Nenana to Manley Hot Springs

[mamamia]

Elsie it is interesting that the miles on your tracker are so much different than mine. My screen shows Nic at 127, yours says 139 and still moving. Mine shows Jeff at 111, your at 118. I wonder what is up with that?

[elsietee]

I was just going to comment on that. Strange. So I just hit refresh and my mileage aligned with yours. I wonder if they redid something on the trail and adjusted the mileage after I turned my tracker on at the start.

We shall now resume regular mileage.

[Another UK Fan]

mamamia - thinking over your observations in the Fairbanks to Nenana thread about Dallas and Ramey opting to go slow . . . and it's looking like there's two strategies ( well probably loads of strategies ) - just taking 4 mushers here from gps in two pairs. Sort of suggests you spotted something significant very early on. Wondering how this will unfold . . . .



Jeff - bib no 44 at mile 128. Average speed 9.1mph

Ali - bib 41. mile 124. Av speed 9.2 mph.




Dallas - bib 18. Mile 108. Av speed 8.1 mph.

Ramey - bib 44. Mile 84. Ave speed 7.6 mph.

[ikh]

Iditarod-2017-1.jpg

[mamamia]

There is a huge cluster of resting mushers at race mile 128. So I asked myself, "what is that place?" Tom Huntington's trail report referenced "Old Minto" so I looked it up.

OLD MINTO

(Mentee)

Old Minto village is located in Interior Alaska, on the banks of the Tanana River, a tributary of the Yukon River, about 50 miles south of Fairbanks. The village has no road access and is therefore only accessible by air or river. The nearest town is Nenana, Alaska. The Athabascan spelling of Minto is 'Mentee', and means 'people amongst the lakes'.

Mentee was settled in 1912 by a band of Interior Athabascan Indians led by Chief Charlie, of the Minto Flats area. In 1971, the residents moved to a new location 25 miles north, and accessible by road from Fairbanks, which is now called New Minto, or Minto.

Despite relocation from the old site, the people of Minto have maintained a strong spiritual attachment to Old Minto. Elders still go there to camp, visit graves of their ancestors and recapture memories. The cabins, church, community hall, and store buildings still exist today, and many elders recall the days when these buildings were in use. For these people and their descendants, Old Minto remains "home" and represents a significant part of their spirituality.

[Another UK Fan]

I was asking the same question. Thanks for looking it up! Back to work again . . .

[mamamia]

mamamia - thinking over your observations in the Fairbanks to Nenana thread about Dallas and Ramey opting to go slow . . . and it's looking like there's two strategies ( well probably loads of strategies ) - just taking 4 mushers here from gps in two pairs. Sort of suggests you spotted something significant very early on. Wondering how this will unfold . . . .

Jeff - bib no 44 at mile 128. Average speed 9.1mph

Ali - bib 41. mile 124. Av speed 9.2 mph.


Dallas - bib 18. Mile 108. Av speed 8.1 mph.

Ramey - bib 44. Mile 84. Ave speed 7.6 mph.

I hope I am right and it is just strategy be ause I began to worry about Ramey last night. The thought I had came from watching John Baker the year he won. He kept his team very slow in the first third of the race and then exploded on the Yukon River. But watching Ramey overnight... on the run to Nenana he was stopping almost once an hour. At one point he stopped for a full 30 minutes. Then in Nenana he rested for 4h 49m while all the other top mushers averaged 3.5h. I keep telling me it is nothing but looking at the analytic chart with all that stopping and starting makes me wonder. I hope it is nothing but strategy. He is off to a good start since leaving Nenana so this leg will tell.

[mira]

The "party" gets bigger and bigger or so it seems..

party_time_gps_glitch_time.png

Thanks for the updates all, makes it so much easier to get a fast idea what's going on..

[mira]

The teams also have to do a climb not far after from Old Minto, so I guess it's a nice place to rest..