IditaProject Forum

Who will get the first piece of pie?

Wow, Jessie and Ally are looking very good! There are so many strong teams near the front, and a few surprises. So fun to watch the shuffle!

Who indeed?

Just looking around a bit and wondering . . . Both Martin Buser and Jeff King are resting at Nikolai. Two great champs in the same place. And Lance the legend is only 30 miles behind (but gps last updated 2 hours ago). If he arrives before the other two leave what an amazing sight that will be.

https://www.borealisbroadband.net/cams/ ... centercam/

Web cam in McGrath. I remember the day when this was a cam pointed at the door that always looked open at Captn Snow!

Got a screen shot of Jessie but cant remember how to post a pic here?

libby the lab wrote:Got a screen shot of Jessie but cant remember how to post a pic here?

libby, upload pic to somewhere such as imgur, then use that url in your image post?

libby the lab wrote:Got a screen shot of Jessie but cant remember how to post a pic here?

Go to the bottom of the place you'd normally type a post and find this:



Click on "Upload attachment", then:



1. choose file (go off and find where you saved your screen shot)
2. add the file (it uploads it to this board)

then you can either select "Place inline" - that'll put the code for your pic at the beginning of your post and you can cut and paste it anywhere within the post; or just leave it, and it'll plop it at the end of the post.

watching the crop of vids from tonight.

• Matt Failor in Nik: had to sit on his dog to massage it - said he'd think the dog would like a massage, but no.
  
• Richie Diehl - has a black eye. He was travelling along, looking around at stuff and out the corner of his eye, caught a reflector attached to a tree sticking out at an angle - which smacked him in the face. <chuckles> "The best alarm I've ever had". He thought he'd lost some teeth, but is ok.
  
• Pete K: Burn was wild - a windstorm, and not much snow, so a lot of dust blowing making it hard to see with your headlight in the dark.
  
• Some slow motion footage of Jessie R's dogs coming into Nik. Sure looked good - and she sure looked focus. Wondering if this year might be hers - she's certainly pushing harder earlier than her usual tootle along and then pass 20 teams on the coast schedule.
  
• Joar said the trail from Rohn was pretty good. Snow a bit sparse closer to Rohn. Says he's very happy with his lead dog - a 3 yr old "Jaeger" (sp?)(means "Hunter" in Norwegian - Mira can correct the spelling) who hasn't raced with him before and is doing really good - has been in lead since the start. Dogs all looked great on arrival - tails up, waving like flags.
  
• Jeremy Keller talking about dog care - he likes to keep his dogs warm at checkpoints - lots of straw and thick coats - into which he puts strategically-placed hand warmers in the chest and shoulder area <showed him tucking these things into specially-made pockets on the coats>. Keeps the blood around the heart warm. (the 9 dogs he has left are the 9 dogs his son just finished Jr ID with).
  
• Niklas Wikstrand - running Pete Kaiser's puppy team (he handles for him) - just running a really easy pace. Curious to see the Gorge - since it has been hyped so much. "Hundreds have done it, so why shouldn't I be able to". He was v. stressed before the race, but standing on the runners just feels like everyday stuff, so that has been a relief.
  
• Wade says he could use a little more power going along the trail, but it sounds like he packed light. Has a low center of gravity, so didn't tip too much.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Sit down with Greg and Bruce in Nikolai, chatting about what was going on this afternoon:

• Bruce talking about chatter in Rohn last night: Dalzell Gorge was generally good - but a lot of water crossings - not deep, but a lot of mushers came in wet with frozen boots and zippers. Depended on how quick your dogs were at getting through it - Pete K hardly got wet at all, jumping up to avoid it. OTOH, the rookies were coming in a bit shell-shocked saying "wow, that was a good year??". Generally feeling was pretty relaxed in Rohn, though.
  
• They were surprised to see Pete stop in Rohn, and not camp at Tin Creek like the others. Bruce thought maybe he was having some problems, but he arrived in Nik in second place. Turns out he's decided where he's going to 24, so setting up for two long runs and two long rests to get to Ophir.
  
• Jessie Holms - tow-sled broke off without him realising and he had to turn around and go back two miles when someone on the trail told him - a four mile detour. Dogs look good, though.
  
• Richie D's team also look really good, despite his black eye.
  
• Nic only stayed a short while in McGrath. Greg asked what Bruce thought. Bruce said it was a dangerous place to go, to try and see into Nic's mind: "he has a pretty unique relationship with his dogs and he himself says he doesn't really have a plan" - he just runs on feel. Pete K was saying that mushers tend to get sucked into doing the "done thing" - running a set amount of time, then resting a set amount. But dogs don't really go by that kind of strategy, so Nic's way of reading the dogs is beneficial.
  
• Aaron running a bit more conservative than in the past - got wet, so had to dry out his gear in Rohn. His dogs arrived while they were talking and looked "quiet" (not bad - just not amped and animated the way some others were).
  
• They speculated that you can't win by picking where you 24, but you can lose if you mess it up.
  
• Livecast team are stuck in Rainy Pass, so they aren't sure if they'll be able to get Nic arriving in Mcgrath.
  
• Matt Failor came over to chat. Said his drag mat got half-ripped off on the gorge, and he looked down and one of the nuts on his brake bolt had come off, so the bolt was backing out. He stopped and kicked it back in, and he had one extra nut, so he was able to replace it. He told a good story about water in the gorge... but the sound went out, so we didn't get to hear any of it.

More vids in Nikolai:

• Ryan said the trail was "a lot better than last year".
  
  Greg said something about "you're going crazy" and Ryan side-eyed him and said "what do you mean?".
  Greg "well, you know, you're doing great, up there..."
  Ryan "Did you expect anything else?
  
  
• Aliy: Has been "dilly-dallying a lot - so her schedule tells her". She keeps stopping to fix booties, and snacks, and coats. Commando got a little bit of a cut going through the gorge. He's not favoring it, but has had some vet attention in Rohh, and here in Nik, so that is a little concerning. Said her goal was to eat a bit and sleep a bit, which she hadn't done yet in the race. Then put on a blue Matson coat "A new Aliy, in blue".
  
  
• slow-mo footage of Nic arriving in Nik. That team! Wow.
  
  
• Jessie R: moguls from the snow machines really suck - just "miles and miles and miles of bang-...bang...bang..."
  
  
• Matt Hall: sore hands from hanging on tight, expecting the same trail as last year - but instead it was really good trail. Said he and the dogs were ready for a break - almost sounded like he was going to 24 in Nik - was glad to beat the rush and "get a good spot". [edited: he didnt']