Ruby - Galena - Huslia

[mamamia]

Oooo trail snacks! just what I need, a dose of sugar to go with my caffeine!

[mamamia]

I thought I would share this post from Sabastian Schnuelle's facebook page. he left the northland before the race opting instead to go sailing. he is currently sitting in a harbor near Seattle. In this and in his previous post you can hear some longing in his voice. It seems that despite his intent to get away from it this year he is missing it. Enjoy

I wish I could be walking through the log cabin lined streets of Huslia, or hop on the iron dog and drive to the riverbank overlooking the beautiful Koyukuk River. On the other hand, sleeping in a real bed and not in some corner of a school was not bad neither. I can only point out, that those Insider guys giving you the first hand reports out there are having to rough it, as much as the mushers do.
Mitch Seavey arrived in Huslia first and he has been building up his lead. Focused while checking in he asked for his exact in time. It was a treat to see Kevin Bodhi´s interview with Mitch at his camping spot en route to Huslia. THAT was a sharp looking team leaving from there. And his runtime reflects that.
To put a bit more in perspective what Mitch Seavey has just pulled of. In 2015 Iditarod ran a bit different to Tanana, the trail left Manely Hot Springs going overland, through some hills, and being slightly longer, than this years river route. In 2015 Mitch pulled into Ruby at 18.13, this year at 20.00. Now looking at Huslia where in 2015 Aaron Burmeister arrived first at 21.47, Mitch pulled in this year at 20.18. He made up A LOT OF GROUND on that run and with a team seeming to peak right before his 24 hr layover. A beautiful position to be in.
Mitch has another thing going for him. The daytime hour. Jeff King explained that very nicely in one of the insider videos, with saying: “ Resting at the right time of the day, is like picking low hanging fruit “. Quality rest will add up over 1000 Miles. Jeff and some other mushers have been adhering to trying to rest between Noon and 5 p.m ish and midnight and 5 a.m. ish. This will get even more important now, that the temperatures have risen. It is supposed to be 20 ABOVE today. That is getting very warm for a sled dog. Specially for more heavier coated dogs. With Mitch getting off his 24 hr layover at night, he can run into the cool of it
Where as Dallas has opted to not stopping in Galena, and thus breaking up the run from Ruby to Huslia in two 70 mile ( give or take ) runs, he now will have to run through the heat of the day, when he leaves is current resting spot. Wade Marrs has opted for a different strategy, with stopping in Galena. He is going to Huslia in 3 runs, but also with that he should be able to rest through the heat of the day this afternoon. Wade is keeping his runs short and trying to keep the speed up. It was impressive to watch Dallas´s team while he was repacking his sled. His dogs were well animated. None of them were taking their booties off. Oh man, how much I used to hate certain of my dogs, specially Skunk, opening the Velcro faster than I could look. She was expecting to rest. Dallas´s dogs clearly knew they were not done for the day yet.
Talking about speed. Trail conditions have a lot to do with that. The trail from Galena to Huslia is not regularly traveled. Looking at Mitch`s tracker, he was able to keep up a speed close to 8 miles an hour. Slower than he had been in the past, but much faster than the teams following behind. With each team, the travel speed seemed to go down another notch, meaning the trail getting softer and softer. On a trail which receives regular traffic all winter, that does not happen as easy, as each snowfall gets packed down separately. Mitch gained a real advantage over the teams following him.
Teams like Joar Leifseth Ulsom, Peter Kaiser are all coming off their 24 hr in Galena, but all have to contend with running into the heat of the day. Hopefully the sun will not be beating down at the same time. Both Jessie Royer and Michelle Phillips lost quite a bit of ground on Mitch. Nicolas Petit made the run to Huslia in one long straight shot into his 24 hour. He can also leave there at night, which is not a bad position to be in. He likely will make up 3 to 4 hrs on Mitch in the checkpoint where Mitch needs to take is 8 hour layover. Clearly my take away at this point is, Mitch is in the drivers seat big time.
Dang it, as much as I like sailing, I miss seeing the action first hand and taking pictures, but am thankful for the great insider videos.

[mamamia]

Hugh and Noah passed Katherine while she was resting but she is having none of it! She has passed Noah and is close to passing Hugh less than 10 miles from Huslia! She is having a great year. First a solid performance in the Quest where she took 7th place and rookie of the year and now she is rocking the Iditarod with the top dogs. Looks like her mushing skills have caught up with her competative side. Great Job Katherine!

[tanglefoot]

Theres ans insider video of mitch camped about just over halfway to Huskia. He doesnt seem very happy to be interviewed and is either tired or just being stroppy because insder caught up with him and asked him some questions. He broke the 85 mile run into 2 but thought he was 35 from galena not 35 to huslia.

Wantes to give the dogs a rest and not run 85 straight on to his 24 in Huslia. Says Dallas has some sick dogs and problems with the cold and frostbiten fingers that are slowing him down, wonder if thats a chink in Dallas's armour this year?

Wade Mars is on a seavey hinting trip and says he wants to keep the speed in his team with some shorter runs and rests to keep the speed in his team to try and beat Dallas.

Could be one to watch

[mithious]

I've been watching Wade and Nic both....been wondering if they cooked this up before the race or it just happened that both Seavey's have a good musher doggin them...pun intended We'll never know prolly, but the thought went through my head

Nic and Wade are posting faster CP to CP speeds, I think....I've been rounding them off in my head...not a good strategy, but best I can do right now Tonight and tomorrow is going to get interesting

[mithious]

Joar is off his 24 and on the trail now not too far behind Wade too

[mira]

Aliy left Galena, really do hope everyone feeling better in the team. Safe travels!

[elsietee]

Watching the footage of the teams coming into Huslia during the night - they all look AMAZING!!

Jason Mackey is over the moon with his team. He said he was a little concerned about how long the run took - 13 hours - since he didn't think he was running that slow, but he said he also stopped probably not less than 40 times for this and that (Dallas would be horrified at this waste of time )

[mamamia]

I agree Elsietee. I was totally impressed with the teams as they were coming in. None of them looked like they had been pushed too far, even the ones that had just run 10 or more hours. They all stayed on their feet looking alert and several screamed and lunged to keep moving.

[elsietee]

Aliy left Galena, really do hope everyone feeling better in the team. Safe travels!

Currently running at 10.5 mph, so early indicators are they are feeling a little better