Ruby - Kaltag (Yukon river)

[elsietee]

Brent before leaving Ruby:

It wasn't the right time to take his 8. It's not super-warm in Ruby, so he's going to believe that it won't be that warm on the river, which was his only concern.

The warmer weather means the dogs don't have to wear coats n stuff - causes rubs and gets old for them.

They just came off their 24 and they don't need their 8. He'd rather take it further down. Followed Pete last night - thinks they are evenly matched. Need to not worry about other people's teams - too much trail left. Stay in the hunt and stay near the front and continue running the dogs as he was. Wants to take it in Kaltag.

Bruce: This is the biggest group of strong teams he's ever seen in Ruby. Usually it's 5-6 teams...

Brent agrees, but says he thinks the Yukon will sort it out a bit.

Dogs looked great leaving Ruby.

[libby the lab]

Jessie is first into Galena but no live feed

[elsietee]

7:32 pm AK: Brent went through Galena - presumably splitting the 135 mile leg between Ruby and Kaltag into two 65 mile runs - followed by his 8. Expect him to stop on the river about 15 miles past Galena.

Jessie in Galena - talks about how an old snowmobile trail crossed the ID trail - so she just switched onto the snowmobile trail. On the ID trail they were just floundering in a foot of fluffy snow "It was horrible". Sled doesn't want to slide on the snow - dogs are working hard.

[elsietee]

So this is what Richie meant when he said it wasn't worth taking your 8 in Nulato because "it's on the river":

[mira]

7:32 pm AK: Brent went through Galena - presumably splitting the 135 mile leg between Ruby and Kaltag into two 65 mile runs - followed by his 8. Expect him to stop on the river about 15 miles past Galena.

About it is, he appears to have stopped 13 miles past Galena. No one else has left Galena but Aaron and Thomas have arrived. Jessie has stayed for four hours

[mira]

ktva has a story about nulato, not visible for me.

The checkpoint is moved because of covid-19, seems like they are not allowed to use the school...or perhaps all schooled are closed. Not sure if this is because they suspect it in nulato or not

https://www.ktva.com/story/41895288/checkpoint-changes-ahead-of-iditarod-mushers-due-to-novel-coronavirus-concerns

So Nulato will most likely be a drive-through.

I wonder about that storm, Brent is ahead of the others, but he will have to go to Kaltag within it. I guess it depends where it will be, if he get the storm between him and the rest, then it's good or he will have to break trail.

[elsietee]

Galena:

Paige, Joar, and Ryan taking their 8 there.


Ruby:

Lance: Feels good to be amongst the best teams in the world. He's hear because he was nominated for an award with a free entry fee and he felt obliged to be in the race because of that.

Wade: Dogs eating good and smooth and steady, but just are slow. Passed by everyone in the top 15, so it's been "interesting". Wonders if maybe he'll get speed back after their 8, if not, just keep them going. Took his 8 in Ruby. (His original plan had been to 24 in Cripple or Ruby, so that didn't work out).

[elsietee]

I wonder about that storm, Brent is ahead of the others, but he will have to go to Kaltag within it. I guess it depends where it will be, if he get the storm between him and the rest, then it's good or he will have to break trail.

Any kind of bad weather would be good for both Brent and Jessie. Don't know how it would work for Thomas - he did the leg between Ruby and Galena 1-2 mph faster than Jessie. If he keeps that up, he gains four hours on her on the way to Kaltag. If the weather turns, will it slow him down?

By rough calculations, because they already took their 8, Thomas is neck-n-neck with Jessie, while Aaron is 40 mins behind them. I think Aaron is about 20 mins ahead of Brent, but since he's on a different schedule, it may not translate.

Richie thought his dogs would speed up on the river - more what they're used to - but he was the slowest of the trio of him, Joar, and Ryan. Ryan was the fastest.

Lance was 45 minutes faster than the fastest going over to Ruby... but so far has lost everything he gained and more on the leg to Galena.

Pete's team are definitely back on the upswing.

[elsietee]

Too funny - Wade was all down because his team were going so slowly... and mayyyybee they'd speed up after their 8 - he just ran one of the fastest legs between Ruby and Galena - 6 hrs 3 m (Thomas did it in 6 hrs 2 mins). And Wade blew straight through in 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, Thomas cut his rest by 20 minutes, going out right behind Pete and just ahead of Paige.

[SuldalsXpressen]

I wonder about that storm, Brent is ahead of the others, but he will have to go to Kaltag within it. I guess it depends where it will be, if he get the storm between him and the rest, then it's good or he will have to break trail.

Any kind of bad weather would be good for both Brent and Jessie. Don't know how it would work for Thomas - he did the leg between Ruby and Galena 1-2 mph faster than Jessie. If he keeps that up, he gains four hours on her on the way to Kaltag. If the weather turns, will it slow him down?

By rough calculations, because they already took their 8, Thomas is neck-n-neck with Jessie, while Aaron is 40 mins behind them. I think Aaron is about 20 mins ahead of Brent, but since he's on a different schedule, it may not translate.

Richie thought his dogs would speed up on the river - more what they're used to - but he was the slowest of the trio of him, Joar, and Ryan. Ryan was the fastest.

Lance was 45 minutes faster than the fastest going over to Ruby... but so far has lost everything he gained and more on the leg to Galena.

Pete's team are definitely back on the upswing.

How is Thomas and Jessie neck-n-neck? Thomas is about three hours behind Jessie on the trail, but she hasn´t done her mand 8... That makes Thomas 5 hours ahead, right? Aaron is the one closest to Thomas. Wade mars about 3 hours behind, right?