. He still isn't sure how he did it.

"I was somehow able to get back on the road without incident," he said.

Course conditions this year weren't as fast as in the previous two years, Hill said. He averaged just more than 119 mph two years ago and topped the 120 mph mark last year.

"Everybody kind of slowed down a little bit," said Hill, who finished the race in 1 hour, 19 minutes, 31 seconds.

There was more snow and not as much ice on the road this year.

"We want ice so that the studs in our tracks and the carbides on our skis will dig in," said Hill.

The snow caused tracks on machines to spin more than usual, he said.

"It was a little more challenging," Hill said of this year's course conditions. "You didn't have total control all the time.

"There was a lot more sliding this year than normal. You're sliding sideways at 120 mph instead of going straight ahead."

http://www.adn.com/outdoors/story/303346.html