by elsietee » Tue Mar 13, 2018 12:32 pm
In the same way I was really hoping Joar didn't lose the race by the extra 2.5-3 hours that it took him to break trail to ID (or god forbid, the 25 minutes it took him to go back to Ophir to get his people-food when he realised he forgot to grab any), I'm glad that Nic didn't lose the race by the 1.5 hours he was AWOL on the ice.
Yes, you could argue that being AWOL "took it out" of his team, but you could argue the same for Joar on his way to ID (you only had to watch his tracker crawling along at 5.5 mph for the last couple of hours in to ID to see that). The difference was the mistake happened later in the race for Nic, so less easy to bounce back from.
But that's the nature of long-distance races.
In the same way successfully summitting Everest isn't getting to the top, it's getting back down again safely (something that many climbers have failed to grasp and paid the ultimate price because of it), winning ID is getting to the finish line with all your mental faculties about you and dogs in fine shape - not getting so far in front in such a way that you start making mistakes.
What's interesting is, in theory Nic wasn't as tired as some of the mushers around him. He himself - during the interview in the shelter cabin - said he doesn't do as much on the back of the sled, so doesn't get so tired, so is still sprightly when it comes to taking care of the dogs when they stop. The interviewers remarked that he seemed in so much better shape than the others around him.
The argument that the trail wasn't adequately marked could be made, but Joar was only 23 minutes behind Nic out on the ice, and although ground blizzards can obliterate the trail, that's something that all mushers have to deal with (it looks like Wade and Travis got caught in a similar way and backtracked back and forth. Travis bounced back from it [travelling further back in the pack and surging at the end - less wear and tear on the team?] while Wade is still in Koyuk recovering [perhaps earlier moves in the race caused erosion?]).
Joar said he had to switch out his leaders about five times because he didn't have one that was outstanding, so it's not like he had a Kühling out in front of his team.
Anyway, race well-run from both Joar and Nic and we just have that final "little hurdle" of the 70+ mile run into Nome to contend with (and god-forbid, please no repeat of Brent's issue with the dogs not wanting to leave White Mtn). I was a little scared this morning when I woke up and checked the tracker and saw Nic still resting and Joar still poking along without rest, but hope that his good speed coming in to W-Mtn indicates his team being in good shape. I'm sure Joar won't be taking anything for granted.
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elsietee AT ponyhill DOT org
Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, CA
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