Iditarod Race Report Part 2
Traveling for close to 11hrs and it seemed like a risky move to me to pull out of the checkpoint. But after all I had trained the dogs to do long runs and it was only 18 miles to Takotna. Those 18 miles took me close to 3hrs, that is the same time it takes me at home with a 6 dog team to go from the Kennel to 37 Mile Lake which is also 18 miles away. Leaving McGrath I asked about the trail conditions and was told that it is hard packed and fast. Yeah right, like hardly any tracks ahead of us, it was a slow slog through some deep soft snow.
We checked into Takotna at 6:20 a.m., and I was glad to be there. To my surprise we were the 7th team to sign in. Time to check the dogs after that long 14 hr run, but besides them being a little tired they all looked great. Each one of them also devoured their meal, which confirmed to me, that their tiredness was more mental than physical. Not long after we arrived it started to snow heavily, big wet flakes, mixed with rain, not perfect conditions for the dogs to rest in. We had covered all the fleece blankets with ripstop nylon, that kept most of the moisture out. Jeff Kings team was resting beside me, under a little roof overhang, a spot I will remember for the future. I have to admit he had me real surprised when he pulled out some tarps to shield his dogs from the precipitation, talking about somebody being prepared.
The food on Takotna once again was great. All the pies you can think off were lining the kitchen tables. While eating, the checkpoint all for sudden emptied completely, as word filtered though that there had been a plane crash at the airport. It takes more than that to divert my attention from a good meal, so I kept on munching away. Luckily it turned out that all of the planes passengers were fine, except for a few bumps and bruises. The time in Takotna flew by, between making more meals for the dogs, massaging them and sorting through the sled and cleaning up things. I even did a load of laundry here. After my starting time got adjusted I was scheduled to leave at 7:19 a.m. not a perfect time, I would have rather left a few hours earlier. Leaving Takotna some of the dogs were developing loose stools, I think I overfed them. During my brief stop in Ophir I got some medications from the veterinarians and kept on going. Although this was a beautiful sunny morning, this was not good news for us. Much too soon the temperatures were too warm to run dogs. It was a tough decision of when to pull over and I was not happy with going camping at 1 p.m., after less than 6hrs runtime, but I was also not willing to slog along with 5 miles per hour, knowing that a few hours later I would do the same stretch much faster. The dogs were resting stretched out in the sun, while I got a good nap in my sleeping bag, almost getting too hot in there. I had to put earplugs in, because every few minutes a team would pass by and I could not resist to watch who it would be. The nap felt good, obviously not only to me, as the dogs were eager to go after I gathered up the stuff at our campsite. It did not take long and we came by the spot where William Kleedehn and Hans Gatt had rested, William was just in the process of taking off. We were traveling together for a while.
I noticed Inuk und Franky changing their gate and had to stop quite a few times to massage them. With Inuk I could pinpoint it to a sore biceps muscle on his left shoulder, with Franky I could not really find the cause. William seemed to have similar problems as we passed each other quite a few times. During one of those passes my gangline first wrapped around his runner, than around Herrings hind leg. With Herring being far back in the team, the line pulled so sight I could not release the tension, neither cut it due to the fact is has cable in it, but also than my first 13 dogs would take off. Luckily William came up to help me untangle poor Herring. After having a clean run to this point, I now had 3 dogs at once, I needed to keep a close eye on.
Once we arrived in Cripple Herrings hock was swollen but still had full range of mobility. Inuk was slowly improving and no change with Franky. The team ate well and settled into their napping routine. For me that was a different story, the checkpoint was very full. They already had to park us out in the open and I could not find a warm sleeping space in any of the tents. Once again I pulled out the sleeping bag to sleep besides the team, thankfully this was a warm race. After a short 5 hr break, we hit the trail about 6 a.m. again. I decided to take all 3 questionable dogs, a bit of a risk as the next run is a long one. The trail winds though small spruce forests before heading into Poorman, an old abandoned mining town. From here it enters an area recently burned before finally hitting a nice large road, which even boasts mileage signs to Ruby. We camped about 38 miles away. Finding a good camping spot was not as easy as I thought. Either it was too windy, or where there was no wind the snow was hip deep. I had little choice but to trample down a rest area off the trail in the deep snow, precious napping time went down the drain doing so. The rest for the dogs was great though, they once again slept stretched out in the sun, I woke up about an hour later than I intended, but it was still very warm and I am sure the dogs could use the rest. We left our camp spot at 4:30 p.m. passing by several Idita Bikers and one Idita Hiker, those are people who travel the whole trail by bike or on foot.
We arrived shortly after 9 p.m. in Ruby, after a short 5 hr run, much too short to do our mandatory 8 hr rest here. All mushers have to do 8 hrs rest in one of the Yukon River Checkpoints of Ruby, Galena, Nulato or Kaltag. The Ruby checkpoint was once again very full and our parking spot was far away from the community hall. But also once in there, it was hard to find a dry sleeping space. On the upside though, my precooked meals from Mimi at Polar Meals worked great, I always looked for the nearest microwave in each checkpoint. I had neglected my personal food in past races and I think it paid off this year to have proper nutrition and not only to live of chocolate bars.
Looking at the run schedule ahead it would made sense to leave at 3 a.m. and thus hopefully making it to Galena by 10a.m., than taking my mandatory 8 hr rest there. That should keep us in a nice daytime schedule. While leaving Ruby I piled my team into one of the numerous camera people. The guy sat right in the middle of the trail, actually asking me to stop, with little understanding that this might not be possible with 16 dogs on a fairly steep downhill. This was now the 2nd time I had an accident with a camera man and I have to admit I got a bit annoyed with it. Although it is nice to have great race coverage, I do not want to hurt my dog team while getting that coverage. After sorting out the team we were heading down the Yukon River. The River showed it’s gentle side, warm temperature, the thermometer showed 25 F and there was no wind. The now was sticky once again and Martin Buser passed me while I was changing booties. This showed me that I was in good company and I decided to take a closer look at the run and rest times while having my break in Galena. I was exactly on the opposite daytime schedule than 2 years ago. The stretches I never saw in darkness in 06, I could now enjoy in daylight.
Although the Galena Checkpoint was in a different spot than before, it was once again superbly organized. We even had real beds to sleep on, that was a first for me since the start and I gladly took advantage of that. Franky’s shoulder did not improve, although he showed no pain anywhere. This might be just due to the fact that he is a very tough dog, simply not willing to show his pain. I decided to drop him, as with 15 dogs I still had plenty of horsepower. Having a large team is nice, as I am not quite lightweight myself.
We left to Nulato short after 5:30 p.m. and quickly caught up to Aaron Burmeister who left 20 Minutes ahead of us. The sun was still out and as soon as it disappeared the trail hardened up and travel became much more pleasant. This run was one of the nicest of the whole race for me. The temperature dropped from above freezing to Minus 10F within a few hours. Dense fog enshrouded the River, making it difficult to see the team ahead. Looking up though, was a different story. Some of the most amazing Northern Lights were dancing in the sky. The display lasted for several hours, being so bright, that I could run without a headlight. Those are the moments I live for: Traveling down the Yukon River, with 15 of my best friends, who pull in perfect harmony. I started pondering how many miles I had already traveled with dogs like Tang, Wondar and Libby. I was wondering how many more miles I was going to run with the young dogs like Ricky, Inuk or Finn. Time looses it’s importance in those moments. It is one of the rare moments in life, where we totally live in the here and now.
One last bend in the River and Nulato appeared out of the dense fog. The trail weaving once again through town we were in a different building than 2 years ago. The checkpoint also was extremely well organized. This is something us mushers value. Each year we vote at the post mushers “ Finishers Club “ meeting for the “ Golden Clipboard “ award. Although it is hard to choose between the many great checkpoints, it went to Nulato this year, so other mushers must have shared the positive experience here.
The trail conditions leaving Nulato were perfect. Well marked, no wind and relatively hard packed. We arrived after only 4hrs 55 minutes in Kaltag, while teams ahead of us traveling the same stretch in daytime did take more than 7 hrs. I had Nemo and Finn in lead, which proved to be the fastest combination in the team. Although sometimes along the way, those 2 have some funny ideas of where they like to go. In Kaltag I had done some serious mistakes in the past: Resting too long, or like last year completely oversleeping by 3 hrs. While loading up my dogfood and straw, my whole team started barking and lunging in the lines, something they had not done in several hundred miles. It took 2 people to stand on both snowhooks for them to not take off without me. Boy was that a nice sight, those dogs seemed to read my mind.
Just while I was taking off, 2 other teams were also leaving, Hans Gatt and Kjetil Backen. Hans caught up to me within an hour, but he did not travel significantly faster than me. It would take Kjetil 30 minutes to arrive at my camping spot, after I had pulled over. Despite the long run my gang was traveling well. Our camp stop was on a nice downhill slope, that makes take off easier. It was also far enough off the trail for the dogs not to notice the bypassing teams. Once again I was surprised who all came by, right during the heat of the day. Champaine Race diet with First Mate dryfood was on the menu plan for the dogs today, followed by some Artic Char snacks. Rolling out my sleeping bag beside the sled once again, I caught a nice nap before continuing towards Unalakleet.
Even here on the Kaltag Portage, the weather was gentle, I could see old Woman Mountain in the far distance. While passing by tripod flats cabin, Zack Steer was just in the process of taking off and in the distance I could see Gerry Willomitzer behind us. We all must have been on the same running schedule. Passing by Old Woman Cabins, that place was occupied by many of the snowmobilers following the race. Of course these trails and cabins are public, but it does have quite an impact of having those people travel right amongst us racers. The machines chew up the trail, making soft sugar snow out of an otherwise hard packed surface, specially if they travel in large groups. This is something ITC will have to deal with in the future, same as other professional race organizations had to do in the past. I do not think that bicycle tourists can bike on the same public roads while the Tour de France is happening.
Arriving in Unalakleet I was greeted by our winter neighbor John Schandelmeier. He was exited to see me arrive in 15th place with 15 dogs. So was I. It was dead calm here, no wind, it felt like Easter and Christmas falling on the same day. Ricky looked a bit tired upon my arrival. I almost dropped him. The vets could not find anything wrong with him, neither could I. He looked much better after our rest, so I decided to take him along. I think he had the typically tiredness of a young dog, who is doing his first 1000 Miler. They at some point wonder if this run is ever going to end, a process during which they learn to pace themselves a bit more.
Leaving Unalakleet the trail soon enters into the Blueberry Hills. Although beautifully looking I never liked this long up and down. This year it was more effortless than in the past, as 15 dogs had ample power up the hills. Also there was a lot more snow than in past years, making this run very enjoyable. We passed some teams going into Shaktoolik. For a short moment I was debating to “ a move “ here and to keep on going, but after all decided against it. I rather wanted to keep the position we were in and not taking the risk to slow down the team too much. Shaktoolik was as well organized as always, but very busy this year, with a lot of teams running very closely together. Between places 5 and 25 were a mere 4hrs. That did not leave much room for much error, but also no room for long rests. Four and a half hours later we were on our way to Koyuk.
The wind picked up a bit and I was debating to put dog coats on the dogs. With Ed Iten preparing to leave at the same time and him not running any coats I asked him for advice. He told me that he rather leaves them off, as although it being windy the temperatures were still warm. Made sense to me, so I also left mine off. Glad I did, as the wind subsided later while we crossed the Norton Sound. The lights of Koyuk looked as they were right around the corner, than as it started to snow a bit, they disappeared. Finally tiredness started catching up with me. I had a hard time staying awake during this run. There is not much for scenery on this run and is very boring also for the dogs. Not surprisingly we had a slow 7 hr runtime on this stretch.
As unmotivated as the dogs looked on the sea ice, as quickly did they come alive once we entered Koyuk. They were spreading their straw all over the place, rolling in the snow. Their dog food once again disappeared within seconds of me putting it in front of them. At this point it started to dawn to me, that there was not much more I could do wrong with this team. They were in sync with our running schedule. I had absolutely no issues. Not one split in a foot, nor any sprained muscles. That made taking care of the team easy. Just putting booties on 15 dogs was painful undertaking before each run. Koyuk offers a nice and quite sleeping space for us mushers, but my nap was short, as I wanted to travel as much at nighttime as possible. We left after 5hrs, in hindsight, this would have been a place I could have saved one more hour, as I am sure the dogs would have been ready after 4hrs also.
The dogs were ready, but I clearly was not. Short after leaving, I was fighting to stay awake again. I would nod off, over and over again, just to wake up in a panic to loose my team. We run along the shore, not much needs our attention. Each time I woke up, the dog were just trotting along. Traveling by Moses point, some Airport beacon we finally hit the road leading us into Elim. I marvel the picturesque setting of the village each year again. The checkpoint was as usual in the firehall. Much to my surprise Rick Swenson was still resting his team when I arrived, I didn’t expect to see him again. I the past years I had always rested here for several hours, but this year I decided to basically go straight on through. As I have done in the Copper Basin going through Wolverine, I would just stop long enough, to serve the team a meal. Each dog which would eat would continue running with me. The ones who would skip, would stay behind. Nobody skipped. I took a second look at Tang, her being 11 years old, I decided to drop her. I could tell that she did not understand what was going on. This run would take a total of 15hrs and I felt that she really did not need that experience anymore. I had 14 other healthy dogs, so I handed her over to the checkers with the comment: “She listens well, you do not need to walk her on leash and she likes kids. “ When I quickly went into the checkpoint right before leaving, I saw several kids playing with Tang in the corner. I grabbed the water I came in for and stopped second guessing the decision to drop her.
Heading out at 1:30 p.m. was by far not my favorite time of the day. We were lucky as there was just enough cloud cover that the temperatures would stay below freezing. The trail remained hard and we made good time going towards White Mountain. Much to my surprise Zack Steer came into the checkpoint right as I pulled out, but he did only stay a few minutes and I could see him behind me on the bay ice. This was going to be the beginning of a race to the finish line with him. Basically since Nulato we had been on the same schedule. There are 2 race routes leaving Elim, one long one over 2 mountains, and one shorter one over the sea ice and one mountain. This year we were lucky and they picked the short route, but nevertheless the trail is once again challenging. Little McKineley has several long and steep uphill sections followed by a wild ride down the other side. Having Zack behind me motivated to run and skipole, instead of just standing on the runners. He still caught up to me, once we entered Golvin Bay on the other side of the mountains. Once again, no wind, very nice. The dogs picked up the pace as Golovin came within sight. This is a tricky part of the race, as they expect a checkpoint there, but there is none. Leaving Golovin we did not have the same opinion about the outbound trail, and Popcorn and Nemo decided to wrap the whole team around a Power pole. After untangling the mess we continued towards White Mountain, but the traveling speed dropped significantly. Many teams have experienced “ shut down problems” here in the past, and it would also happen in this years race. Zack and me did both not have the greatest run on these 18 miles, many times passing each other. I started to loose my patience with certain dogs, like Inuk, who would pee every 2 minutes, I think just so he could slow down the team.
We arrived in White Mountain 6hrs and 30 minutes after leaving Elim, which was not bad after all. Maybe I just thought we were slow, as I had been standing on the runners for many hours. The dogs were their wiggly self, showcasing that they still had lots of energy. Popcorn and Nemo pulled out my front hook 2 times while playing, tying the rest of the team in a big knot. Not exactly what I needed badly wanting to rest. I put Diesel with Nemo, them 2 not liking each other much, that settled things down quickly. I was anxious to see which teams would arrive at what time behind us. This close to the finish, we were sorting out our final positions. I was in 11th place, although I would have also been happy with 12th or 13th ( top 20 was my goal ) I was not too keen only loosing this spot. With Zack only minutes ahead 10th seemed also within reach. Cim Smyth arrived only 1hr and 15 minutes behind. With him usually finishing very strong, I was worried he would catch me. Something which almost became true, as he finished a mere 9 minutes behind us.
The 8hrs rest were much too short for me, it took me quite a bit of time to wake up. Trudging back outside to the dogs, they were all laying cozily under their fleece blankets in the straw. 28 eyes peered at me, wondering what takes me so long to give them their second meal. After packing the sled with just the minimum for equipment we pulled the hook at 4 p.m. 2 minutes behind Zack. It did not take long and we caught up to him. The game from the day before repeated, of us passing each other. I had a bit more speed in the hills, while he was faster in the flats. Thank to racing each other time went by quick, after less than 4hrs we came off the hills and passed by the Topkok flats shelter cabin. There was no need to look for shelter, as even the infamous blowhole seemed to have a day off today. Zack passed me while giving out snacks and we than tailed him for the next little while. When he needed to stop for something, I was hoping to take advantage of that and to pull away from him. Wishful thinking, as coming into Safety we were only one minute apart. I was drenched in sweat from helping the dogs.
“ Hey Sab, let’s do a deal “ came the call from behind. At first not too sure of what to make from it, I listened to Zack to what he had to say. “ Lets go all the way to front street together, park the teams next to each other and than do a race down front street “ was his idea. I liked it instantly, as that would not only be a fun thing to do, it would also spare the dogs from racing hard to the finish line. Besides the point I was pretty tired myself. We kept on traveling within earshot of each other, not really pushing hard anymore, but also not doddling along, as we knew that Cim Smyth would be hot on our pursuit.
It was nice to actually enjoy the last miles into Nome. All of my old dogs knew where they were and that things would come to an end soon, they switched into higher gear once we passed by Howard Farley’s Camp.
Soon the ramp up to town came into few, some funny gnome signs greeting us. As agreed I pulled up on Front Street, set my hook and waited for Zack who as pulled up shortly. 3-2-1 lets go and we were off running down towards the Finish Line. With me having a longer gangline than him, my team quickly came out ahead. The spectators were hollering and visibly enjoyed themselves as much as we did. One last tense moment, where I wondered if Nemo and Finn would actually go up the finishing chute or run past it, off to the left, knowing that is where the doglot is. The two behaved and we crossed under the burled arch claiming 10th place. Not only is it always a nice feeling to be in Nome, I was very pleased with the dogs performance. They looked great at the finish. I slept with them for a few hours at the doglot before finding my way to my new host family.
My hosts in Nome were Chris and Jim Rowe, who own Bering Air. If you ever need a helicopter or a quick ride to Nome’s surrounding villages, give Bering Air a call. They had a great place out of town. I even could cure my dog withdrawl and take little “ Browning “ one of Chris’s sled dogs inside. My gang flew back down to Anchorage pretty quickly after they arrived, where Torsten waited to move them back into their doglot at Bonnie and Jim’s. This is where my good old Tang will retire, before I change my mind and take her for another race. She should be a great leader for Bonnie for many years to come.
For a while I was tempted to sign up for the All Alaska Sweepstakes again, after all I had a great looking dogteam of 14 in Nome. Instead I decided to give the Kobuk 440 a try, something I have wanted to do for years. I arrived in Kotzebue last night. Spring is in the air, although we are above the Artic Circle, it was raining. Luckily the temperatures are supposed to drop again. The Kobuk 440 is starts on April 3rd.
With me are 11 of my Iditarod dogs, plus one 2 year old dog out of Rudis Team.
Nemo - Popcorn
Inuk - Bananas (Bananas from Rudi´s Team)
Austin - Diesel
Finn - Saffron
Skunk - Ricky
Keeper - Kavik
My sincere thanks to all of the many helping hands which made this season such a great success. Without good help this would not be possible.
Happy trails
Sebastian
Sab
