Running like the wind
In less than one month, the first race of the season will start, the Sheep Mountain 150. It is almost an annual trip now, as we have been there the past 3 years. A bit too late I heard about the resurrection of the GreatSlave200 in Yellowknife, unfortunately exactly on the same weekend, or I might have used the chance to visit some old Yellowknife friends.
The is a lot of planning going on this fall. You can look forward to a season with many race reports, as I will not hit the trails alone. I have 4 guest mushers this season. Dave Treasure is already here training for the Sheep Mountain 150 and Gin Gin 200. Andrew Davis will also train for the Gin Gin 200. Rudi Niggemeier is training to run the Iditarod and Andreas Moser follows his dream to run the Yukon Quest. As some of you might have noticed I signed up for the Iditarod myself. With that we have to prepare for three 1000-Mile-Races, obviously it is not going to get boring this winter.
Of course I cannot handle all this by myself, without having a good crew helping out, an undertaking like this would be impossible, not only training the 66 dogs we have been running, but also the countless big and small jobs which need to be done every day. I am lucky to have a good crew again this year, Laird is back from last year for more punishment, so is Gaetan from 2 years ago. New to the game is Ray Edwards, but Ray did not come alone, he took his whole family along, wife Gayle and their 4 daughters, Brody, Kiana, Sheila and Chelsey. This brought a different atmosphere to the kennel, which I start to like a lot. A big family, the pups are getting much more attention and Gayle keeps the crew well fueled with her good cooking. I am the usual "hermit" in my cabin, alternating between long hours on the Dog Team to long hours on the computer. In addition to the crew here, Gerhard a friend from Aishihik Lake helps out with taking most of the tour dogs to his place to keep them in shape and John who runs the dogs on the glacier in the summer is taking the yearlings under his care, so we could fully concentrate on the race teams. This focus seems to pay off.
Originally I had not planned to race much myself, but true to any addiction, it is hard to let go. All summer long I had the good excuse to not go racing, because I would not have enough dogs. But once Richie Beattie offered me to run his race dogs this winter, while he is taking a year off, I started to set my sights again on running myself this winter. It is never easy to integrate new dogs into a kennel, never mind race them right away, but I know Richies dogs from 2 summers in Skagway, I have seen how he interacts with them, and best of the dogs new my dogs. Without much incidents his gang melted nicely in with my gang, a few tense moments in the big freerun, specially Kavik who is at least as grumpy as my old man Chevy. So here we are, well into November, I am training a pool of 26 dogs for myself. Last winter I ran all races with the same 19 dogs, so I am in good shape with those 26. I have gone back to my old style of training, long steady runs, instead of faster training I tried last year. Although I was happy with the placings in the races, I had more injuries than ever before. The dogs had not enough training depth in my opinion, something the long runs fix. It is a fine balance though, to not run the dogs too slow and long, and keeping enough speed in them. This past weekend was a bit of a test, it was our 3rd run to the Canol Road, a highway which is not plowed in the winter. The dogs looked stong, and at the end of a150 mile run (with 2 breaks) I "let them go" got the final 50 miles and they flew down the trail in 4hrs 30 minutes, not bad considering how hilly that Canol Road is. Best off the team looked great coming back to the truck. They must have had as much fun as I did on this run, as they were jazzed to go for more.
Rudi´s team also looks strong, he is running mostly of his own dogs, which I train for him, and Andi is running my old Quest Gang, which as usual is a very steady team. You can look forward to some fun race reports this winter and keep your fingers crossed, that most things will go to plan.
If one of you still feels some hunger for a real adventure. Trevor is offering 2 Special Trips along half of the Yukon Quest Trail. The first departure from March 1 to 14 is sold out, but on the second one from March 15 to 30 going from Whitehorse to Dawson City, there is still one space available. And if that is not adventure enough, I am looking for a fill in dog handler from Christmas to Mid January, as that is the time where most of the preparation races happen and an extra hand would be great. If you think not sleeping, bagging meat and scooping poop is for you, drop me a line.
Happy trails
Sebastian
Sab
