The first race
The first race of the season is behind us now. About one month later than last year, where I ran a 200 Miler late November in Yellowknife. To the Sheep Mountain 150 we went with 4 Teams, quite a big undertaking travelling with 46 dogs and 2 people who have never been racing. It took a bit before dropping dogs became smooth and time efficient. There was a lot of stuff in the truck as well as towing a big 24 foot enclosed trailer, the load was so heavy that I max could drive 80 k, but also the weather was not really cooperating we had ice rain at Blue Kennels and than basically snow all the way to Alaska.
Before the race we tried to put one some quality training miles,
which was not as easy as thought, as we were plagued with warmer
than usual temperatures. In the fall it is normal, to train at
night to make use of colder temperatures but by the middle of December,
that is definitely not normal. The warm temperatures should
also prevail during the race.
In Tok we met with Amy Wright, and I bought her old dogtruck an 83 Ford with a nice and big dogbox, finally I could get some load out of my truck and each dog its own dogbox. It took us till Midnight to get to Glennallen where we stayed for the night. The next morning I did some servicing on the new, old, truck, doing an oilchange in the parking lot and trying to get that gaspedal from sticking, almost feeling like in my old student days, fixing vehicles in parking lots.
While travelling I feed the dogs very light, not real feedings, mostly a watery soup to get them hungry for the race but also to keep them from vomiting all over the boxes, so by the time we got to Sheep Mountain they were eating like alligators. Sheep Mountain lodge is situated very beautiful and we moved into a nice guest cabin. We spend the afternoon with race preparation, getting our sleds and gear ready and of course eating burgers and drinking a beer or two.
Some mushers also arrived the day before, but most, especially
all the ones from the area, arrived the next morning. Starting
4 Teams from 2 trucks next to each other was quite a challenge;
Jocelyn was number 4, Kai number 14, me 20 and Sebastien 36. Everything
went very smooth and I was relieved to be on the trail, it was
only my second time on the sled in December, not what I really
wished for but mostly I was chained to my office desk in Whitehorse.
We were warned about the trail being hilly, and that was an understatement,
for an office nerd like me, those were mountains and my legs got
heavier with each one we had to conquer. Also was my team not really
moving, they had no spunk, which I could not really expect with
having no time to train them myself. I ended up passing Kai,
who looked quite tired also and on one downhill I also passed Jocelyne
who had missed a turn. At least they still listened to me.
After 5.15 I came to the Eureka lodge, 50 miles away. The dogs
ate real well and settled in for nap while I had to make sure to
replenish all those lost calories with some burgers and beer. Kai
was very discouraged of the harder than expected trail but kept
on going. After all, the second loop was supposed to have no mountains.
Well at the bottom of the second "no mountain" or Hill,
I was seriously wondering what Zack Steer is talking about, as
those were mountains to me again. I also had to load two dogs,
one I borrowed the morning of the race, not a good idea and Diesel
who had a sore shoulder. 2 dogs in the basket definitely did not
make me any faster but surprisingly after 5.03 minutes I came back
to Eureka Lodge in 6th place, which I should keep to the finish.
Jocelyne, Kai and Sebastien all made it back to Eureka in once
piece and all of them kept on going, while 10 of the 30 mushers
decided to call it a day. I was especially proud for Kai, with
this being not an easy race for his first one.
The last leg started beautifully fast for me, the dogs were full
of piss and vinegar, actually pulling my hook in the checkpoint
a few times, and I had a wild ride for the first 30 minutes. Although
I only had 10 left in the team. That came to an abrupt stop, after
Nemo (a yearling) started a scrap with Chevy over some crap. He
would not give in, even while we were moving turning around and
twisting out of his harness to get to Chevy. I had not seen anything
like that and after a lot of switching back and forth, Chevy in
lead, Nemo in wheel I was travelling again, but Nemo out if his
frustration now picking on his brother Popcorn. Darn, why could
my wild ride not have lasted all the way up that 1st mountain,
instead I was grunting my way up and thinking I should really not
eat so many burgers anymore. This whole incident also showed me,
that with the little training I could do myself this year, I
definitely could not create a harmonic team as I had last year.
This third leg was the reverse of leg 1 and it took me 5 hrs 24
minutes or 9 minutes slower. I arrived at 3 p.m. heading straight
for the burger. Jocelyne came 2 hours later in 14th position with
all 12 dogs, Sebastien another 2 hrs later with 11 dogs and than
we waited for Kai. The weather had progressively gotten worse,
now there was a full snowstorm blowing out there and I was worrying
about his wellbeing. After all he is not an experienced musher
and this was a tougher than expected race and now the weather turned
bad. Short after 8 p.m. he made it across the finish line with
a huge grin on his face of accomplishment with all 12 dogs. Great
job well done.
On the way home, we left early in the morning at 4 a.m. trying to make it home in one day. We stopped in Tok to leave all dogfood there, as right after we crossed the border they issued a new rule, that no more meat can be brought across, either way. That will make life interesting for the remainder of this season. After a flat tire and some border issues we made it back to Blue Kennels. As always there was less snow in the Whitehorse area than we had seen during the whole trip and that was about to get worse over the next days. I warmed up and a strong south wind melted almost all the snow we have had. Well with this being not the first time, since 1999, where we lost the snow for the 1st time, this was the 3rd time, or every second year. As I sit here and write those lines, I have a move to Watson Lake behind me, or at least a partial one. We bought a camp there 2 years ago and I have always said, once we are forced to move there we will stay. Well no panic for those of you who have booked a trip this year. No worries, we make it happen as we have always done in the past, I have never ever cancelled one trip. This could and most likely will mean though, that your trip will not be in Whitehorse and instead in Watson Lake where beautiful winter conditions are waiting for you, as well as new trails to explore, for those who have been with us before. Watson Lake is a 4 hr drive from Whitehorse, but therefore it is 100% reliable with snow. While it was melting in Whitehorse is just warmed up a little below freezing there and the world is still a winter wonder land with more than 2 feet of snow. And yes we do have running water, power and phone there, which also will make my life a lot easier. I do not have to drive to the office every day anymore. But no worries there are also nice and rustic log cabins, without all that modern stuff.
For this winter we will run our tours wherever there is adequate
and safe snow. Right now that is Braeburn and Watson Lake. If we
get more snow in Whitehorse we also will run from there again,
but for the coming 2006 season we will move all our activities
to Watson Lake, longer drive, but for sure better conditions.
At this point it remains to be seen if I can run any more races and which ones, after all business comes first, but stubborn as usual, I still hope to make it to the starting line on Jan the 7th of the Copper Basin together with Jocelyne, after that we’ll see.
Oh yeah, by the way, happy Xmas and all the best for 2005.
Sab, Joc and Team
