In Nome
Hello from Nome, this will just be a short note to say that we made it back to the real world. I had a fun time on Iditarod, although I have to admit, that the cold really got to me on this trip. While the first days were nice and warm, even brought some fresh snow on the way to Finger Lake and Nikolai, the next days were much colder with temperatures well into 40 below during the night. The first runs went much as planned, being the first team out of Finger Lake and Rainy Pass. Leaving Rohn I had some real trouble finding the trail, it was blowing hard, visibility was low and I could not find the markers. I had the team anchored down and went exploring on foot to find the markers. When ready to go again, my sled got hung up in some driftwood and I had a hell of a time to jerk it free again, only after unhooking most of my team. Drenched in sweat the 10 hr run into Nikolai were cold, very cold and bumpy as the trail had next to no snow on it. Once I saw the Iditarod Trailbreaks trail drag sitting beside the trail, I knew the next miles were going to be rough. Things changed a lot, when leaving Nikolai, the temperatures went down and the trail became hard and fast. Needless to say, I got passed by several teams like John Baker and Mitch Seavey. It did not help that I had Bananas in the sled for nearly 40 Miles before dropping him in Mc Grath. My 24hr layover I did as usual in Takotna. Unfortunately I was plagued by a mega migrane and could not enjoy much of their great food. The next run to Cripple was almost 13 hrs long, and I maybe should have stopped a few hours before Cripple to rest. Leaving Cripple I had to turn around to bring Kavik back. He had sore shoulder and I did not want to end up having him in the basket on this long run. A few hours later. after changing my runner plastic, I had to turn around again, realizing I had lost my axe while changing the plastic. Turning around twice during one run was defenitely not healthy for the dogs mind, and the rest of the run to Ruby was rather sluggish. In Ruby I took my mandatory 8 hr layover before continuing on to Galeana That was one of the most beautiful runs of this years Iditarod with a beautiful sunset. Soon after it got cold again, much too cold for my liking. Galena had some great resting spaces for us mushers, with real beds. Here I left Antelope behind with a sore wrist. The next run to Nulato was cold again, friggin too cold...., so I took 5 hrs rest in Nulato again. The team was gathering a bit more speed, so I decided to skip Kaltag and head for Tripod Cabin. Getting there short before midnight, I was very disappointed to find the cabin full of Iditabikers without any place to sleep for us mushers. Curled up on the floor a got a few hrs of shut eye before heading for Unalakleet. As usual this place was windy, but the dogs found some good rest behind a row of strawbales. The Checkpoint had changed to the good, offering us some nice quite sleeping quarters and some great food. White trying to boot up my team for the next run to Shaktoolik I decided to not risk my fingers and postpone the bootying to further down the trail. There were a gazillion rabbits in the Blue Berry Hills , which made the run very enjoyable, the dogs were sprinting up the hills. In Shaktoolik I had planned to go through, but once again the temperatures were getting to me and I wanted to warm up. This warming up ended up being 5 hrs and a good rest for the dogs. Right when I got ready to go, Gerry Willomitzer walked in looking for a snowmachine, to retreive is team he lost on his way in. Scary....., but thanks to the GPS tracker he could find them and bring them safely to the checkpoint. The run to Koyuk went zigzag over the ice, being much longer than in the past, but the team was moving well. In Koyuk I rested for 5hrs again, meeting Sissy Adams and my Iditarider too. It is nice to see some fimiliar faces out there. From Koyuk we had our sights set on WhiteMountain, with out stopping long in Elim. Just long enough to grab some food and water for the dogs. The team was on fire and before I knew it we were over Little Mckinley, without me even stepping a food on the ground. THe last miles on the ice through Golovin to White MOuntain I had a hard time staying awake, as this run was another grave yard shift....., getting to White Mountain at 6 a.m. Here I got a full 5hrs of sleep which sure felt good. Getting the team ready, I had to witness how Hugh Neff has once again trashed his team and had to physically drag them out of the checkpoint. He was already a dismal sight leaving Koyuk with severly limping dogs I feel sorry for the dogs but also how performances like this shed a bad light on Iditarod and dog racing in genereal. His team was down to crawling speed when I passed him a few hours down the trail. I hope that I will never let my ego take over the well being of my dogs. The last run to NOme was full of enjoyment. It finally had warmed up, the dogs were able to run without coats, there was no wind and beautiful bluebird skies. The dogs abviously knew were they were and started picking up speed. In Safely I fed everybody a last meal and off we went toward NOme. I had to ride my drag, so the dogs would not break into a lope, which was very nice. Soon the lights of Nome came into sight and despite it being close to midnight, there were quite a few people out to greet us. With 9 days, 8hrs, 39 minutes this was my fastest time to Nome. I am happy with the 7th place, although that clearly did not meet my goal. Congratulations to Lance Mackey who once again ran an outstanding race. The 13 finishing dogs were: Finn, Scruggs, Inuk, Solomon, Cougar, Maggot, Austin, Diesel, Saffron, Skunk, Coyote, Solo und Grisman. While I write these lines the dogs are already back in Anchorage and Matt is getting things ready for the return back to WHitehorse. Thanks for all the people who have helped me during this years race and happy trails to all of you!!! SebastianSab
