One buffalo too many ...
The
past week I spent with preparations for the Great Slave 200 Mile
Race. The dogs had 5 days off before the race, which I also needed
to get ready. Not is it a long long drive, about 2000km, but also
needs the food to be prepared, just a small taste for what comes
ahead at the Quest Fooddrop. All the meat and fish needs to be cut
in small pices and bagged seperately in Ziplogbags for the food
drops. About 7hrs I spend on the table saw, cutting it all into
nice little chunks. Unfortunately the racing sleds were still in
Whitehorse, so I had to do a quicktrip there also, back and forth
in a day (900 km).
On
Wednesday the 19th I loaded the 20 dogs, for 2 teams of 10 each
, into the truck and headed to Fort Nelson. Not much snow down there,
maybe an inch. I left a trailer at the Streepers ( Terry, Buddy
and Deb ) to pick up on my way back with some meat. Martin and me
arranged to meet at 3 a.m. at the Greyhound, so I could get some
sleep before driving north. The Liard Highway was better than expected
and we did not meet one truck all the way to the Mackenzie ferry,
some 700 km, this is empty country there. The ferry was slugging
its way though slush in the Mackenzie and because of low water only
taking a truck at a time.We hoped it would not seize operations
while we were on the " wrong side of the River ". The
Snowshoe Inn, right on the river banks was our home for the night,
and even some live music in the Snow Shoe Inn bar as entertainment.
It was very visible, that the economy is far better off in the NWT
than in the Yukon, where we have been on a donwhill for while now.
The next morning we drove the remaining 160 km to the old Lac La
Matre winter road, where the start of the Race would be at 1 p.m.
Rick Long came up for racevet...... of course he had to remind me
of my good old one eyed Leaddog Rusty.... and sarcasticly asked
if I had more than one leader this time.... old mistakes stick with
you for a while here.
We
were only 5 teams, I guess partly because it it so ealry in the
season but also Yellowknife with the ferry is not right around the
corner for most people either. Sam Perriono, Marcel and Rachel Marin
, Martin Jahr and me. The Trail , an old raod had good snow on it,
but still a fast trail. At mile 34 was the turnaround and a checkpoint.
So one " loop " took 68 miles and we were supposed to
do that 3 times, with a mandatory 3 hr layover after the first lap,
and a 6 hr after the second, each where we had access to our fooddrop.
The trail reminded me a lot on the pipeline Trail from Haines Junction
to Silver City, pretty straigt, some little hills in it. The first
lap went smooth, all dogs snacked and ate well, and we got back
in 6hr 48 minutes. The second lap at night, under beautiful northern
lights was a pretty cold one, specially if you were as wrongly dressed
as me. I guess that is what I was there for, to learn it the hard
way again. I tried new equipment, which I better should not have,
my pants even unzipped before the start, and Rachels dad borrowed
me a nice Caribou Pants. The second loop too 6 hrs 42 minutes, pretty
much an average of 10 miles per hour, real happy with that.
Martin did not have such a great time, he wanted to scratch after
the second lap, but after taking care of the dogs, getting some
warm stuff in him and some sweettalk we convinced him to go again,
with me waiting for him and us going together. That was the theorie.
Practically it happened that my team ran so nice the last lap, that
I did not want to stick with that plan and wait, to I just kept
on going, hoping he`d not turn back. The dogs really found there
rythm after about 150 miles and we kept running with about 11 miles
per hour, everybody nicely trotting and finishing his round in 6
hrs and 20 minutes, which surprised the hell out of me, also the
fact that I was first across the line. Including the 9 hr layovers
in 29 hrs and 56 minutes. All dogs ate well at the finish, Wondar
had to stay in the truck for the last 68 miles, he was limping a
bit and I did not want to take any chances, so still 9 finishing
the 200miles as well as 8 in Martins team, who finished in 4th place.
(Marcel 2nd, Sam 3rd and Rachel did no lap).
It
was a great race, very well organized, poor Kevin drove each lap
with the skidoo, also putting some 300 km on his iron dog. We had
nice food, chili, caribou stew and even Sam supplied straw for the
dogs.
The point was to get some early miles on the dogs, see how they
were doing, working some korks out of the equipment ( which I needed
badly ). I hope they do it again. Many thanks guys for all the hard
work you put in!
As we were getting worried about the ferry we headed home pretty
quickly, but not before finding the road full of buffalo, of which
one was too many. I could not stop in time and now the nice Crewcab
is a real dogtruck and I do not have to worry about the dogs jumping
up on it any more, as the whole passenger side is dented in, never
mind dented, the doors do not even open.
The Sunday we spend driving back to Fort Nelson where I spend a
night with the Streepers, amazing to see their operation, more than
well organized, no wonder that this is the home of Word Champions.
Just on the side, Buddy and Terry were taking care of their 150
dogs and training 6 teams without any help!!!
The trailer loaded with some beef and tripe I headed home on Monday
getting back to Watson Lake early afternoon, I even managed to avoid
the other buffalos, caribous, moose and sheep ( more wildlife than
I have seen in a long time ) I saw along the road.
The dogs happy to be in the yard again, although most already do
their rounds with that look on their face " Hey boss, what`s
next? " I give them a few more days off and use that time to
start cutting meat for the Copper Basin and Quest Fooddrop, that
is a lot of cutting.
Towards the weekend I will continue my training scedule, which is
quite simple: More long steady runs, I better dress warmer this
time.
