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March 12th Good morning. We are busy getting ready for our trip to Anchorage this morning. Anne's parents, our girls, and I will make the drive to Anchorage and then tomorrow morning we fly to Nome. We made reservations this late in the week realizing we would miss the leaders finish. Without a doubt our focus has been on the tail end of the pack. However, we have been thrilled and amazed to watch the race unfold up front. Lance deserves an enormous amount of respect and credit for his accomplishments over the past several years. I have no idea how he and Jeff do it. We can't begin to compare our dogs teams. Those top teams are on an entirely different level. Whether it is genetics, training, commitment, or something else I can't imagine; I would only be guessing. I would love to be able to talk with them about what it takes to reach the pinnacle of this sport. Until then I will admire their accomplishments as they bask in the glow of the media and attention in Nome. I am also anxious for their next show down at the All Alaskan Sweepstakes race in Nome in a few days. This could be very exciting event. As for our hero, Anne, she continues to make have her adventure of a life time. We were lucky to hear in email form from her yesterday (see below). She is obviously in good spirits and continues to be cautious. She wants to keep as many dogs happy and moving down the trail as possible. Mushers often are worried about dog numbers as they hit the coast. Anne is in good shape at this point. All it takes is one run and you can loose some key dogs from your team. So while I am at home begging her to shorten her rest and get moving she is on the dog team and judging their attitudes and abilities. To all of the people reading who haven't run this race there is nothing (other than the Quest) that compares. You can't begin to imagine the transformation a person and their team go through during the course of a thousand miles on a dog team. As tied to Anne's race as we all have been we won't even begin to glimpse the thoughts and feelings she has experienced on the trail. I am looking forward to being in Nome when she crosses under the arch ,dog team and God willing. After some rest I am also excited to hear her thoughts on the direction Hoof 'n' Woof sled dogs should take. I will ask the ever present question "are you doing it next year?" And many more questions, but I will let her have a nap first. Thanks for following the race and these updates. We are now off to Nome. Keep the warm wishes and happy thoughts headed Anne's way. March 11th I just got back to Healy after a day and a half of work and was pleased to down load an email form Anne in Nulato. AT the writing of this she has left Nulato and is on here way to Kaltag. She has dropped a dog in addition to Jack mentioned in her email below. The black type is my additions to help explain. I am in Nulato and things are going pretty well. I had some extremely sore feet (on the dogs) and associated issues I was dealing with from Ophir to now- they are mostly all healed (splits, infections, and swelling). Shimmer is considering being in heat, so I am struggling to find a line-up where the intact boys and girls are enough apart to allow forward motion. Once I find the magic arrangement we do well, but it is sometimes frustrating in the finding. Fuji is still awesome! Jack was dropped in Galena- he rode most of the way from Ruby- just would not go. They are coming together well, and I think I could push them a little more but am worried about a total meltdown if I am not careful- the river runs taking longer than normal because of soft snow. Ruby is gorgeous- Billy (a native friend from the serum run I did in 2002) checked me in. The river is incredible, beautiful run into Cripple- sunset, northern lights, moon, and beautiful dog team. I hope you are all enjoying the show down between Jeff and Lance. This speaks volumes. I will do an update tomorrow before we leave for Anchorage and then Nome.
March 10th Today is Anne's 1st day on the Yukon. She made it to Ruby last night just before midnight last night. It appears that she continues to run a very conservative race. She is giving the dogs a lot of rest. It was a long day yesterday for Anne's fans since the distant between check points was so far. Today and tomorrow will be nice since the next check points are closer together and will give us a better ability to track her progress. I would expect her to leave for Galena today at 8am. If we look at the run times of mushers who have gone before her she should get there between noon and 2 pm. Her schedule does have her shortening her rests towards the end of the race. We will have to wait and see if she has the confidence in the dogs at this point to try and rest less. I am sure she has in her mind the two experiences I had in 2004. During my race I had the dogs make the decision they weren't ready to run when leaving Galena and Shaktoolik. In Galena I waited an extra 2 hours on the ice just outside of town on my way to Nulato. When leaving Shaktoolik the team wouldn't move forward so we had to return to the check point and I spent an additional 12 hours before I was able to run to Koyuk. While I would love to see her start shortening her rests she does remember the 22004 race and I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone. She does have a lot more rest on the dogs up to this point so they should be in much better spirits. She has also learned to avoid the triggering episode of those two events, which was feeding too much before leaving the check point. Before each of those runs I tried to give extra food before we left, that was a bad idea. So enjoy tacking Anne today as she move down the Yukon and pay close attention to the leaders. Things are getting very interesting as people work to get into the top 10 spots. March 9th Good morning friends. It appears Anne is moving along according to schedule. She is now out of the half way check point. She has dropped another dog and is now running 12. This is a very nice number at this point in the race. Many mushers secretly wish to have less than the 16 dogs they started with by now since that is a lot of dogs to feed and a lot of feet to care for. The stretch she is on right now feels like it will never end. It is a hundred miles without buildings or true land marks for the rookie mushers to cue off to figure out their location. With the slow trails of yesterday I am sure the run seemed like it took forever. The Cripple check point is a few wall tents on a creek of the same name. When she leaves that check point most mushers are happy to put it behind them. She is now headed to Ruby and the hospitality of the Yukon River folks. Generally the community centers of the river communities are open to the mushers and potluck food is available. She will be relieved to reach the Yukon. I expect this next run to take anywhere from 12 to 20 hours. If she runs straight through (which I doubt) she could be there this evening. Most likely she will get into Ruby early tomorrow morning. Behind the scenes there is a lot of coordinating to get Anne's dropped dogs back to our kennel. Through the efforts of several friends we now have the four dogs that ran the Ceremonial start last Saturday back in our yard. Today I am making a 400 mile round trip to Willow to pick up the dogs Anne had dropped until today. Without our friends support we wouldn't be able to negotiate this difficult logistical situation. Lets pray the temperatures stay lower. If you are following on the Iditarod website and the GPS tracking units the trail temperatures are available. According to these readings the temperatures have dropped some and the trail should be setting up for Anne and the back of the pack. She still has time to move up in the standings. Stay tuned. March 7th Good Morning. Anne called again last night while she was on her 24 hour break in McGrath. She had already had some sleep and some of the great food that volunteers provide the mushers. She said she dropped Joker right when she got to McGrath because he had pulled his bicep muscle. Apparently, this is a common injury on the race this year due to soft trails. She had more time to discuss her run up to this point. She has been relieved the parts of the trail she was most nervous about have been fine since the snow has allowed her to slow down and maintain control. She said she has been surprised by a lot of the trail and how difficult portions have been. The "steps" weren't as bad as she thought they would be. They were however bizarre. She would enter a chute (or trough) that had been created by the teams in front of her and follow the dogs, often brushing the walls of the chute with her shoulders She was happy she started with her narrower sled. At times along the trail from Finger Lake to Rainy Pass The chutes were above her head. Climbing to Finger Lake she had blinking lights on her leaders and the dogs would periodically disappear as they entered a chute. The helicopter crash in the gorge occurred in front of Anne by just minutes. She didn't see or hear the crash but she did arrive just minutes after the rescue team began arriving. There were three snow machines on the trail that she had to quickly negotiate. The rest of the run to Rohn was uneventful. When she pulled into the Buffalo camps she was greeted by Joe Runyan who helped lead her leaders to a parking spot. During the following conversation Joe made the comment he had never seen tougher trail. He made the assumption the leaders didn't have it this bad. Anne made the observation that he had never seen this kind of trail since he was normally one of the leaders. Apparently this trigger some laughter. He also thought memory loss may have played a roll in him not recalling this kind of trail. Anne has made the switch to her beautiful new Prairie built tail dragger sled. Jeff King made this popular a few years ago and it was dubbed the "old man sled" since it allows the musher to sit down. In order to maintain a high standard of politically correctness Anne and I refer to hers as the "old woman sled". She is very hopeful that the excellent design will allow her to be more organized. She is feeling a bit disorganized after living out of her sled bag for 300 miles. She understands there is a lot of trail left and she is very happy how the dogs are running. Many of her dogs started to have diarrhea in Rainy Pass. She is watching closely to assure they aren't getting dehydrated. Many of the dogs have been vomiting which she attributes to the warm temps. She has been working closely with the vets to make sure there are no major health problems. She says a lot of the vets have commented on the excellent care she is providing her team. That made both her and me very happy to hear. Weather permitting she plans to leave McGrath around 12 noon and head to Takotna. If the weather is good enough she will continue on to Ophir. From there she will launch into some very long runs (time wise) to get to the Yukon River and Ruby. This is the first time she will see the Yukon so she is very excited to meet the famous river. We may not her from her much so I will try and keep people updated on this web site based on her race plan. March 6th PM I have spoken with Anne since she arrived in McGrath. She is still following her schedule and she plans to 24 there. She feels that the dogs will benefit from the rest. She stated that it is hot on the trail. The trail has been soft but the dogs are doing really well. On every run the dogs have been traveling fast. She did say she made a mistake and shortened their rest at the buffalo camp between Rohn and Nikolai. On the remaining run across the burn they were not very pleased with her. She gave them more rest in Nikolai and they appear to have forgiven her. She did explain the longer than expected rest in Rohn. There was some concern that Monty might have been developing pneumonia. Anne didn't want to leave the check point with that uncertainty. He perked up after some additional rest and is running well, the pneumonia hasn't developed. Many of the dogs have been experiencing diarrhea. That is fairly typical during the race. She thinks she has it under pretty good control at this point. When I asked her why she moved so quickly through the gorge she stated it was because she didn't have any problems. She said a lot of the mushers encounter tangles and missed turns that slowed them down. Many of the teams had problems with the water crossings that didn't seem to bother her team. She sounded in very high spirits. She was obviously happy to have a rest during her 24. She didn't sound too tired. I was disappointed to get cut off before our conversation ended. I believe the connection was lost in McGrath. I hope to here from her before she gets back on the trail. March 6,2008 Good morning race fans. I have returned from several days working in Fairbanks. I am sorry I haven't been able to answer many of your emails individually. I am going to try and answer most of the questions regarding Anne's progress here. All the reports from the trail have indicated that this years race is very warm with a lot of soft "punchy" trail. This is most likely the explanation for the schedule Anne is keeping. She is giving them a lot of rest. When she is running she continues to have excellent run times. I haven't been in contact with Anne since the start of the race. So I don't know which dogs she has dropped or why. Most often it is due to injury, fatigue, or a psychological issue. Yesterday on the Iditarod site Monty, one of Anne's leaders, was the dog in the spot light. I know Anne will be proud to hear that. Monty led her out of Willow on the restart day. What is coming up? With the soft trail and warm temps Anne will likely try to continue to give lots of rest. The schedule she is running calls for lots of rest in the beginning of the race and then less rest after the 24 hour break. Her schedule indicated she would most likely 24 in McGrath. However, plans do change. She could be in the midst of her 24 right now in Nikola. The important thing to remember is that this is early in the race. There is still 600-700 miles of running left for Anne. While we would all like to see her further up the standings, being methodical and calculating at this point may pay off big later on. The usual factors of stress are working on the dogs. Add the component of warm temps and some of the teams may really start to struggle. If I hear from her in the next day or so I will update the web so you can all see what her plans are. Thanks for all the well wishes. March 3,2008 Happy Birthday Anne. To everybody following Anne's race you should realize that today is her birthday. If you are concerned where she is in the standings just realize she is running according to her schedule. She is exactly where she expected to be. She is hoping to run a conservative first part of the race. By running the relatively short distances and giving them a lot of rest she will have a very strong team when she is further down the trail. I expect Anne to arrive in Finger Lake this evening and she will likely rest the team there. She will then run in the dark to Rainy Pass. This will be over the "steps". Once in Rainy Pass I expect her to rest again and then in the morning and with the daylight she will traverse the Dalzell Gorge. I will be able to take a deep breath when I see her check in to Rohn and then leave. I apologize ahead of time for the updates. Anne is normally our web person. So I am going to struggle through and try to keep all of you informed. I haven't figured out how to do pictures yet so we may have to wait until Anne gets back. To all Iditarod Insiders check out Anne's interview at the start in Willow. February 24,2008
Well, I think I am now officially in the countdown to Iditarod. I will leave Healy in 1 week to head to Anchorage for the start festivities. The last month has been a rollercoaster of activities, events, and emotions. This is becoming par for the course, and hopefully means I will be ready for anything the race can throw at me. February is always a busy month in Iditarod preparations. In case the normal pre-race activities were not enough, Rose and Grace and I were in an auto accident while driving the dog truck down to see the Vet in Cantwell on the 29th of January. An oncoming car suddenly lost control and slid sideways in front of us and we t-boned her (both cars traveling highway speeds, although I was only going about 45). It is really a miracle that no one was seriously hurt, but our dog truck was totaled. This means that in addition to the regular busy schedule, I have been trying to arrange alternate transportation to get me and my team to the race start in Anchorage (since dog trucks are not on the list of possible rentals at Hertz!). We finally solved that problem last Saturday. Normal pre-race activities included two check-ups for the dogs. On February 5th, the dogs all had blood drawn and had a 6-lead EKG done to check the functioning of their hearts. The Iditarod requires this of, and provides it for, all the teams that are running the race. The EKG results are reviewed by a veterinary cardiologist and the bloodwork is reviewed by the head Vet of Iditarod. They will notify us of anything that might prevent a dog in our team from successfully completing the race. Today (Feb 19th) our vet came to the kennel to do a complete exam on all the dogs that might run the race. This exam included listening to their heart and lungs, checking their feet, joints, muscles, spine, and reviewing their general health. All of my potential team members passed both exams and are looking great! The other MAJOR event of February is turning in “food drops”. Since the Iditarod is over 1100 miles, there is no way that a musher could carry enough supplies to get the team over the trail. We are allowed/required to ship food, booties, extra batteries, etc. to 18 different locations (checkpoints) along the race trail. We gather all the supplies, load them strategically into large bags and deliver them to a freight company in Fairbanks or Anchorage. They are then flown by the US Postal Service to several main hubs. Volunteer pilots (the Iditarod Air Force) take them from these hubs and distribute them to the checkpoints along the trail. This year I shipped out 2200 pounds of supplies, in approximately 55 bags. Most of the weight is the dog food, but I shipped out approximately 1600 dog booties as well as countless chemical hand and toe warmers! In the midst of all these activities the dogs must still run so they stay in shape for the race. I continued to have trail challenges- one day the trail was flooded where we cross a small stream on a series of bridges. I went across anyway, figuring it was good practice and that the water would not be very deep. It turned out that the water was knee deep on me, so the dogs were swimming. It was excellent practice for both me and the dogs. The dogs did not want to go through so I had to lead them. I put plastic garbage bags inside my boots to keep my feet dry, but the water was so deep it went over the bags and my feet got wet anyway. We had to go through the water again on the way home, and the dogs did better on the return trip. By this time, however, I was so wet that my feet were getting very cold (it was below minus 20 degrees). It was not pleasant, but was a great thing to experience when I was only 6 miles from home. Hopefully I will be better prepared for adverse trail conditions after this experience. A couple of weeks later, the water had gone down and I was able to run my first 16-dog team right from our house! Iditarod limits mushers to 16 dogs from the start line, but I had been considering taking fewer because that seemed like a huge team. I have most commonly run a 12 dog team. I knew I had to try 16 before the race start (not all mushers do) and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in total control. I will spend the next week finishing all the final logistics and putting a few last “fun” runs on the dogs. At this point I am more worried about final logistical details than I am about running the race itself. Happy Trails!
January 29, 2008 It seems there are always new challenges to face in Iditarod preparations, and life as well. This morning, Rose, Grace and I were taking some dogs down to Cantwell for a vet appointment and we were in a collision with the dog truck. An oncoming car suddenly slid right in front of us and we T-boned the Subaru she was driving. All people and dogs are unhurt (aside from a growing number of aches and sores), but the dog truck is quite likely totaled. We are already investigating other options to get the team to the Iditarod start. This also will handicap training, however, since a stream that we cross on our normal trail flooded the bridge earlier this week. I went through the stream with a team the day we discovered it, but it was knee deep and fast-flowing so both dogs and I got quite wet. Needless to say I am not eager to be doing that run daily. So we cannot easily run long-distances from the yard and we cannot truck the dogs elsewhere. Running Iditarod is a continuous series of challenges and this one is definitely surmountable- it still is not what I wanted! Again thankfully all people and dogs are unhurt, a truck is replaceable (though a dog truck is less easily replaced). January 14, 2008
My team finished
the Cantwell Classic this weekend in 14th place. We were
within two hours of winner Hans Gatt and within 30 minutes of
several top Quest and Iditarod teams. I was incredibly thrilled
with how well my dogs did.
Thursday mushers arrived in Cantwell for the pre-race meeting and were greeted by 20+ mile an hour winds and temperatures around 10 below zero. Thankfully the wind died down for the race start Friday morning so the start weather was quite pleasant. Weather conditions can change significantly along the trail and even for the front and back of the pack along the same stretch of trail. Friday’s run featured some sunny weather with temperatures probably between 10 and 25 below zero. There were also some foggy areas with low visibility and an occasional windy stretch. The area had received a few inches of fresh snow shortly before the race, so the trail was nicely packed but not rock hard- extremely nice. I was trying to keep the team slowed to a moderate pace on the way to the first checkpoint. I passed several teams and was passed by quite a few (including Debbie). When we arrived, by chance, the checkers led me to a parking spot right next to Debbie Moderow and away from the main pack of teams. Some of the teams had difficulty anchoring their teams for the rest due to relatively little snow. Debbie and I were parked in an area of willows and she was able to tie to a tree, and my hooks actually held quite well. In checkpoints early in the race, it is sometimes difficult for the dogs to rest due to excitement of being around all the teams. It was nice being parked next to Debbie because we could keep an eye on the other’s team when she went for water or straw. My team rested extremely well and was raring to go 4 ½ hours after we arrived at the checkpoint. Our run to the halfway point of Maclaren was actually a little slower than the first run, but it felt smoother and faster. We passed three teams on this leg and arrived in Maclaren looking strong. The parking area here was bigger, but the teams parked on either side of my assigned parking spot had crowded my spot. The checkers put me off to the side of the main parking area along with a few other teams. I think I had the best parking spot of all the teams! I took care of the dogs, one of the race veterinarians did an inspection of my team, then I headed up to the lodge for dinner (soup and fresh bread at 2 am) and some sleep. Sleep in most race checkpoints means finding a piece of floor and using your gear for covers and/or a mattress. I was able to get about 3 ½ hours of sleep. It was interesting to observe the Iditarod veterans sound asleep amidst talking, ringing, and cooking noises. I did not sleep that well at first, but apparently fell into a sound sleep after a while. When I fell asleep it was in a room of about 10 sleeping people and when I awoke the room was empty and the adjacent room was full of people talking and eating breakfast! After a great breakfast, I went down to give my dogs a pre-run meal of a beef and dry food mixed with a lot of water. I was happy to arrive and find every dog curled up and sleeping. All 12 ate and drank very well. I looked them all over, packed up my sled and put booties on all the dogs. We were ready to go more than 5 minutes before our scheduled re-start time, and we moved out of the checkpoint with great enthusiasm. Since this was the real start of the race, I now let the dogs move as fast as safety allowed, but did not do much pedaling except on bigger hills (pushing with one foot to help the team go faster). We were passed by a couple of teams, and we passed quite a few teams. Shortly before arriving in the Big Su checkpoint we passed Benedikt. It is always fun to see other teams on the trail, and good leaders will speed up to pass and stay ahead of other teams. We made the run back to Big Su 20 minutes faster than on the way out- I think partly due to the fact that we were passing teams. Shortly before arriving in Big Su the wind picked up and it felt quite cold. The checkers at Big Su parked teams in their previous camping spot so we could use the same straw as on the way out. I had filled my cooler with hot water before leaving Maclaren and I now added kibble and gave the dogs a good drink. We had 1 hour and 14 minutes to stay before we could head for the finish line. After the dogs drank, I checked booties and removed a few that were worn or had slipped down. I arranged to drop one dog who had sore wrists. After chatting with the checkers a little while, I decided it was windy enough that I should put coats on all the dogs to protect them from the wind. I replaced booties, put on my own wind coat and headed for the finish line right behind Aaron. We stayed fairly close to Aaron for a few miles, then I stopped to change leaders. I had left with a young female in front with Monty, one of our main leaders. I realized a few miles out that she was slowing him down, so I put Arco up front with Monty. Arco is a great cheerleader and a wonderful leader when he is in the mood. He was not in the mood that day, so I moved Joker back up front (Joker and Monty led for the fast run from Maclaren to the Su). This was a big improvement and we passed one team during this stretch. About 20 miles from the finish line, I decided to move Maverick back up front since Joker seemed to be getting tired of leading. We started moving along a little better and I was looking forward to a good strong finish. I did not know what place we were in, but knew we were traveling close to Aaron, Martin and Rohn Buser, and Hugh Neff (2nd in last year’s Cantwell Classic) so I was very happy with my team’s performance. I was analyzing how I could have done things differently to have moved up a place or two on this final run. One of the important things to remember in dog racing is that things can change in an instant. It was getting dark, but I had not turned on my headlamp yet when a large animal (caribou I think) ran full speed across the trail in front of us. I decided it was time to add light to the situation. Things were still going very well and I was thinking I would be able to drive home and sleep in my own bed. About 7 miles before the finish, I stopped briefly to give a dog a pit stop and when we started up, Arco, the dog two behind the leaders was running funny so I stopped again, set the hook, and as I was walking up to untangle him, I realized something was wrong. The dog that was tangled was now the leader and the 4 dogs in front of him were gone. I looked up the road and could not see the missing dogs. The gangline had broken in the middle of Arco’s section. When I stopped the team to check him, the four front dogs were all pulling on Arco’s collar so he simply let them pull it off and then they were free. Given no option, I went and got on the sled and we proceeded down the trail with Arco now in single lead of a seven dog team. Luckily from here to the finish was mostly downhill or flat. My smooth great run was suddenly in jeopardy. For the next 5 miles as I encouraged Arco and we moved down the trail I had lots of thoughts going through my mind. My main thought was that Monty and Maverick have run here many times. They know where they are and where they are going and they are probably thinking it is fun to run without having to pull the sled and musher. Just in case I kept sweeping my headlamp back and forth to watch for tracks leading off the road where they might have left the trail- I saw none. Another part of part of my mind knew the possible risks- a dog getting tangled in the lines and being dragged; an encounter with a moose/caribou/wolf/…, an approaching snow machine not seeing the dogs because they were not wearing any lights;…. Another team passed us and I let him know I was missing four dogs in case he saw them. Meanwhile Todd and the girls were waiting for us at the finish line. Todd saw Monty and Maverick come across the finish line, then stop, and he went and started petting them. Then the race organizer said “Something is not right here” and held up the empty collar where there should have been 7 dogs, a sled and a musher. So now I was on the trail worrying about the 4 missing dogs and the race officials and my family were at the finish worrying about the musher and 7 missing dogs (especially the one that belonged in the collar). Richard Burmeister had watched Aaron finish a little earlier and he and the race manager Mike, came out looking for me. They found me within a couple miles of the finish moving along fairly well. I was extremely relieved to hear the 4 dogs were okay and they returned to the finish line to let everyone know that I was also okay. After I finished Mike joked whether he should count my finish as 14th when the sled and I came across, or 13th when the 4 front dogs finished. Part of the reason to do January races is to test the dogs against other teams, but also to test the musher against other mushers/the elements/the surprises that can happen on the trail. All in all the Cantwell Classic was a great race. The dogs did fantastic and I feel good about how I have trained them this year. We were exposed to some strong, cold wind on the last leg of the race and both dogs and myself handled it well. (I did learn that I need to pack more dry gloves than I would have planned because my hands are my weak point and having dry gloves to put on can make a huge difference.) I learned more about the importance of efficiency at the checkpoints- where I am doing okay and how I can continue to improve. I made some good decisions about dropping dogs, who to put coats on, and how to help set their pace. I also made some bad decisions about who to put in lead, and I took too much food with me leaving Maclaren (the dogs did not need to carry the extra weight). All this learning should help with Iditarod. January 9, 2008
The Cantwell
Classic race format is a little different than most races. The race
starts Friday at 10 am, and the first day is not really a race. The
race re-starts on Saturday at 10 am, and the first one to the finish
line wins. So on Friday, mushers can choose to run how they feel is
best for their team. I expect that some will run straight to
Maclaren Lodge, the location of the re-start. I plan to run to the
Big Su checkpoint (halfway) and give my dogs a good 5-6 hour rest.
We will then run the rest of the way to Maclaren in the evening and
have another good rest before the restart.
On Saturday, mushers are required to stop for 1-hour at the Big Su checkpoint (plus the start-time differential- a way to even out starting times). After that, the first one to the finish line is the winner. So people who want to check on progress of the race can certainly check on Friday or Saturday morning, but positions will not really mean much until sometime early Saturday afternoon. The trail will likely be shortened a little due to lack of snow near Cantwell, and unless they get a lot of snow in the next few days, I expect it will be a fast race. Given current conditions, I think someone could win the race as early as 6 or 7 pm on Saturday. Of course if there is fresh snow, or the wind the area is notorious for, that could all change very quickly. January 3, 2008 Racing season is upon us here in Alaska and the weather continues to dominate the picture. Several early season races were canceled due to lack of snow, including 2 races in Two Rivers (NE of Fairbanks) and The Sheep Mountain 150, a race NE of Anchorage. The Fairbanks races have been canceled the last several years due to poor snow cover, but at Sheep Mountain they usually are running sleds Thanksgiving weekend. As of Dec 27, they still were not able to run a team larger than 8 dogs. I was not planning on doing any of these races, but I did have reservations to train in the hills of Sheep Mountain in early December. I am still hoping to get there before Iditarod. This coming weekend is the Knik 200. After the initial (30?) miles, this race follows the Iditarod trail through Yentna to Skwentna and I was interested in doing this race because then at least the first couple of checkpoints on Iditarod would be familiar. However, due to a variety of reasons, most notably the fact that if I went to race, the rest of the dogs in training would just sit, I had decided not to run the race. Also the Iditarod will restart this year in Willow, which means that less of the trail will be the same. After making this decision I heard from a friend in Anchorage who thought it was a good one. The first miles out of Knik are though a forest with sparse snow cover and he predicted a crazy ride. He also volunteered to go with me if I wanted to check out the trail at another date. Next weekend I will be racing the Cantwell Classic (starts Friday January 11). This race is closer to home and takes less time away from the other dogs. It is also a nice format- we have 24 hours to run the first half of the race at our own discretion. There will be an official restart on Saturday morning and the first one back to the starting line wins! Even this race, in the normally snowy Alaska Range, is plagued with snow issues. The first 10 miles of the Denali Highway, where the race should run, are essentially gravel, so they will likely be using an alternative starting location. Several stretches along the trail are also blown nearly free of snow. I went out the Denali Highway last weekend for a camping trip with the dogs. I was particularly nervous about this first camping trip with the dogs (this winter), especially since I would be traveling on new trail in a place with notoriously unpredictable weather. Luckily, the Moderows were going out the same day I was going, and planned to do the same type of running. It was a huge relief to know that someone was out there in case I got into trouble. Mark helped set up a place where I could securely anchor the dogs for a rest and I visited with them all a few times for more trail reports. I left the camping spot, did a big loop and returned to camp again. In the early morning I headed back to the truck. I was a great experience for both the dogs and me. The first time we camped they did not really rest since we had only come 43 miles. The second time, they rested almost immediately. I learned a little more about my cold weather gear (good and bad) and sled organization and checkpoint routine. The weather could not have been more perfect, not too cold or windy, and clear. I watched the sunset on the first run, ran under a nearly full moon without my headlight on the second run, and watched the sunrise on the final leg of my run. I saw moose, caribou, ptarmigan, and a fox. During the night there were other creatures out there that the dogs were aware of, but I could not see. After a day of rest, I took the remaining dogs on a camping run at our house. I will be using our home trails for additional camping runs this weekend, then will head to Cantwell next weekend for the race. December 6, 2007
On the first
weekend of December each year, rookie Iditarod mushers must attend a
two-day informational meeting. The first day we met at the
Millennium Hotel in Anchorage and heard from head vet Stu Nelson,
4-time Champ Jeff King, and an assortment of other folks
representing the Iditarod Air Force, the Trail Sweeps, Race
Communications, the Iditarod Official Finishers Club, and the media.
The second day was spent at 4-time Champ Martin Buser’s house and
kennel in Big Lake.
There are almost 40 rookie mushers entered in the race this year and an interesting fact is that less than half are Alaska residents (this may be a first but I cannot say for sure). It was nice to meet many of the other rookies and see mushers I have raced with in the last few years. I felt at a definite advantage due to the fact that Todd has raced Iditarod and has attended the rookie meeting before. He has definitely passed on a lot of the information that was shared by various presenters. I also am familiar with the paperwork, race procedures, and lots of the little details that will cause some rookies to suffer sleep deprivation even before the race starts. However, helping with the race is worlds different from actually racing it. The overwhelming message throughout the weekend was – “It’s the dogs!!” Stu Nelson talked about dog paperwork, dog care, common medical issues facing the dogs, and signs to watch for that would indicate a dog should be dropped. Jeff King and Martin both shared information about how to prepare for the race (both dog training and food drop preparation), useful equipment, pitfalls that a rookie musher can fall into, and how to feed and care for dogs on the trail. Much of this I had heard before, but Jeff and Martin are both successful long-time mushers. They are also constantly thinking about how to improve (training, gear, feeding,…..) so they always have something new to share. They were both very frank about sharing exactly what they do and both stated that they were willing to share their “trade secrets” because of the dogs. Their goal was to share everything they could so that we would all take better care of the dogs and be a good representation of the sport of mushing. I am extremely appreciative of their time, energy and wisdom. There is still not enough snow over most of Alaska, but it is snowing in Cantwell and there is snow in the forecast. I hope we get some soon, as I am anxious to get out and put some of my new learning to use! November 30, 2007
Perhaps one of the near universal truths
I have heard about Iditarod is that it is an emotional roller coaster in
which the highs and lows are magnified to a nearly scary extent. As a
rookie musher while I worry about navigating the Dalzell Gorge, dealing
with the cold, or getting lost, I also need to remember that my mind
will be tested as much as my body.
I was reminded of this during a mini-emotional roller coaster I had last week. The weekend before Thanksgiving we received over 6 inches of BEAUTIFUL fluffy snow. Todd took out the snowmachine and groomed our 30-mile trail. At the turn-around of this trail, we connect into a set of trails that are maintained by some of our neighbors. So Todd’s trail work set the groundwork that would enable me to do 60 mile runs on the sled right out of our dog yard. I planned to do a 50-ish mile run on Thanksgiving morning and continue through the weekend with additional teams. Then on Tuesday the south wind started to blow. Here in the northern foothills of the Alaska Range (home to Mt McKinley), when the wind blows from the south, it is a warm wind. I still have not gotten used to the strange phenomenon, but we have seen the temperature at our place 40 degrees BELOW zero while the temperature in Healy, a mere 15 miles to the south is 40 degrees ABOVE zero. Then when the wind hits at our place the temperature can climb 80 degrees in an hour or two! So the wind started blowing Tuesday and by noon it was over 40 degrees. It stayed above 40 for three solid days and nights. During this time the ground was blown nearly bare of snow and the trail turned to ice. I did not run the dogs on Thanksgiving and they howled as a group at least half a dozen times that morning- I really think they were sad about the weather as well. I was still hoping to drive down to Cantwell and run the Denali Highway with a sled team. A call to a friend confirmed that Cantwell had also suffered from the warm spell (as has most of the state) and that most people were still using 4-wheelers or snow machines to train their dogs. So back to plan C - run with the Ranger on the day after Thanksgiving. However, Friday morning I determined that running on this icy trail would risk injury to the dogs. As I drove around assessing the trail, I was so depressed that I felt physically ill. Luckily, while I was out our neighbor called with a report that the Rex trail was colder and it looked like they had not lost as much snow. The Rex trail is about 15 miles north of us and is a trail much used by moose hunters in the fall and winter. As a result the trail is easy to follow, but also extremely uneven due to the ruts put into the wet ground in the fall, which then freeze in the winter. I loaded up my sled and a 9-dog team and headed north to check it out. The trailhead looked promising, so I went into the Lodge to ask the owner (a former Iditarod and Quest musher) about the trail conditions. He reported that there was some exposed dirt, but that it should be runnable to train. As we talked I realized that I had forgotten to put harnesses in the truck, so could not run today anyway. They went into the truck as soon as I got home! Saturday morning I loaded up the dogs and headed back north. For the last 24 hours I had been extremely stressed. I worried that I would not be able to keep advancing the dogs’ training due to the weather, that the Rex trail would not have enough snow and that I would crash/hurt dogs/hurt myself/break the sled/lose the dog team, that I would forget some crucial piece of equipment and on and on. I parked the truck, got the dogs harnessed and bootied worrying all the while. Then the strangest thing happened. I stepped onto the sled to pull the snowhook and a huge smile broke out on my face. Most of the things that I was worried about were still facing me, but for some reason it no longer mattered. I was once again running dogs across Alaska, just me, the sled and the wonderful dogs. I planned to just keep judging the trail and the dogs to see how far we would go. The trail was not great, if I wanted to stop the team I would try to set the snowhooks, then tip the sled on its side for good measure. If I wanted to stop a little longer I would hook some brush or a small tree. There were lots of areas of exposed dirt, but I looked at it as training for the Burn and the Buffalo Tunnels on Iditarod. Even though the conditions were not ideal, I never considered myself crazy for being out here, never felt out of control. The dogs looked so good I ended up doing a 55 mile run. Over the next two days I took the other two teams out so they now all have done a long sled run. Now I am back running with the Ranger while Todd is at work. This weekend I will go to Anchorage to attend the Rookie meeting. This is a two day conference where we get to hear about race preparation, training, the trail, vet care, and more. On Sunday the meeting is at Martin Buser’s kennel. I am looking forward to hearing lots of good advice, but will be anxious to get back and hop on the sled again. As I write this email it is 3.5 degrees. The sun rose this morning at 10 am and will set at 3:30. We have about an hour of visible light on either side of that, but that means it is dark for 16 ½ hours each day. The sun is so low on the horizon that the entire time I was running on the Rex trail, it felt like sunset- there are small mountains along the southern horizon of this trail- so the sun was always just peeking out from behind a hill. November 6, 2007
October here in Interior Alaska was an
absolutely beautiful month- not too cold, not too warm, enough snow to
keep the trail soft for the dog’s feet. Imagine my surprise seeing
today’ headline in the Fairbanks Paper “Winter begins colder, drier than
usual, lacking mild weather”. Apparently October had less snow, more
cold days, and fewer warm days than normal, making it the coldest
October since 1999. Here I thought it had been about perfect!
Speaking of weather, we are now
approaching the point in the winter when the sun is so low in the sky
that it no longer has any warming power. Already the sun is only 10
degrees above the horizon at solar noon. In just a few weeks, it will
sink low enough that the noon temperature is not different from the
temperature at sunset. This was one of the most surprising things I
learned our first winter in Alaska. We currently have 7 ½ hours between
sunrise (9 am) and sunset (4:30 pm), but because of the angle at which
the sun goes down, it is light for almost 9 ½ hours. This also gives us
long and spectacular sunrise and sunsets.
Dog training is going great. We continue
to be ahead of past years both in terms of current conditioning and
cumulative miles run. The cab on the Ranger has made fall training
quite comfortable. We now have a cab heater as well which keeps Rose
and Grace extremely comfortable when we are out on longer runs (we are
generally running at least 3 hours at a time now). It keeps me warm as
well, but for running dogs, we leave off the driver’s side door. This
allows the dogs to hear my commands and also get in and out quickly in
case of any problems with the dogs.
We had been running 2- 15 dogs teams, but
have now switched to running 18-19 dogs at a time. This gives them a
little more power going up hills and every dog runs 2 out of 3 days.
This way if I run 6 days in the week, each dog will run 4 times instead
of only 3. They also will run 2 days in a row which helps them
transition to racing schedules. We are getting close to having enough
snow to run on sleds and I hope to do some longer sled runs in Cantwell
over Thanksgiving weekend. The Denali Highway is a popular mushing
destination in the winter because they often have more, earlier snow
than other areas. It is also a gravel highway in the summer that is
un-maintained in the winter. There are lots of large hills and it is
almost impossible to get lost. In the meantime, I will continue to
build the dogs speed and strength here with the Ranger.
October 4, 2007 Yesterday morning (Wednesday) we awoke to 2” of fresh snow on the ground here at Hoof ‘N’ Woof (by one report they had 6” in the town of Healy). Rose and Grace were extremely excited and spent the morning throwing snowballs and making snow angels. I faced the snow with mixed emotions. It was absolutely beautiful, but we have several small unfinished projects in the yard that we cannot do with the snow. I hope it bodes well for a winter full of snow, but I would like to continue training with the ATV until the early part of November. Since there is nothing I can do about the amount of snow we have, I decided to enjoy watching the girls play while I tried to make sure there was nothing buried under the snow that we would need between now and May. Training has been going very well and the Ranger continues to be an excellent training tool. Yesterday I picked up the cab, so today’s project is to get it put on. With a current temperature of 17, the protection from wind will be very nice (especially for Rose and Grace). The trails continue to be wet, even under the snow. The other exciting news is that we have 6 new team members. Since they were just born a week ago, they will not be ready to run Iditarod for at least two years. The mom is Spare, one of our fast female leaders. Six boys from her previous litter are in training for Iditarod this year and are showing great promise. The young puppies’ dad is Monty, our fastest male leader and a great command leader. Both Spare and Monty were key dogs in Todd’s Iditarods and I hope to have Monty on my team. August 25, 2007 The coming of fall at Hoof ‘N’ Woof Sled Dogs is accompanied by many changes. The days are growing shorter at a rate of over 6 minutes a day. When the dogs bark at night, we can no longer simply look out the window and find the moose, rabbit, or squirrel that is upsetting them because it is now dark. Here in interior Alaska, the fireweed is already done flowering and it’s leaves are turning purple. Some willow and aspen leaves are starting to turn yellow and cranberries are ripening. The “Hoof” of Hoof ‘N’ Woof is winding down for the season. In the last two weeks we have butchered 5 pigs to yield over 500 pounds of meat for our freezer. We have extracted the honey from 2 bee hives and now have nearly 6 gallons of honey in jars. We recently bottled 2 batches of wine and will soon be bottling the last three of the season. The “Woof” of Hoof ‘N’ Woof is gearing up for the season. We started training dogs this year on August 2. Today I took the dogs on an 8 mile run. I am really excited to be this far along in training. In the past, we have not reached this point in training until the end of September or early October. Perhaps even more exciting is the way the team looks at this point. I have always been amazed at the power and enthusiasm of sled dogs, but this year the dogs are exceeding my expectations at every step. The first few weeks of fall training are as much about re-establishing good manners as they are about physical conditioning. In their excitement to resume running, the dogs sometimes forget that they are not supposed to chew on the lines or their harness. They forget they are not supposed to jump all over the musher as she attempts to put on their harness. They forget they are supposed to stay “lined out”, meaning the leaders keep the gang line taut and the team dogs do not stray too far from side to side. One especially critical point, they forget they are not supposed to fight with their team members. Gentle correction and a few runs generally corrects most of the issues, but the first couple of runs feel a bit like a circus with dogs bouncing all over the place in their excitement. For preventing fighting, the key is for the musher to establish themselves as the dominant member of the team. If that is done, the other dogs will have no reason to fight, since they cannot hope to be the alpha (or top dog). We have found the most effective way to prevent fighting is to lead dogs though each others’ circles as we take them to and from the “sled”. If dogs act aggressive, we “growl” a “NO” and in almost all cases, the behavior is corrected. In the rare event of an actual fight, we put the offending dogs on their backs, wolf style, again to let them know we are boss. When we let them up, we make the fighters stand face to face and without exception they will not even look at each other. As long as we are firm at the start of the running season, potential fights can be put down with an emphatic “no” or “hey” for the rest of the year. This year, all but 2 of the 31 dogs that I am training were in the main pool last year. This means that they saw lots of 50 mile runs, and a few longer runs. I am amazed at the difference this had made in early training compared to other years. They have started the season with amazing strength and have needed few behavior corrections. Tomorrow we head for Hawaii for a week for some R&R and for Todd to attend a medical conference. I am very pleased to have been able to do an 8-mile run before leaving. The dogs will now have 10 days off to rest and grow stronger and when I return they will be more eager than ever to resume running.
The weather station at our kennel. For the Healy forecast go to www.weatherunderground.com/US/AK/Healy.html
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