ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris

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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby Heidi » Sat Sep 06, 2008 12:42 pm

Hi Rachael! :)

I gotta ask my 2 usual questions:

What are your favorite checkpoints and why?

If you could choose 5 extra things/amenities (beyond the usual - and they can be anything from the mundane to the ridiculous) for a checkpoint to have, what would they be? :D

Also, I was curious if you handled for anyone before you got your own dogs.

And do you have any long-term goals beyond the Iditarod? Perhaps the Quest?

Thanks for joining us! :)
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby emwcee » Sat Sep 06, 2008 2:14 pm

Rachael,

Thank you so much for all your replies. I have a couple more questions. Is the Iditarod the only race that requires you to use another musher for a guide rather than a snomobiler? Now that you've raced several times, what is your evaluation of the method (using another musher) -- pros and cons? Have you had any further discussions with the ITC about how the system can be modified, such as allowing you to use a kind of "relay" team of several mushers, give you more of a competitive edge? Or do you think they will ever let you use a snowmobiler?

Oh, and I'm with Di. I'd love for you to write another book.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby tanglefoot » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:58 am

hi rach, so good to hear from you and your exploits, im writing from the UK england.
I Mush dogs here in the UK, but its very different to AK!

how many dogs do you have in your kennel?
do you have a method you use to train your leaders?
and how hard is it to match your pace with tim or another musher when you are running the trail?

thanks so much for your time and love the comments and replies so far!! we re always rooting for you over here! what your doing is fantastic!
Believe in your dog team and your dog team will believe in you. – Frank Turner
TANGLEFOOT SLED DOG RACING TEAM
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby Heidi » Wed Sep 10, 2008 10:05 pm

I received an email from Rachael today and she has been having trouble with her internet connection. She asked that this thread remain open a few more days so she can answer the last few questions. :)
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby ThisSpaceForRent » Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:37 pm

Just wanted to cruise by and say HOWDY to Rachael....you GO girl!!!

Thanks for taking your time with us "Arm Chair mushers"

peace, love and very kind regards,

daniel....ThisSpaceForRent
Peace,Love and SnowDogsGo...
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby Rachael Scdoris » Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:08 pm

Thank you very much
jonnybegood wrote:Thanks Rachael, for taking the time to join us on this forum. We think your AWESOME and will be cheering you on again next year. God Speed, JBG
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby Rachael Scdoris » Fri Sep 12, 2008 9:46 pm

Right you are Di,
The iditarod is filled with the very intense emotions, both positive and negative. When I am feeling low, I always think of how hard we have worked to get there and that I owe it to the dogs, to Tim and to everybody who helped me get there, to keep going. I also think of my wonderful friends back home, sitting around a fireplace, playing their guitars and eating good homemade food. The scene I have just described is the carrot that is held just beyond my reach, with every completed run, I am that much closer to it.
I have seen some pretty strange things on the race trail, mainly trees and rock piles turning into people or evil herbivores. Some of the evil herbivores that I have seen could have been real but i choose to think, they were hallulcinations.
I do not see another book anytime soon.
Thanks,
Rachael

Di* wrote::D Hi Rachael!
Thanks so much for joining us here. I'm sure when you run the Iditarod it is a rollercoaster of emotion,s dealing with sleep deprivation and everything else.
So how do you talk yourself out of slump when you feel like quitting?R
Have you ever had any hallucinations while running the race?
Also if you had the power to change or improve the race what would you do?
Any chance that you are going to write another book perhaps about your Iditarod experiences? ;) :) Hope so!

:) Thanks for your reply! ~Di
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby Rachael Scdoris » Sat Sep 13, 2008 9:40 pm

Heidi,
My two favorite checkpoints are McGrath because of the good food, nice people and warm sleeping area and Galena because of the mattresses (oh the simple little things).
when I am in the checkpoints, I am so focused on getting the dogs taken care of and falling asleep, I don't really think about extra aminities, aside from things that other checkpoints have: hot water, boot dryers, etc. but I can think of a few ridiculous things that might make the routine easier: 1) fourwheelers or snowmachines so we wouldn't have to walk or carry things anywhere 2) real pillows as opposed to a parka crammed into a stuffsack 3) soundproof sleeping areas, those checkpoints can be pretty loud 4) clean, heated facilities for obvious reasons 5) the silliest thing of all, music.

I have had my own dogs since I was an infant.
My goal is to become competitive at Iditarod. Once I have done that we can talk about a goal beyond that.

Rachael


Heidi wrote:Hi Rachael! :)

I gotta ask my 2 usual questions:

What are your favorite checkpoints and why?

If you could choose 5 extra things/amenities (beyond the usual - and they can be anything from the mundane to the ridiculous) for a checkpoint to have, what would they be? :D

Also, I was curious if you handled for anyone before you got your own dogs.

And do you have any long-term goals beyond the Iditarod? Perhaps the Quest?

Thanks for joining us! :)
Rachael Scdoris
 
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Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:10 am

Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby Rachael Scdoris » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:18 pm

Sorry Moose,
For some reason this didn't post, last time.
Yes, that was a fun weekend. I believe it was actually fall of 2005.
Going into the 2006 Iditarod, I spent two weeks camping just below our tour staging area, on Mount Bachelor. It was quite a treat. We would take two teams on a 30 to 70 mile run and end up back at the mountain. After a few hours of rest- once it got dark- I would take one of the teams back out on our 6 mile tour trail, 3 to 5 times, come back and take the other team. We would spend the night up there and the team would do one more long run or tours and then we would go home. I would repeat the process with two other teams two or three days later. When we got to Alaska and ran the tustumena 200, my dogs were used to camping but not the cold so we used that race as our last major camping trip, before Iditarod, as opposed to 2005 when the tustumena had been their first camping trip. Through February Tim and I did a few short camping runs so the dogs would not fall out of the routine; three hours, rest three hours and run home. That was a blast too. And by the time we got to Iditarod, the dogs expected to be fed and lay down the moment I put straw on the ground. They expected to run multiple times and they always knew everything would be alright. Last year, for many reasons, our only camping trips were short races (again) and look what happened. This year, I plan to spend the majority of December camped in the mountains and we plan to do several short races once I get to Alaska.
Rachael


Moose wrote:Hi Rachael! Thanks for dropping in. We met and had a chance to chat when you and your dad came to Maine a couple of years ago. That must have been the fall of 2006, because I think it was the year of your first Iditarod finish. Right? Perhaps you remember the monsoon that weekend that flooded the fairgrounds and made such a deafening din on the metal roof we sat under? The weather kept some of the crowds away and made for a much more intimate setting for the rest of us. It was a pleasure to meet you and Jerry. I enjoyed your bookremendously, and it's been a real treat following your sled-doggin' adventures.

Well, now that I've gushed, I'd better come up with a question or two. :D So, I think at that symposium someone asked what you might do differently when training for the next season, and you said that you were satisfied with the training miles you'd covered but that you'd do more camping with the dogs. Did you do more camping coming into 2007 and, if so, what were the benefits derived, if any?

And just to follow up, how about anticipated training tweaks/changes between 2008 and coming into 2009?

Thanks, Rachael. Skritches to your team.
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Re: ASK THE MUSHER Vol 6: Rachael Scdoris (starts Sun. 8/31/08)

Postby Rachael Scdoris » Wed Sep 17, 2008 2:39 pm

I have only been allowed to use a snow machine in stage races. All continuous races allow me to run with a partner. The Beargrease allowed my partner, Mark Stamm, to swap out dogs but on the flip side, he was not officially in the race. Multiple partners would be a logistical nightmare and far too expensive for me. I love that my partner is just another racer who as of this year, thanks to the ITC, starts one time slot before me and is allowed to talk to me through two-way radios (although we have yet to find a set that can last the whole race). Tim and I have such similar dogs and we spend so much time training together that our reams are perfectly matched. The only cons are that I have to pay for two teams to run and the my partner is portrayed as taking care of and managing both teams. Then again, imagine how it would seem if I had a person on a snow machine out there...

emwcee wrote:Thank you so much for all your replies. I have a couple more questions. Is the Iditarod the only race that requires you to use another musher for a guide rather than a snomobiler? Now that you've raced several times, what is your evaluation of the method (using another musher) -- pros and cons? Have you had any further discussions with the ITC about how the system can be modified, such as allowing you to use a kind of "relay" team of several mushers, give you more of a competitive edge? Or do you think they will ever let you use a snowmobiler?

Oh, and I'm with Di. I'd love for you to write another book.
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