fri, 23-mar-2007, 21:03

watering, blizzard

watering in a blizzard

The potluck and race draw are over (Andrea goes out fifth tomorrow, out of thirty teams), and while we were in there, the wind and snow picked up. There's drifting snow all over the place, and even though it's not all that cold out (around 10°F), this wind makes it feel pretty bitter. After the draw we got back to the motel and watered the dogs, which is what's happening in the photo on the right. They'll need to come down to go to the bathroom a couple more times before they (and we!) go to sleep for the night.


tags: Andrea  Dakota  dogs  mushing  Tok 
fri, 23-mar-2007, 16:49

We've just arrived at the Snowshoe Motel, and the wireless Internet works as promised! It was an uneventful drive down to Tok, except for when we left the tailgate open after dropping the dogs in Delta Junction. As I sped up to integrate into traffic, three of our coolers slid out of the back, and our soda and beer cans sprayed all over the road. Luckily we noticed it immediately, and no beer was harmed in the incident.

We also stopped at Delta Meat and Sausage Company and I got a package of polish sausage for this summer, and some beef sticks for the races. They also let us feed the dogs in their parking lot, which was very nice of them.

We left Fairbanks at 12:15 and arrived at 16:20, which is almost exactly the timeline from two years ago. Tonight is the potluck and draw at the Tok Musher's Hall.

tags: dogs  mushing  Tok 
fri, 23-mar-2007, 11:35

truck

truck, sled, boxes

The Tok Race of Champions is this weekend, and we're on our way down to participate. Tok is the last race of the season for us, and because it's not in town, it's an entire weekend completely devoted to dogs and racing. The dogs stay in their boxes on the truck while on the road, and as a result, all of our focus is on their care. It's an exhausting weekend, but the community of Tok really puts on a good race, and it's fun to go on one last hurrah with everyone else in the sprint mushing community before the season ends.

The hotel we're staying at advertises wireless Internet, so I'll try to keep this updated when there's a free moment.


tags: Dakota  dogs  mushing  Tok 
sun, 11-mar-2007, 18:25

wriggling buddy

buddy wriggling after the race

Day 1

The first day of the 2007 Limited North American was a cold one, with temperatures in the single digits, and a howling wind blowing across the fields. Andrea and the dogs drew the ninth position, and passed the team starting seventh just before the final hill, which took away most of their momentum coming home. Still, the time was the best they've done on the 4.5 mile trail this year, and she was in sixth place, 1.4 seconds behind the fifth place musher and one second ahead of the team behind her. A good start, despite the pass.

Day 2

It was about the same temperature on the second day, but the winds had mostly died down and it was bright and sunny at the track. We had high hopes Andrea and the dogs would be able to make up at least a second and advance into fifth place. Unfortunately, as the dogs were going out, Kiva got her right leg over the neck line and wasn't able to get it off. Andrea had to stop the team, run up to fix her, and then start the team off again. The neck line is a thin rope that connects one dog's collar to the dog next to her, and because Buddy sometimes hesitates when the race starts and Kiva is always rearing to go, the line between Buddy and Kiva wasn't taught, allowing Kiva to get ahead of the neck line and accidentally put her foot over it. Andrea's time on day two was 55.8 seconds slower than her run over the same course on day one and she dropped to eighth place.

Day 3

The third day is longer, 5.9 miles, so there's an opportunity for teams to move up if they didn't have perfect runs on the first two days. Andrea was 1.6 seconds ahead of the team behind her, and 9.9 and 24.8 seconds behind the seventh and sixth place teams. The dogs had a clean run, took all the turns exactly as instructed, and they wound up with a total time of 51 minutes 15.9 seconds over the total 14.9 mile, three day course. That was good enough for eighth place in the race.

tags: Buddy  dogs  mushing 
sun, 25-feb-2007, 18:38

setting up

first teams setting up

First place!

The second championship race of the 2007 season was held in North Pole this weekend at the Chena Lakes Recreation Area. It's been about 25 degrees below normal this week in Fairbanks, and Chena Lakes is one of the colder spots in the Interior. It was -45°F on Saturday and -41°F on Sunday in North Pole when I left the house for the track. The races were delayed until 12:30 so that things could warm up a bit, but it was still a chilly -15°F when the four-dog class went out.

It's a short 3.8 mile course for the four-dog class and Andrea and our dogs had the best time of 11:43.1 on Saturday. The second place team was 11.3 seconds behind. On Sunday Andrea lost some ground, but she held on to win the overall race by 1.5 seconds, finishing with a total time of 22:59.2. She got a trophy, three bags of dog food and a check for $50, but I'm pretty sure that getting first place in a championship race is the real reward.


tags: Dakota  dogs  mushing  North Pole 

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