Training after Germany tour
27 sept. 2003My week in Germany worked out a bit different as planned, which means as usual.
I
had a pretty good cold, I guess I got that the last night before
the trip sitting around the fire a bit too long, specially in T-shirt.
The planned round trip got shortened , instead I went sailing with
my parents. Sailing used to be my passion before the dogs, I could
have never imagined living without... and now lost memories awoke
to live again. I really enjoyed the tour with my folks in the tidal
water of Norderney, Baltrum and Langeoog... in Norderney strangely
enough meeting Insa who now lives here in the tiny community of
Keno City in the Yukon. There is more marine wildlife in the North
Sea, compared to when I left, a good sign, but the shores are lined
with modern wind generators. I wonder what will happen to them once
the government subsidies will dry up and they need repairs.
After
a few more visits around Germany I boarded the plane to Whitehorse
with the announcement " snowfall in Whitehorse "... yeahhhh
right.
Sure enough. All white when we landed. That is the earliest snow
I have seen since 1997 when I moved to the Yukon. About 6 inches
we had at the kennel, which is a lot to our standards and the first
night the thermometer showed minus 10°C. It kept on snowing
off and on for the next 5 days, ideal for training.
The planned schedule is 3 days running, one day off. No more big
training buggy teams, we switched to two smaller teams of 16 dogs
on the 4 wheelers, which we pull in 2nd or 3rd gear against the
engine. Casey is doing very well and catching on fast. Now with
snow under the paws we unexpectedly raised the distances (the dogs
have been running all summer, some with rides at home, some with
Alaska Icefield Expeditions) to 30 - 42 - 42 km in the last training
block, which is pretty long for this time of the year.
Now the Yukon returned to its more normal fall temperatures, even
plus 8°C this morning, so we will run shorter again.This morning
did not go quite as smooth, Dancer one of my old leaders got a little
too close to Solo while zipping around free before hook up... and
lays besides me in the office many stitches later. Now it is raining
pretty hard, so all trails will be muddy again. Our last summer
guests arrived today, so some mountainbiking and canoeing will be
on the program for this coming week.
