Ruby No I

[SamAtUnk]

GPS is showing Lance Mackey through the Cripple Checkpoint. Not only that he has increased his speed from 8 mph before CP to 9mph after CP. Amazing

[mithious]

SamATUnk...thanks soooo much for the info....too tired to hunt it all down.......must head off to bed now too.....before the toothpicks break under the pressure from eyelids closing Nite all...see ya in the am

Good nite hugs to all

[tilstede]

Cripple to Ruby
by Donald Bowers, Jr.

Quick Overview
Important Note The Cripple checkpoint was moved for the 2000 race. It will be located approximately 45 miles farther toward Ruby, at the Poorman airstrip. This is the same location used by the Iron Dog snowmachine race for its checkpoint. This significantly changes the nature of this portion of the race. The distance from Ophir to Cripple is now about 105 miles instead of the previous 60, and the distance from the Cripple/Poorman checkpoint to Ruby will be about 65 miles, instead of the previous 112. The Trail Notes have been revised to reflect this change.

This leg is now a manageable 65 to 70 miles and can probably be covered by some teams in one leap. It is all on well-defined trails (mostly old mining roads) and there are no surprises other than some inevitable overflow and glaciering. You should expect to spend 8 to 12 hours on the trail depending on whether you camp inroute. For reference, this leg is a bit less than the run from Rohn to Nikolai, which is about 74 miles. As on the previous run, you must be careful not to run too far without stopping on this leg—it’s just long enough to cause problems. You can easily lose track of your progress and keep pushing until your dogs tell you that yoursquo;ve gone too far—after which it’s a long walk to Ruby.

From the runway, the trail will head up through the old Poorman town site and will begin to follow old mining roads. Shortly it will drop down the valley of Fourth of July Creek to the Sulatna River on a long downgrade. It’s about 15 miles from the airstrip to the river, depending on the exact routing. After crossing the old steel bridge over the Sulatna River, the trail runs up an old mining road like the one from Takotna to Ophir for 50 miles to Ruby.

The terrain is generally wooded rolling hills for the entire route, with black-spruce taiga (Russian for “land of little sticks") interspersed with heavier forests on better-drained slopes and in river bottoms, as well as the inevitable open swamp and muskeg areas. The road from Sulatna Crossing to Ruby has some moderate hills with long but relatively easy grades, with a few excursions to timberline. Scattered overflow is common all along the leg, as are short glaciered and drifted sections, especially on the road to Ruby.

[SuldalsXpressen]

Hmmm. Given Lance departure from Cripple we must beleive he's rested 4-5 hours on trail to Cripple, and then plan another, maybe longer, rest before Ruby. Now, has Lance rested longer than Kjetil? His wee faster times into Ophir and also on the gps, indicate going faster, hence he has had time for more rest than Kjetil given they used the same time Ophir-Cripple. Kjetil is resting in cp right now, but will prob be on the move around the time Jeff leaves. Mitch is just an hour behind Kjetil, but is down some 4-5 hours of rest. So I do feel Jeff, Lance and Kjetil are still the front runners, but it all depends on trail conditions between Cripple and Ruby. These three have the benefit of running at night for much of the trail - the Cripple-24's have to start during daylight and warmer temps.


Eskil

[MotorWerk]

The 24s at Cripple are clearly at a disadvantage having to start daytime. I'll know more when I read the reports from Mr. Breaker. And now... coffee.

[Domer]

GOOD MORNING NORWAY!!!
I agree, I bet there is quite a few anxious mushers in cripple right now.

[aren]

Good morning all Good to see that you guys are awake. You have put in a lot of work on the forum allready this morning (Europe time) and it also good to see that some of our american iditabuddies is still awake.

[MotorWerk]

Yes, good morning everyone!

aren, did you see Foss on telly this morning? Lars' faithful companion will be running Finnmarksløpet starting this weekend.

[aren]

Hi there motor, Sorry but no I didn't. Did Foss look good? He is a handsome bloke
It is going to be hard to follow both Irod and Finnmark at the same time. How on earth can we get a reasonabe rest run scedule working double shifts

[MotorWerk]

Fosser'n looked very good. I don't really know Nina's team that well, but they showed real spirit during Femunden, and she could very well be among the top 5 at the finish.