Ruby to Unalakleet
I hope everybody is having a nice summer In the last race report I left off in Ruby.Now having done Takotna to Ruby in 2 runs, it all for sudden did not feel like such a good idea, as the dogs were visibly tired. Luckily they all ate well and thus kept their weight well, despite the cold temperatures. Ruby can be a windy place to rest, but with the cold it was at least calm. I decided to take my 8 hr layover here, specially considering the 2 long runs we had just done. Other than a slight sore right wrist on Antelope the team had no issues. With the cold I was worried about frost bite. Maggot is short coated, so I ran him with a fox tail as protection of his private parts as well as 2 dog coats. That seemed to do the trick. I would have liked to put Maggot in lead, as he is one of my most powerful dogs, but the more up front a short coated dog is during these temperatures, the more exposed he gets to the elements, so I rather kept him back in the team.
Leaving Ruby the team left tired, but quickly warmed up to a nice pace. With Ken Anderson and Sven Haltmann 2 pretty speedy teams left short behind me and I was glad to see, that they would not gain much on us. Fast trails is not my teams specialty, I would have been much happier with a load of snow and breaking trail. But that is Iditarod, each year throws something else at you, and there is little choice but to deal with it. Scuggsy and Finn were still leading the way. The sunset over the Yukon River was spectacular. But once the sun was down, the temps quickly dropped, 40 below again. Normally I would skipole to warm up, but we were already traveling at a much higher speed than I had trained, so I did not want to help the dogs any further. Shivering I sat on my seat. I was too cold to get out my ipod, I did not want to expose my fingers, which had taken a good beating during last nights runner changing episode. So I sat there shivering and bored, one of those moments where I asked myself what the hell possessed me to do this again, paying so much money to be cold and miserable. Hm? Did I not just enjoy one of the nicest sunsets a few hours ago? As usual pleasure and misery lie very close together in Iditarod. Galena was the last time I got a glimpse of Lance Mackey, most of the other front runners ( Hans Gatt, Hugh Neff Neff, Mitch Seavey and Jeff King ) I would see occasionally after that. I have to admit, that I chickened out here in Galena. I knew that if I would go through, that I might have a chance to catch up to the front of the field. But the thought of another grave yard shift, in by now 45 below temperatures made me decide to pull over and rest…. Hoping to get another chance to catch up later on. I also started to realize, that the team did not have the " depth " in performance I was hoping for. It showed that we could not focus on training in January and February. The front runners clearly seemed to have much better runtimes than my team. It was time to adjust to that reality and to set myself a new goal. Instead of pushing hard to win, I decided to back off the pace and focus on bringing as many dogs as possible to the finishing line.
Galena is one of the best checkpoints around, they even have real beds for us to sleep in and great food. I carry nylon covered fleece blankets with me to throw over the dogs while they are sleeping, and each second checkpoint I send out 4 more. With the cold temperatures I had been hording those blankets and by now had enough collected to give each dog 2 or 3 of them. When the dogs see me walking up the line with the fleece blankets, most of them quickly roll up in a tight ball , so I can drape the blanket over them. Only Austin is a real pain in the butt, as he needs to get up numerous times before he finally rests. Ken Anderson was parked next to my team, and he is a model for checkpoint efficiency, always being ready to go inside much quicker than me. At least I got a full 2.5hrs of sleep here. Seeing Ken wake up was quite comical, as he has an alarm clock sewn in his hat. When it started to beep, he kept on swatting at his head, like swatting away a swarm of bees. The system seems to work though, as he was ready to go and out of the door soon after.
Ken and me were leaving together and I dropped Antelope because of his right wrist. He is Jon Little´s dog, so I was rather conservative to drop him early. Both Ken and I had a bit of a hard time finding the outbound trail, the trail marking was questionable, but after a while we were traveling down the Yukon River again. Being a bit more prepared for the cold. I had handwarmers in my pant pockets, my fleece pockets, my mitts and a nice body warmer taped to my back. Nonetheless I started getting cold. Looking at my thermometer it was closing in on 50 below. Strangely some river bends further it would go up to 35 below, just to drop to 45 below a few miles later. Most of the past years winter had been very mild: Not once had we seen 40 below at home or in training. But here we are, mid March on Iditarod and it is damn cold. I passed Ken on the way to Nulato, but we were basically traveling the same speed and arrived within one minute in the checkpoint. Hans was getting ready to leave, Hugh, Lance, Jeff and Mitch had already gone. The race was on. I entertained some of the locals with funny trail stories and we shared good laughs. I wish there were more moments like these, but our tight schedules do not allow much time for socializing. The people of Nulato had gone full out to create a perfect checkpoint for us, with a drying room for cloths, food, quite sleeping quarters and hot water for the dogs. By the time I got up from my nap, Ken and John Baker had left the checkpoint and hour and half before me. I had not expected that and was not too happy about dropping further in the standings. The team ran well into Kaltag, after trying Inuk and Cougar in lead, I once again settled for the Finn, Scruggs combination. Cougar which is a great leader, has unfortunately the bad habit to completely stop to take a dump and thus stop the whole show, usually I see it too late and end up with a massive tangle. He got demoted to a position further back in the team. I could tell he was not too happy now having to hopp along while doing his business. In Kaltag I stayed only long enough to load up with provisions, water and straw, heading for Tripod Cabin, another 28 miles further down the trail. It took us 4 hrs to get there, which means we were traveling at 7 mph. Once again it was cold, damn cold and I was glad to see the cabin come in sight. Mitch´s team was resting there, but no sign of Ken, which meant he was heading all the way to Old Woman Cabin. Sure nobody wanted to camp out at 40 below.
Mitch was leaving soon after I was done with my trail chores. Thankfully I still had my collection of fleece blankets, so I was sure the dogs would get a good rest, despite the frigid weather. Unfortunately every sleeping space in the cabin was occupied with Iditabikers, who had the cabin so hot, that they were laying naked on top of their sleeping bags. I curled up next to the door, also on top of my sleeping bag, to be awoken by Aliy Zirkle a few hours later. Luckily because I did not hear my alarm. Urghhh, 40 below, 4 a.m., putting booties on 13 dogs. Not cool, or yes very cool, rather cold, but not fun. I had kept my cook pot on the woodstove and made a full cooler of a lamb- dryfood mix for the trail. Before leaving I changed most of the dogs in different positions, trying to put some fresh energy in the team. Going by Old woman cabin, I could see Ken getting his team ready.About 20 miles from Unalakleet the wind started to pick up, while the temperature hovered about 30 below. As some of the dog coats started to ice up with dog pee, I decided to stop in a sheltered spot, put fresh fox tails on all of the males and change a few of the coats. I was glad I did, as the wind would not let up. Unalakleet was windy, not much of a surprise. The checker directed me to a nice wind break formed by straw bales. I was glad to see that, which meant the dogs would get quality rest, despite the conditions. Here for the first time, the dogs did not eat well. That was largely due to the huge meal I had fed them just 4hrs prior to arriving, but it also showed me, that my assessment back in Galena seemed right. They could not handle long tough runs the same way my team could last year, where I ran longer and the team was happier. Not eating meant I had to get up after two hours of sleep, go outside to feed the gang. Grumpily I trudged to the dogs to dish out the chow, at least it worked and they all ate well. Back to bed I got another hour of fitful sleep.
Till next time, Sebastian
Sab
