IditaProject Forum

ken anderson wrote:...All I could do was hang my head in shame as she eased on by.

As far as dangerous goes: the incident in France nearly spearing myself with Magali's runner was pretty high on the list. I've been through several nasty storms that could have turned bad if the dogs decided to quit or I lost the team. Probably the worst one was going over Little McKinley in 2005. I was traveling with Hans Gatt and he had some young leaders up front and was concerned about getting over the top. I had a pretty veteran leader that really rose to the occasion. As we started up and over, the trail was completely blown shut. All you could see was the last few inches of the trail markers (they're about four feet tall) as they were quickly becoming drifted over. My leader, Dirac, was just using her feet to find the base of the old trail and her nose to stay on track. Hans was working like a madman to stay with us, as I had 12 dogs and he was down to 8 or 9. We stopped several times to regroup and let Hans catch his breath. We got over the top just as the markers were starting to disappear. It had been raining before we started climbing and everything was soaked. It would have been a long, wet night on that mountain if we'd have lost the trail.

Ken

I have really enjoyed reading your posts on the forum Ken . I bought your '07 journal and will probably be buying your new one as well!

Do you ever entertain regrets when the race is done? Things you coulda, shoulda done? Or do you just move on and know you gave it your best at the time?

Do you have any superstitions or things you "always" do right before race time?

Last one...didn't you used to live in MN? and what got you up to Alaska?

Thanks for your reply
~Diana MN born & raised!

hi ken,

wow thanks for all the great insights and stories from the trail. and of course for your time seeing as you have twins on the way ( being a twin i know how much trouble we can be haha)

we have a litter of sled dogs planned for this autum from one of our bitches, a good little leader called lolly ( after lolly medley) a serious hard working dog with a sweet nature and the stud being a really good leader and fast paced dog that never gives up from a friends team.
how do you and gwen go about choosing pups and deciding which will make good dogs to keep and which to sell at an early age, any tips? we run a sprint team in the UK and would love to make it out to AK and run the irod in future years.

also when did you get into dogs? and how...

and can you let me know postage to the UK for your journels, would love a copy of this and last years! and how can i pay do you have a paypal account?

matt
(tanglefoot sled dog racing team)

Diana and Tanglefoot,

Yes, I was born and raised in Minnesota. We lived in Brooklyn Center when I was young and then moved out to Forest Lake around the third grade. I was exposed to mushing as a child, going on winter camping trips into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area with the family starting at age three. We had a couple of malemutes that would pull a sled and we'd ski as well. I loved the trips and eventually got into weight pull competitions as an early teen ager. My heroes back then were mushers like Will Steger, George Attla, and Jamie Nelson, who was dominating the weight pulls and winning the Beargrease. I kind of got away from mushing as a highschooler when girls and other sports became more important. However, running the Iditarod was a promise I made to myself as a young child. I eventually met Arleigh Jorgensen from Grand marais when I was working up in the area during a summer break from college. I got a job handling for him and he was a great mentor that re-kindled my desire to run dogs. I moved to Alaska in 1994 and commercial fished for Dean Osmar and then handled for lots of other mushers over the years, trying to learn as much as possible. I worked for Jeff King, Susan Butcher, Ramy Brooks, and Curtis Erhart. I wanted to learn as much from different types of mushers with different types of dogs as I could. Eventually Gwen and I got together and started our own kennel mostly from Curtis' yard. Our breeding has changed some since.

As far as racing regrets go. It's easy to wonder "what if". The best way to circumvent that though is to absolutely give it everything you have. I'm known for crossing the finish line in a mess of sweat, throbbing feet and exhaustion. I had a rather traumatic experience wrestling in high school. My senior year I made it to the state finals. Me and this other kid were wrestling in front of about 10,000 people for the championship. I lost that match at the buzzer in a controversial call. In hindsight I knew I could have given a little more and the outcome would have been much better. It was a great lesson to learn and now I realize the pain you go through during the race is far less than the pain of realizing you may have left a little on the table. I've also grown up a little and come to better accept that you might not always be on your "A" game every race.

As far as superstitions at the start go, I like to have a clean sled, although it doesn't stay that way long. The other thing I always do in the starting chute is make sure every tugline and neckline is perfect; no half-wraps around the gangline.

I've made plenty of mistakes getting rid of puppies too early only to see them look really nice as adults. I generally keep all the pups until they're at least nine months old. And then there may be a few with glaring build issues that I'll find a pet home for. But I've seen pups at that age that didn't seem built right actually smooth out and look quite nice as adults.

Ken

P.S. I just sent a journal to Germany and it cost $10.00 I charge $3.85 for S&H to the U.S. If you're interested in a journal there is a paypal option on our site. I assume shipping would be similar to the U.K. as Germany, so $30 would be fine.

Ken: Your journal arrived yesterday, but DH, who picked up the mail, forgot to bring it in from his truck until this morning. (Sigh.) Anyway, I'm so glad I ordered a copy. It's great. I spent the rainy morning with the journal, and a pot of hot blueberry coffee, and read it cover to cover. Thanks for your insight. Thanks for your candor. Thanks for letting me ride along the trail with you and the team.

Oh, and do you happen to have journals from earlier years still in stock?

Thanks for the comments on the journal. Yes, I still have lots of copies of 2007 left. Ken

Ken...

Thank you so much for your time and candor in our forum. You have been a most gracious musher in our "Ask the Musher" series. The majority of us live nowhere near the "Iditarod Trail" ; You and Gwen have brought us much closer.

We typically run these for about a week, so unless YOU wanna keep it open longer I am going to close this thread tomorrow, Tuesday, July 22nd. It will then be moved to the "Follow that Musher!" section of this forum.

As an active member you can post or start any threads you want to start.

Again...Thank you! And best of luck w/ the twins and the upcoming season.

daniel....ThisSpaceForRent

Thanks Ken and Gwen!

Ken, thank you for the time you've spent with us and the great answers you gave. I'm praying the best for you, and a safe and wonderful delivery for Gwen and the twins.