Video Transcription Service Up and Running.

[elsietee]

I just inadvertently started transcribing videos... Can't promise to do them all, but will do any interesting ones.

Monica Zappa this morning in FBs before the start:

" three of her dogs came into heat this morning...she swapped two out with dogs that she wasn't planning on taking that are fixed. Still have two in heat. She says she'd rather this was the worst thing that happens. It totally sucks, but there could be worse things

Last year she forgot the carabiners to attach her lines to her sled."

[fladogfan]

Yay elsie posts!

[Another UK Fan]

Thank you elsie!

[elsietee]

Hugh:

"Has 13 of the 14 YQ dogs. Most of my team from 4-9 yrs old. Know the race, were here in 2015.

Plan just to have fun. Have noticed that he does better then. When he tries to be competitive, like last year, trying to push it, things don't go as well.

Thinks the trail is set up for Quest mushers - deep snow, not much of a trail, need to take your time....

Have 9 different leaders, so that helps a lot."

(the update this morning was that the expected deep snow wasn't as bad as feared).

[Another UK Fan]

Interesting insight that trail favours Quest mushers.

[elsietee]

Noah Burmeister: "Knows the trail because he does river trips up and down the river".

* * * *

Jeff: "Only has two young dogs on his team. He only wanted to take 14 dogs.

Thinks that it would be more efficient if the race only allowed 14 dogs - it would save mushers money, save the race money, the race times would increase... it happened when they went from 20 dogs to 16 dogs. Before there were any rules about it, Swenson and Butcher used to choose to only take 14 dogs.

Expects to be down to 14 dogs fairly early on. Has two youngsters he only put in the team because they're starting on the river and he doesn't expect a lot of challenges that he would have expected from going over the AK Range. "

Has a basic innovation in his equipment that should have people dropping their jaws at Tanana, but wouldn't elaborate further.

He did say he was tempted to cut up an old extension cord and pretend he had electricity. )

The stovepipe is the same cooker he used last year.

* * * *

Mitch: "Best ever team. [no!?!] Reason: non-stop training and years and years of genetics culminating now.... Best ever...."

* * * *

Jessie: "Most experienced dog team she's ever run. Has 16 x 1000 mile finishers starting this race. That's exciting for me - something I've never had before. They've finished anything from one to six times, so it's a pretty veteran team. Hear the trail is supposed to be soft and cold - had lots of that during the Quest this year. Lots of soft trail in MT, so team is used to that. Hoping it is what they say it's going to be - the harder it is, the better her team will do. There's some tough other teams to beat.

Q: D'you think taking chances at the end of the race is going to be what it takes to win this?

"Definitely - no one's going to beat Dallas without taking risks. Just some tough dogs teams between Dallas and Mitch and Aliy... er... several others I could name. They all thrive in these conditions just like I do, so I think I'm going to give them a run for their money.

I have one of the more veteran teams, just coming off the Quest, finally got the miles on them, which is something I've struggled with in the past, getting the team toughened up, to get them miles.... Excited to see how that's going to benefit us in the race, I don't quite know what to expect yet. Haven't done a Quest before, but everyone tells me I'm going to be surprised when I get out there, so I hope so. "

[elsietee]

Hans Gatt: "Hopes to be in the top ten. But as last year showed, you need some luck [I don't remember what happened last year?]. It sounds like it'll depend how you run the first 200 miles... Leaving from FBs the temptation might be to do some long runs right off the bat, which he thinks would be a mistake. He's going to start slow.

Has a young team, but still has Montega, his old leader who's 9 yrs old - he just decided yesterday to bring her. But she's by far the oldest dog. The others are between 2 and 5."

* * * * *

Ellen - eighth race. Would like to finish so she can take a break for a little bit - the race takes her away from friends and family and is expensive. These dogs are all the same as last year, except for one, so these are her old buddies. Hoping to have a good time on the trail together. Has some good dog coats, so they're going to be camping. A couple of the race judges have talked to her about keeping up [with the rest of the field], so she's going to try and do six hour breaks at the checkpoints. She experimented with that in her 300 mile race this year and found there wasn't much difference between an 8 hour rest - which is what she was doing - and a six hour rest - for the dogs. The people get much less sleep that way. We're going to try and go in 40 mile increments and see what we can do. Want to keep up, have fun, have a healthy team.

Is really anxious going into this race and if she had an out, she'd go home right now. It teaches her about perseverance, and trying to keep a positive mindset.

* * * * *

Sebastian Vergnaud: This year is for learning, that's what the rookie year is for. He'll be in training-mode for the first half and then see if the dogs are strong... but he'd like to be in the top 20.We'll see. He's starting with a small team [12] but they are strong. I know them - I've been working with them for two years, so have some 3-4 yr olds... My main leader is 10 yrs old. Been racing everywhere with me, and is a really amazing dog. Last year they did Northern Lights, Denali and Kobuk, so he knows they can race... He has a lot of training miles.

When he was little, he liked wolves. So he got a siberian because they look a bit like a wolf. And then he had 6-8 siberians. And then he just wanted to spend all day with the dogs. Then he started racing...

[elsietee]

Linwood Fiedler:

1989 was his rookie year... had to pull out a couple of times with a bum ankle. Thinks this is #24 or 25. Gets a lot of personal growth out of the trip - finds out where he's strong and where he's weak. It has made him a better person outside the race.

Q: Anything you've learned from doing this trail in 2015?

I bought a backup iPod for music <laughs> for the long flat runs. Can't wait to get to Huslia etc - such a neat experience because they don't normally see the racers and such a neat reception. Reminds him of the roots of this race.

Grew up in a single parent family - his mom knew what young boys needed - to play in the woods and play with dogs. So they raised dogs, and he played with them all the time - so it's a natural extension - with a little more purpose.

* * * *

[elsietee]

Joe Carson:

4th generation Alaskan. My grandpa was the original guy who broke trail for Joe... They moved here to homestead and were here when Joe arrived. They were in the bar planning the race and my uncle was out breaking trail. We still own the original snow machine for the breaking of the trail for the first Iditarod. Kind of a full circle coming around. My family's been doing it a long time. We had sled dogs... my uncle was running with the Mackeys in the old days, running traplines.

I'm 60 yrs old and I want to encourage my grandchildren to never give up on your dreams. Life is good and too many people are acquiescing the pulls (?) of the world. Why not do something that's invigorating in life... too many people are victims of this, that, and the other - why not go out and make something of yourself. I think it's a good challenge. I'm Alaskan, it's a native thing... why not do it.

I teach my grandchildren all the time - you don't have to be the status quo - you set the pace - never give up.

It's not about winning the race, it's about competing and doing something that you love to do.

I think it's encouraging to people my age as well - I've seen people 56-60 years old check themselves into an old folks home - and I just can't believe it. My grandpa passed away three months short of 100 and my great aunt was 105 - they lived life to the fullest. And if we can encourage people my age to do something like that, then why not.

Q: did you grow up with sled dogs?

Oh yes, the post office in Wasilla - that was the dog lot of my Uncle Ed Carson - he sold that to the PO...

There's stories we could tell - but they probably wouldn't be politically correct to tell. <smiles> ...of how you feed and where you procured your feed... we didn't feed Attaboy... you know... where the gut pile was...

Ended up in McGrath. I was a pastor for many years, so we went out there to help some folks out. Anc is too huge, we loved the villages... I like McGrath. The villages in AK are dying - one of the good things about ID is that they bring a bit of the heritage back to the villages. ... that you can excel and you can do things... we've got some young native boys and girls that are very interested in taking up dog sledding and we're encouraging them, and I think that's fantastic. We lose so much heritage and don't have an anchor, you go adrift. I think in a lot of ways that's what's happening with the youth in America these days - they don't have any fundamental basis to grab hold of.

My grandpa only had 5c in his pocket when he arrived in AK, he worked two years just for room and board to get started in AK. People today don't understand what it took to build AK. They have no concept, so if we can encourage people to put forward effort - to have an outcome that you're pleased with.

I'm thrilled with it - this is my home. It's like a rebirth. Extremely reinvigorating to my sole. I think ID is an impetus into the soul of AK.

[elsietee]

Jodi Bailey:

Every year you have to run the dogs you have. This year, 8 of the dogs I'm running are very young, so we plan on having a lot of fun, practising camping, ...We are building a house right more - and training for ID and building a house ended up being more work than I thought.

Q: What has the race taught you?

It has taught me gratitude - to be grateful to live the life we do with the dogs, to be healthy enough to have these adventures, to have the support to be able to do it.

Q: What do you remember about this trail?

I remember all the enthusiasm in the villages. Trail into Huslia is gorgeous.

* * *

Kristy:

Going out last, so I've got plenty of time to pack and repack.... have friends who've snowmachined half way to Nenana, so have had reports about where it's bad and where it's good... so I'll see when I'm out there, and judge from there what I'm going to do with my team.

We [Anna and her] plan to run together, but if she's having a great run, we have a mutual understanding - don't wait for me. [they are currently running together just outside Nenana - 84 miles.]. Her success is mine because we train these dogs together.

* * *

Anna:

Have heard that the snow is deep, so I'm wondering when we stop to camp, how deep the snow's going to be and whether or not we'll be able to hold our teams... those are questions in the back of my mind. How cold *is* it going to get tonight? ...would like to finish in the top 30.

* * *

Hans Gatt:

I'm looking forwards to warmer weather. There was a time I liked the cold.... but that was 20 years ago.

Has only a handful of older dogs, the rest are all young.


* * *

Monica:

My fourth ID - and the first one with any snow, so I can't really complain if they go slow for the first couple of days. Worrying about her dogs... her main buddy - Dweazle, he's her pet dog and has been through a lot - he almost died as a puppy.

* * *

Justin High:

I just want to get on the trail. I'm so tired of *getting ready* to go on the trail. Expecting deep snow. Hopefully we'll have some pull outs and do some camping and let them roll towards the end.

Q: How many preliminary races did you do to get set up for this year?

This year I did one and the dogs did two - Jamie ran Knik and I ran Northern Lights, so we just spent time on the trail. So not a whole lot of racing this year, but they've all been raced before - most of them ran ID last year... or 12 years ago... or whenever it was ...got some nice veteran dogs - a good age group.

Q: What kind of trails do you like? do you like a tough trail?

I do like a tough trail... I like being in the woods more than on the river, but we'll take what we get. I've got big dogs - they're good strong dogs, and they like to work, so we'll do all right on tough trail. I like trail with turns [I thought he said "turds" on first listening and was drawing a blank ] more than watching trees 200 yards each side of me...

Q: You'll get that going to Manley...

That's a good trail?

Q: yes, it's the old historic mail route...

Sounds good to me. Going up to Huslia sounds fun...