Hi. Altered route for the Rift 2025 version. Less tarmac, more climbing, more fun. Looks brutal. Registration starts in a couple of days. Anyone planning to register?
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I just saw that…hopefully the new route on the back half of the race avoids all the washboard sections by moving away from the roads with heavier vehicle traffic.
Dunno if I’ll make a return trip next year or not (working on some other plans), but I definitely want to go back. Great race and an even better country / experience.
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The most gnarly washboards will be avoided by this route alteration. Just listened to a podcast interview yesterday with Bergur@lauf who said (paraphrasing) that the on paper the route is harder next year (more climbing), but will feel easier since it avoids most of the washboards and traffic. In addition the descend in the latter half will be more rewarding.
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It still has the washboard loop starting around the 52-mile mark. That was the worst section of washboard when I did the race in 2023.
Interesting….that loop was not an issue in 2021. It was after that checkpoint where things got bad with the washboards.
My understanding is that the washboards are constantly changing from year to year, and even within a given year, depending on weather, vehicle traffic, etc.
The issue in 2023 was that it was very dry and the edge of the road was deep sand so you couldn’t use the edge of the road to get away from the washboards.
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I did it 2022, after a crash half way around in injuring my ankle the washboards destroyed by ankle and I had to pull out after 109 miles, I have unfinished business and so want to go back, but not next year … and want to get a Lauf (think there is a reason the Icelandic brand has a suspension fork)
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Yeah, I well know the perils of the soft edges!! When I did the race in 2021, I was coming down one of the descents and there was what appeared to be a small berm around a rut. “Sweet, I’ll just rail that berm and keep my speed”.
Nope…the “berm” was soft sand and I went down hard, off the road to the right. Thank god it was a smooth area without any significant chunk. But I did suffer a what was likely a minor concussion. Stood up and had double-vision.
My buddies were ahead of me so had no choice but to finish the descent, where one of them was waiting. (The others were waiting at the top of the ensuing hike-a-bike).
Long story short - the fastest way to get me help was to keep riding, since the aid station at KM98 was not too far away. By the time we got there, my vision had normalized and I had no other symptoms, so we forged on. No issues the rest of the race.
It wasn’t until almost a year later that one of my buddies confided in me that they were completely freaked out by the incident, while on the day they all seemed to take it in stride. 
Indeed!!!
There were quite a few guys with Laufs around us when we hit the washboards. I was definitely considering knocking one of them off their bikes and taking it. 
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Ouch! I did that once while mountain biking. The berm covered in leaves turned out to be a bunch of leaves and no berm. I was cut up from my ankle to my shoulder from sliding across the roots. My buddies still laugh about that one.
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I’m interested in this one actually. Does anyone have a sense of how quickly it sells out? I just signed up for the Strade Bianche GF, and that was like getting Taylor Swift tickets; it opened, the website basically crashed, then it was sold out. Guessing the Rift is a bit less popular, but do we need to register as soon as it opens?
Very quickly, I was waiting for the regstration to open when i did it, I heard somewhere 30 mins, from this forum (25 mins bottom of image)
It’s for sure a race I would like to do but with the speed it sells out and the cost associated with getting there etc. it will probably be in 10 years or longer until it is realistic with family commitments
The associated costs are indeed steep…we did it in peak-COVID (2021) and it was still quite expensive. The rental car costs were insane…IIRC, it was ~$1800 euro to rent a van for the 4 of us and our bikes for 5 days. It might have even been more.
But man, it is such a great race and fantastic experience. I can’t recommend it enough.
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Yeah it looks amazing, the date would actually make it possible to combine it with a family vacation. So maybe in a few years so the kids are a bit older and may enjoy Iceland a bit…
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I did it 2022 and it was an amazing experiance, but nothing prepares you for the cost things out there, fresh fruit and veg, we stayed out ther for 2 weeks and made the most of it … but definatly a once in a life time experiance
If you are unsure right now, join the Facebook Rift group, there will LOADS and LOADS of people who sell their entry nearer the time (when they realise exactly what they have commited to)
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The downsides of being on an island where literally almost everything needs to be imported. 
Signed up. My wife too, for the Crevasse. Should be very cool!
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