IditaProject Forum

Hi Mike, and welcome.

A couple of questions:

You say you'll be taking a break from mushing - will you be working at sea full-time, then? Don't you think you will start to itch come winter again and you see the trail is smooth as silk?
Many relatively young mushers race for a few years, quit, and never come back to the sport. Are the veterans going off with all the sponsors necessary to make a living out of it?

Did you know that even though you don't have an article at the English wikipedia there is a small article about you on the Norwegian version?

I say the Steelers will win the Super Bowl - agree?

All the best.

S. Olsen/Norway

Hey Mike:
When you answered my question about Veterans helping Rookies you made the statement below:

There are a lot of people trying to psych each other out and you can't trust what anyone says. It can be very cutthroat, but I don't think it's malicious, just strategy. I kind of learned that the hard way.

Can you elaborate on what you learned the hard way? Sounds like there's a story here that we fans might be interested in.

MgfBrian

Yes Stig! Steelers will win Superbowl!

Just talked to Mike last night, he hasn't been able to post due to a lot of "unexpected" circumstances, but will be back when he can.

Hi Heidi, Thanks! It was a different experience living out in the bush like that, I wouldn't mind it for a few months at a time, but I like people and it can get lonely! Maybe when I'm an old man. No, I haven't even touch a sled this year, lol! I borrowed 3 dogs from Ray and Ryan Redington for the Iditarod and my Quest team was all mine. Most raised from puppies given to us by Gerry Riley. My favorite checkpoint was Takotna probably, great food, the people are really nice and it's beautiful. Lol, I actually used a GPS on the Iditarod, it probably hurt more then it helped because the posted mileage is all wrong and that messed me up quite a bit. It's actually onll a little under 900 miles long. A lot of people use them, but it's not fun to look at it and see that your only going 6 mph or that you still have a long way to go when you thought you didn't.

Heidi wrote:Hi Mike. Thanks for joining us. I have a few random questions.

What was it like living off the grid and would you ever want to do it again?

You mentioned taking off a few years from racing. Do you still run dogs year-round?

Were all the dogs on your Iditarod and Quest teams your dogs?

Did you have a fav checkpoint on the Iditarod?

What is your opinion about the use of GPS on the Iditarod?

Thanks and good luck with whatever you pursue!

Thank you Cynthia, yeah she was my baby.

CynCyn37 wrote:Thanks for being here Mike!

Sorry about the mislabling of your Gracie. I'm Cynthia on facebook.

I have been working so much that I am fresh out of good questions.....so thanks for being here!

No, I only fish for about 6 weeks from June to August. The main run only actually lasts about 10 days. There is nothing really going on right now except crabbing and that is kind of bad this year I heard. Right now when it's getting -40 to -50 for a few weeks at a time, I'm not missing it at all! I do get a little hyped up when I hear people talking about it and kind of start thinking of doing it, but I need a break. I don't think you need sponsors to race, a lot of mushers don't have any or are very limited. But I'm sure it really helps but also you probably have the pressure to perform. It's not really a sport that you can make a lot of money at, unless your Jeff King or Lance Mackey, and it took them along time to get to that point I think. I mean, Jeff was running Iditarod before I was ever born! I wasn't aware that I had a Norwegian wikipedia article, that's cool!

MotorWerk wrote:Hi Mike, and welcome.

A couple of questions:

You say you'll be taking a break from mushing - will you be working at sea full-time, then? Don't you think you will start to itch come winter again and you see the trail is smooth as silk?
Many relatively young mushers race for a few years, quit, and never come back to the sport. Are the veterans going off with all the sponsors necessary to make a living out of it?

Did you know that even though you don't have an article at the English wikipedia there is a small article about you on the Norwegian version?

I say the Steelers will win the Super Bowl - agree?

All the best.

S. Olsen/Norway

Ok, I'll tell you but I'm sure I'll hear about. One of my first races was the Kobuk 440 in 2005. I was running mostly with Dave Monson, and Toleff Monson. We were at the last checkpoint staying for 6 hours or so and we all agreed to leave together. It was Dave's idea. Well, I woke up and Dave was long gone, lol. I remember walking outside and seeing his empty spot and thinking "man, I'm an idiot". He ended up beating me by 45 minutes or so. Luckily for me Toleff woke me up. Good guy. That was first taste of the sly, sneaky part of the mushing world. After that I learned to never listen to anybody and now I even try to play the game if I can by saying things like, "Oh, I'll probably stay for 6 hours" and then leave in 3 or "Wow, your team isn't looking so hot, you should rest a little longer", things like that

MelanieGouldFanBrian wrote:Hey Mike:
When you answered my question about Veterans helping Rookies you made the statement below:

There are a lot of people trying to psych each other out and you can't trust what anyone says. It can be very cutthroat, but I don't think it's malicious, just strategy. I kind of learned that the hard way.

Can you elaborate on what you learned the hard way? Sounds like there's a story here that we fans might be interested in.

MgfBrian

Yes Stig! Steelers will win Superbowl!

Thanks for coming on the forum Mike, we appreciate your willingness to talk to all of us "armchair" mushers!

Best of luck in your future plans & if that should include any mushing we'll be here cheering you on!