The Iceman commeth.

In conversation with Justinas Leveika

HUNT Beyond rider Justinas Leveika has been a dominant figure on the world of Ultra Cycling over the past years. For 2026 he started the year with a more unconventional approach taking part in two very different styles of ultra racing. We caught up with Justinas to find out about his recent races in New Zealand and Alaska and hear about his plans for the rest of the year.

1. It’s been a busy start to the year already with a trip to NZ to Race Tour Te Waipunamu, so let’s start with NZ. How was the NZ experience and how did the race go for you?

It's been the busiest start I have ever had... Two months on the road doing two completely different races. New Zealand was amazing. It’s so far away that I just couldn't think about going there only for the race. Since Sami was also racing there, so we "planned" a bikepacking trip before the race together. It was mind blowing. Wellington was the only place we visited in Northern island, but we got to see a lot in the southern.

Now, talking with perfect hindsight, I would say that some of my decisions compromised the race a little bit :) We did about 900 km of bikepacking, sleeping mostly in the tent in all sorts of weather. I didn’t count in the wear on the gear starting a race like TTW right after bikepacking. Also the weather during the race was pretty bad, that led to mechanicals late in the race, my brakepads were gone, my rear tyre was getting slick. I got a puncture and couldn’t fix with plugs, put in a tube, that got a hole in it pretty quickly too, so at the end I had to hitchhike to the nearest bike rental that could have some spare parts. It all worked out, I dropped out of contention for the win, but still managed to finish 2nd.

Into the deep Freeze

2. You travelled directly from NZ to Alaska for the Iditarod Trail Invitational. How did you manage to travel with all the gear needed for both NZ and Alaska and the two extremes of temperature.

I can only say that overweight luggage on a flight costs a lot... Luckily Trek made sure that there was a fatbike waiting for me in Anchorage, so I only needed to fly with one bike, which was my Trek TopFuel. But I needed to carry all my Albion winter gear and Tailfin bags for the Fatbike. Those two races happen at literary opposite ends of the world. Deep summer in NZ and deep winter in Alaska. I was making jokes that NZ was my heat block before going to Alaska.

3. Where does the Iditarod Trail Invitational sit in your list of goals? You’ve won almost all the major races on the calendar now, how much would victory in ITI1000 mean to you?

I always looked at it as an ultimate challenge. Its hard to explain how much and how fast things can change in winter ultra. The price of a mistake is huge and you may end up walking for miles or hours and days if the snow conditions are bad. I treat that race with a lot of respect and just to finish 1000 would be a dream!

You should have checked the weather forecast

4. Tell us about the 350. From checking the tracker, the started seems quite fast but then the pace of the entire field slowed dramatically. What were the trail conditions like and how much do they impact a winter race?

You should have checked the weather forecast, not only the tracker, that would have provided you with some answers! The day before the race I did just that, checked the weather, and it was very obvious that we will only have 18 hours of good weather, after that storms roll in and it might snow a lot for next 24 hours. All that will be followed by extreme cold. Sadly, the weather forecast didn’t lie so tried to cover as much distance as I could in those first 18 hours, but when it started snowing and temperatures rose to about 0 C, snow became unrideable and the trail started to disappear. It was a long walk, the stretch that I thought will take me about 15 hours took 27. As soon as it stopped snowing and the sky cleared up, temperature dropped by 35 degrees, from around 0 to -35C. In winter ultras you are dependable on weather, wind and snow can make a trail disappear and then you are left with nothing.

5. What strategies do you use to keep warm and comfortable in such extreme cold?

It’s all about management. Managing your effort, I try to not sweat at all costs. Managing your food, avoid bonking at all costs. You can’t eat frozen bars, you have to place close to your body to warm them up. Managing hydration, making sure you stay on top, as you might be not that thirsty in the cold, also making sure your water doesn’t freeze. And finally managing expectations, when you start doing trail math... I am moving 2 mph and have 35 miles left; it’s a lot of hours of walking.

6. What does the rest of 2026 look like for you? Another packed calendar of races, or a more targeted approach?

I will stay busy, but would dare to say, that calendar looks pretty manageable. I have a MTB stage race planned in April - 4islands epic in Croatia. Then the Highland Trail 550 (550miles around the Scotish Highlands)in May. June will be spent rebuilding and making sure that the Bright Midnight in July runs as smoothly as possible. In August I will travel back to Kyrgyzstan and do Silk Road and then the hugely anticipated Taurus in Turkey in October. That should be about it, unless something else pops up :)