Iditarod 2009, Part 1
Hello Race fans.The thermometer has climbed to 65F, my driveway has 2 newly formed creeks flowing across it, last patches of snow are disappearing fast. Although it has been many weeks since Iditarod has ended, not a day has gone by without me thinking about it, or better said, thinking of next years Iditarod. Of course my race report is long overdue, it seems to take me a little longer each year, to get into gear to write.
In Anchorage I once again stayed with Bonnie and Jim Foster. We invaded their place as usual, Libby, me, Rick, Torsten and Mark. It is nice to be reunited with Tang, although she clearly knows where her new home is and largely ignores me. We got to Anchorage after a few days training in Paxson, I took the team out 2 times, Rick did all the other runs. It was a huge relief to have a perfect pit crew between the 2 races. They did all the work, I pretty much had to worry about nothing and could rest as much as possible. I tried something different this year. Right the first day after the finishing the Quest, Rick started taking the team out again. They ran every day, but one, between the Quest and Iditarod. 
The Iditarod Banquet was amazingly painless this year and kept much shorter than usual. All Mushers were asked to not do long speeches and instead our sponsors were displayed on a screen behind us. Boy, what a good idea, we were out the door by 9.30 p.m.. As important as the social aspect of mushing is, it sure was nice to get a full nights worth of sleep. Bonnie and Jim organized their annual open house the next day, on Friday. It seems to be getting more popular by the year. Amazing how many people can fit in their house. John Little gave me some last minute strategic advice. I am all ear when someone successful tells me their opinion. I pulled number 34, same number I had a few years back. I wonder if I will ever pull an early number in a race.My Idita-rider was Gisela Houseman from Texas, who as her name suggests has German roots. After a pleasant 11 mile run I dropped her off at the Campbell airfield. More teams than ever passed me on this short run. Once again I thought I made it to the wrong starting line and showed up at a sprint race instead.
Finally the real starting day came. I was well rested, did not even need the usual nap in the truck before race start. I used my spare time to “ spy “ on other teams, see what they are doing, how their dogs behave. There are amazing differences: Some teams are tied around the truck, calm cool and collected, others bark in a frenzy, trying to pull the truck to the starting line. I did a last minute switch of my team lineup. Not an easy decision, but I decided to leave Skunk behind, her right Achilles tendon was swollen, not sure how it happened as it was not there during the Quest nor the last days training runs, but undeniably swollen now. I will miss her, not only is she the cutest dog on the team, she is a good go to leader when things get ugly. Little did I know how ugly it would get about a week later. Battier took her spot. Although he finished Iditarod before with Rudi and the Quest a week before with Mark, the real downfall was, that I hardly ever ran him myself and he was not used to my team. As usual, I ran an 18 dog gangline to keep 2 dogs single near wheel, and he was one of them, Yonder was the other. Battier was the least experienced dog with two 1000 Milers under his belt, Ricky has 3 and all others have finished 4 or more 1000 Mile Races. This was the team lineup.Moose (9) and Inuk (5) in lead
Popcorn (6), Nemo (6)
Vasser (5), Grisman (5)
Ricky (4) , Austin (8)
Scruggs (5), Denali (7)
Gas (8), Diesel (8)
Saffron (7), Finn (5)
Yonder (5), Battier (4) both single in wheel
Running Moose in lead was supposed to slow me down. It sure did that, but he also ran off the trail to the left about 5 feet to the side in the deep snow. Another of my brain farts, I never ran him in lead myself in the few training runs I had with him. Never try something new in a race, I remembered that mantra quickly. I was not even off Willow Lake, the next team behind me had caught up. I like to start slow, and started even slower this time. The trend of being passed continued all the way to Yentna, from there to Skwentna I eased my foot of the break a little. The team ran strong, and I liked how the team felt, they were focused and pulling with vigor. It took me 7hrs 20 minutes to reach Skwentna, I had hoped for 7hrs. I got a perfect parking spot at the “ edge “ of the huge dog parking area. That peace and quite lasted not long. I heard Ken Anderson come in, having some discussion with an official how he had many females in heat and wanted to be parked off to the side, unfortunately the put him on my side. That was the premature end of a good rest. I had not planned to stay long, but decided to stay even shorter as my team was not resting at all and pulled out after a mere 2hrs and 22 minutes. Hugh and Lance were parked to the other sides the next 2 teams over. I would have liked to see Hugh’s face when I came back of his nap. Later on he asked : “ Dude Lance and me could not believe our eyes when we came back out and you were gone, how long did you rest ? “ 
The team felt good again, it was snowing lightly, the trail was soft and slow, just the way I like it. Nice and easy on the dogs. I almost got sandwiched between 2 snowmachines. The trail was windy and the guy coming from the front was speeding and missed my team by inches, the guy from behind must have not seen me with the light of the approaching machine and narrowly missed running into me. Both went off to the trail in the deep powder. I believe both were stuck for a while, as the machines from behind never caught back up to me. After passing Hans Gatt and Gerry Willomitzer camped beside the trail, there were no more tracks ahead of me. Nice, I am in lead of the Iditarod. I was running a complete different strategy than in my Yukon Quest. I did not have to ease the team into the long runs, the dogs were still in long distance running mode. They could handle long runs right of the get go. I could feel that the gamble to train them a lot between the races paid off. I had to flip up my drag, the snow was getting quite deep, I like to go slow, but not 5mph. I pulled into Finger Lake a few minutes past 6 a.m., only loaded some straw and water and continued on my way. No other teams were around when I left. 
The next run was even slower. Although there was a good base, it was covered by 6 to 8 inches of fresh snow, no tracks of any kind ahead of me. Good thing the gang was used to that from the Denali Highway. I switched Nemo and Popcorn in lead, those 2 big 70lbs males are like steam engines and the team picked up to a nice pace again. I have to admit I was smiling from ear to ear watching them work in total harmony. Needless to say with all that fresh snow the Happy River steps were uneventful. On the steep climb after, I did not even have to set a foot on the ground. We were making better time than I thought and reached Finnbear Lake at 8.20 a.m.. Normally that was a bit too early to pull over as than I would have to leave right in the heat of the day. I pulled over anyhow. In the past I always had camped at Finger Lake and never gotten a good rest with constant airplane traffic and a gazillion teams there. I was afraid, that if I continue to Rainy Pass, it would be the same madhouse there. It took 45 minutes for the next team, Paul Gebhardt, to arrive. About an hour later, I overheard my hosts saying that Lance Mackey was passing by. Finnbear was a nice rest stop. I could have saved myself the hassle of carrying water. Mike and his wife had 2 big barrels of hot water ready to go. I was content with my decision to stop here, got a few hours of solid sleep in a nice bunk bed. 
When I got up there were about 20 some teams parked outside, more than I had ever seen during my previous years passing by. Musher were sleeping all over the floor in the small cabin. My dogs were sitting up and were milling around when I got outside. We left at 2 p.m. not my preferred time of the day, luckily it was not blazing hot. The dogs left solid and I had to ride the drag. The trail had improved a lot, as many other teams were now ahead in Rainy Pass. In Rainy Pass I just grabbed some snacks, filled my return bag with stuff and left. “ Sebastian you are the first one out, and oh by the way nobody has made it across the pass in the last day. “. I guess I must have given the checker a very puzzled look as he quickly stated. “ But there is some snowmachines who are trying to make it over from Rohn.” I’ll be fine was my answer and we pulled the hook, but to myself I thought: Well this could be interesting…… 2 Teams were shortly behind me, Rick Swenson and Paul Gebardt again.
Most of the pictures in the album from Jeff Schulz or Anchorage Daily News can be ordered as prints or on mugs, etc.
Sab
