Bike:-
Surly Ice Cream Truck with 1x10 (26/11-46), Raceface aeffect cranks and sunrace sproks, Nukeproof electron pedals, Thomson seat pin and WTB speed saddle, DT swiss rims, Hope hubs, Bud and Lou tyres ghetto tubeless, Deore hydo brakes, Mondraker stoic stem and Stooge moto bars.
This was largely the same set up as when I used this thing for the Highland Trail in 2015 barring a few component details and flat pedals. The flat pedals were right for the conditions as spds would have been constantly icing up. In fact even the flats were icing thanks to the overflow on the first lake. Others were riding lots of carbon bling but I'm not convinced the weight benefit would have been significant and my heavy steel frame would be far more resistant to inept baggage handlers. The ace handling of the ICT also helped to add to the fun factor on the numerous descents. Bud and Lou tyres were the business, I was noticeably riding stuff others couldn't, not to any huge degree but it got me through a few sections others walked. My philosophy for riding on snow is that too much is never enough tyre wise, unless the trails are frozen solid. If I'd dropped the pressures to 1 and 2psi I'd have been able to ride all but the untracked sections and overflow but the resulting faff and extra rolling resistance would not have gained any time and may have knackered me completely. The only mechanical problem I had was due to the rear mech being bolted on wrong by me when I threw the bike together post flight.
Bike bags and other stuff:-
Revelate frame bag (originally for a fargo but works fine in the ICT frame), Revelate terrapin seat pack, sweet roll, gas tank and fuel cell. 45nrth pogies.
My usual set up and it worked very well. I mounted the sweet roll onto one of those cheap light bars you can get from Amazon, which I spaced out from the steerer with a bit of plastic pipe. This keeps the bar roll away from the head tube and lights. The pogies were overkill for the temps until the last few K when a sudden drop made them ideal. The pockets in them were handy for stashing snacks and my mascot pink rubber rat.
Kit carried:-
Alpkit Arctic dream 1200 as specified in the approved bag list. Not the lightest -30 bag available but it was such a bargain I'm not complaining. Not sure what the lightest bag available is but it only saves a couple of hundred grams. I managed to force this into the terrapin dry bag and I do favour this rear weight bias. Up front was a Thermorest neoair regular length - I could have used my 2/3rds one but I figured if I did want to sleep I needed to keep my bag of the snow as it would be wet. Paramo Quito jacket - my usual waterproof and not used. Rab pertex over-trousers - also not used but would have been useful if the wind got up given my non windproof tights. Buffalo teclite gillet - a spare extra layer not needed.
Lights:-
Exposure maxxd, exposure joystick. Overkill as I had both on mimimum and both only used about 25% of their battery power but nice to know you had plenty in reserve. Required rear light was a cheapo planet x thing. I also carried a head torch "just in case".
Other kit:-
Topeak multitool, leathermen squirt, full puncture repair kit with tub thread, superglue and various tubeless hole fixers, 2 spare tubes. Lezyne micro floor drive XL pump, used at the start line only. Garmin Dakota 20 GPS with a map lifted from OSM. This was very reassuring on some sections as going off route is possible, particularly when its dark and you're knackered. I carried heat packs for hands and feet and I used them after my feet got cold at CP7.
Worn kit:-
Pearl izumi Select bib tights, Assos shorts, HH merino top, DHB thermal jacket, Bear Bones Bikepacking lightweight gillet, lightweight fleece gloves, buff, Smart wool extra thick socks, Columbia Bugaboot -35's. TLD lid, shades.
I'd bought a pair of Pearl Izumi Am fib thermal tights which would have been far too warm given the temps so got left at home. The select tights aren't windproof but were more than warm enough. A couple of descents chilled me but only for a very short length of time. The bugaboots were OK but seem to have contributed to my knee issues which appeared two weeks before the race. They weren't as warm as I'd hoped but will at least be OK for UK conditions. If I did the race again in low temps I'd go for an spd boot with yeti gaitors. Light fleece gloves in the pogies were too warm until the last couple of K when my hands did get cold, likely due to the gloves being damp and the air temp dropping on the river. I'd say I was on a reasonable safe limit of kit worn and carried given the conditions.
Food:-
Carried in the frame bag, up front and the fuel cell - Various energy bars, several snickers, kit-kats and haribo, two freeze dried meals and one freeze dried porridge. Ti pan, foldable cup, BB lightweight meths stove and a small bottle of meths. I'd intended on carrying water in a camel back under my top but due to the warmer temps thought I'd bung the bladder in the frame bag which is my usual place for it. The pipe froze twice but I was still able to drink straight from the bladder.
I got food fairly badly wrong. I didn't know what to take that would survive sub-zeros so went with energy bars as I figured these would be edible when frozen. I normally avoid these like the plague as they give me an upset stomach and that's exactly what happened. The freeze dried meals were a good idea as every check point had hot water. The stove and pan were superfluous but the folding cup was a good idea for making brews and measuring water into dried meals.
Final thoughts
Although the warm(ish) weather did effect the snow conditions, in some ways I was glad of it as if it had been as cold as it had been before the race, my feet would have frozen, even with the heat packs. This seems to be my main problem for cold temps and the only solution I can think of is to have warmer boots (which I'm not sure are available) and or yeti gaitors. My socks did get a bit damp from all the snow going into my boots so if I'd worn normal gaitors (which I'd took with me but decided not to take on the day due to the temps) this wouldn't have been an issue.
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