IditaProject Forum

Nic is first out after about 5 hrs rest!

So he didn't quite make it out before Mitch, to avoid M putting eyes on Nic 's team, but close.

Joar seemed sad about the state of his [lack of] leaders - but was still having a blast and enjoying the challenge.

I'm home again now, back with a real computer soon, so can hopefully transcribe some vids.

Mitch in Unk:

Everything's slow and hard - just difficult. Had a rough time last night - couldn't get any speed going. A little better today, but then it was real hot.

Q: Have you ever run a race where the conditions were like this?

Yes, in 1982 it was snowing the whole time.





Nic leaving Unk:

Some people think leading is the hardest part.

Joar arriving in Unk - is that his Russian Chucki (sp?) dog in lead (black/white dog)?

Nic in Unk:

[I think below he's talking about his run up the Yukon to Kaltag]

The two times I camped, with the intention to sleep, I just went up to the leaders pile. I was trying to save straw so I'd have some for later if I needed it - and I did need it.

SO I made bunches of four [as opposed to two dogs per pile, he had four dogs per pile], and then I hung out with the front bunch - had some all around me, and one on top.

I'm happy with how they're doing. I have a couple that got sore on the way here [Kaltag to Unk]. I carried Kristy [lead dog] since Old Woman Cabin [about 30 miles before Unk] because I didn't want to run her on something that looked sore. She's already starting to look better, so she'll get probably a total of 8-9 hours rest by the time I get out of here. I'll take her for a jog to see if she looks improved or not. It's pretty obvious when it's not improved. But she already looks a lot better.

I'm going to leave Allie here, because she's not going to get the benefit of that much of a rest and I don't want to go down that hill over here with that dog and potentially damage my dog.

They are eating more than I've ever seen - probly any dog team - eat. And they're *my* team.

You have to be careful because you don't want overfeed and ruin appetite. If you give too much fat, it comes out liquid. So first I fed them a meal with double dose probiotics and double dose of psillium, so that should balance it up.

Joar (possibly during his camp on the way over from Kaltag to Unk?)


...We're moving down the trail.

I dropped my main leader back in Grayling. My other main leader is not really 100%, so he doesn't really want to take the job now. I've got some other dogs up there that are doing pretty good, but not perfect. So it concerns me a little bit.


Q: YOu look like you're moving pretty good though?

Yes, they get pretty excited, start barking at each other, and suddenly start thinking that they should be in lead, ...but they ran pretty good coming over here.

Normally I have a team full of very good leaders, but this year that's not the case. I'm hoping someone will step up and do the job.

I'm going to stop here, and see if we can make it to Shaktoolik - camp out there and hopefully do the run over to Koyuk.

Q: Are you having fun?

I'm having fun. <laughs> It's been challenging, but fun, you know? It's never the same, I mean we got so used to this hard and fast trail all season and suddenly we get some punchy trail and it's like "Oh no...! <makes a cry baby face>..." But for racing, that's what makes it special.

Mitch at Old Woman:

Q: When we saw you this morning you looked like you were moving slow, but it's rough terrain, so to be expected?

M: I didn't expect to be going that slow. I'm not going to let them go that slow - I'm going to stop and rest and build them back up. So that's what we're doing here.

We gradually picked up speed to here, but I'd rather run a rested dog team that a tired one, that's for sure, and in some ways, that's a lot more important to me than competition - having them in really good shape, enjoying the trip. It's not that I'm giving up on competition, but there's a right way to do it and the two go hand in hand. SO if I can get some extra speed by taking an extra rest stop then I might end up better off.

* * *

Mitch just left Unk after 3.5 hours rest

Thanks!

I changed the topic to be unalakleet to Koyuk, I think it make more sense to look at longer stretches. Most rest after the ice crossing.

mira wrote:Thanks!

I changed the topic to be unalakleet to Koyuk, I think it make more sense to look at longer stretches. Most rest after the ice crossing.

Agreed - that's usually considered a "section".


I noticed that it was very light when Travis pulled into Unk, yet it was 8:30 pm. Took a look - sunrise in Unk is 9:11, while sunset is 8:36 right now.

(Where I am, near Lake Tahoe, it's 7:22 am - 7:10pm... our clocks just went forward on Sunday).

QUickie video of Nic, Mitch and Joar in Unk:

http://www.ktuu.com/content/news/Petit- ... 14073.html