Frosty Bottom 2026 - 8th

Well it’s -40 again

Gettin warmer out there

Searching for -50

Coldest ride I’ve ever done

Brutal conditions out there. 2-4in of fresh snow made the race death by a thousand ruts. 
- started out in the lead group, washed out plenty of times in corners, including one that spun me all the way around into the back of the lead pack. Tried to catch back on by absolutely slamming a climb but ended up washing out at the top doing nothing but waste myself. Got dropped after that as a really soft section started, lost my chance to catch back on when I stopped for 45s to get my hydro pack nozzle unfrozen. Rode on my own mile 8-12 or so. Caught 2 other guys and started to recover a bit. Had to lower my tire pressure a lot more 13mi in but it helped a lot. Ended up rolling w/Andy from mile 15-32 or so, good fun. Definitely was nice having him around when I didn’t know which way to go once or twice. He took a nature break at mile 32 and I locked in to grind my way back to the finish. The ruts were still bad but other sections were a bit better the second time. Was 17 seconds off the last guy from the lead group (who also won my age group) at the finish! Very proud of my last 10mi or so. Had to suffer a bit but once conditions got better was able to do nearly 12mph for 4.5mi before the finish climb. 
- layered pretty warm off the start, was really thinking about shedding a layer/using ragnaroks/ditching poagies but I think I’m happy I kept them? Was nice not to worry about being cold. 
- would have loved to duke it out with the front group but I think I just don’t have the fitness that the Anchorage guys do! The big book of cycling excuses could also point out heavier bike/more layers/possibly too much tire pressure at the start, but I’m not unhappy with how I did. I just didn’t have much opportunity to do intervals or anything with how cold it’s been in Fairbanks. 
- hands and wrists were really unhappy after all the bumps, had to put on gloves just to stop them rubbing so much. 
- for all the weird power numbers I’ve seen this year this actually felt pretty accurate. 188W for 3h50m is an all time PR which is cool, normalized 207W for the whole ride. 
- really cool seeing so many people from Anchorage out and skiing/biking/walking. The trail is busy! Everyone at the race was super nice too. 
- fueling: ran a 1.5L hydro pack with 100g carbs of tailwind which lasted 3h15m then just drank half-frozen water until the end. Got a 50g gel, fig bar and some gummies down too. Comes out to around 52g/hr? Not great but it was really hard to eat stuff with the slow/bumpy/techy conditions. Almost crashed 3-4 times while having to take a hand off my bars to drink water. 
- in one of my many near-crashes I think I also must have hit or tweaked my knee because it does not feel happy with me right now 
- got burgers with Connor + Tori after and within the same 10 minute period we both got gnarly hamstring cramps from being foolish enough to move our legs 
Total edits: 5

Top Sports

Matteo Kuizenga

Frosty Bottom 2026 - 8th

3 Photos

9 Comments

Segments

Sign up to view more activities from Matteo Kuizenga

Frosty Bottom 2026 - 8th

Well it’s -40 again

Gettin warmer out there

Searching for -50

Coldest ride I’ve ever done

Want to see more?

The #1 app for runners and cyclists

Sign Up for Free. Track your progress and reach goals. Join 100 million active people on Strava.

See More from Matteo