McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby mira » Fri Mar 10, 2023 2:00 am

Shageluk is getting busy, Sass has been there for a while, is he taking 8hours already.. taking 24 in Ophir.. but if he does he can follow his own schedule rest of the way, being finished with the mandatories.

Anyhow, the rest of the "front" is closing in or is there already. Jessie, Richie, Ryan and Peter. Richies tracker showed him as resting just outside, don't belive that. And it looks like Jessie just went trough.
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby mira » Fri Mar 10, 2023 5:35 am

Jessie into Anvik. Brent stayed 4 hours in Shageluk, I was starting to think he would take 8 their, but nope.

Sass is three miles behind Petit, no one else have left Shageluk yet, five mushers are in Shageluk at the moment. Mille is soon to arrive.
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby Another UK Fan » Fri Mar 10, 2023 5:37 am

elsietee wrote:Hmmm... another one to watch: Hunter Keefe?


Been thinking similar and your post has added to the thought. It does look like he could be a surprise.
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby Another UK Fan » Fri Mar 10, 2023 5:43 am

Sass left shg after 4 hours rest. I too had wondered if he'd take his 8 there. Would give more independence on rest of trail.

Sass is currently at mile 491 with Petit at 494 on the trail to Anvik at mile 512. No other teams on this section.

Jessie resting in Anvik. Taking 8?
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby elsietee » Fri Mar 10, 2023 1:05 pm

I got busy, so couldn't write everything down last night, but so fun to watch the mushers on the trail, coming through Shageluk in real time and seeing their attitudes. (and watching mushers further back coming in to ID overnight. Squinting at the camera, I think Lev Schvarts might be the checker at ID - he looks familiar).

The front-runner mushers all seemed super relaxed - esp. Jessie who was about to pull through (with Richie literally on his heels, although he stopped and stayed for 4 hours). A local lady asked if they could take a photo and Jessie was super-accommodating - waiting for all the kids to assemble at the front of the team. Also caught him baby-talking to his leaders, which is always fun to hear. I liked him a lot more in this snapshot than when they interview him and he goes into "competition mode".

Later I could hear Brent's booming voice telling that the trail from ID had been really good (I think this might be in one of the videos, but haven't had a chance to look at any of them yet today). Everyone seemed to be enjoying the cooler temps - including the dogs, who all looked amazing coming through there.

Looking at the way they are set up right now - I thought Brent had broken the run from ID to Kaltag into three chunks - resting in Shag, and now on the trail outside Grayling, and then would go to Kaltag in one long run. But it's 115 miles, so that seems a bit extreme, even for Brent. The way he's set up, he'll have to take his 8 in Kaltag and then make a move over to UNK. So maybe he's just outside of Grayling for some peace and quiet, and will still take one more break (maybe a shorter one? Interesting...) to get to Kaltag.

Richie and Pete seem to be on the same schedule, although 7 miles back. Both posted fast times to Grayling, although Pete seemed to be biding his time on the trail last night- although he caught Ryan, he must have snacked and let him go ahead.

In terms of speed - Hunter Keefe, <phew> - his time was nearly 50 mins faster than Brent's to Shag (but he also rested nearly 6 hrs in ID). I'll be curious to see if a) Hunter can maintain this speed and b) do something useful with it? He really mixes it up with his schedule - unsure if this is due to rookie-ness, what he sees in this dogs (he was v. happy with them at Ophir), or just his personal style.

The wild cards are Nic, Kelly, Aaron Peck - all of whom are out of sync with the other mushers, so deceptive as to where they actually are in the field.

Speedwise, it's interesting to see the times between Shag and Anvik - 25 miles - so a snapshot of what the teams are doing: https://iditarod.com/race/2023/checkpoints/15-Anvik/
Of those, Matt Failor's speed was the one that surprised me most, since he appeared to be slowing down a tad; while Nic, who I thought was running faster and resting longer, isn't.
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby elsietee » Sat Mar 11, 2023 2:56 pm

Some late arriving footage from Shag:

Hunter:

Hasn't been paying attention to his position. His team are incredibly fast - he has really fast leaders, but he's going to keep resting them as much as they want and as much as they need.

Trail between ID and Shag was like a bobsled track. They steer their sleds a bit like skis - as you move your knees from side to side, the runners dig in to change direction but on this trail they don't dig in at all so it felt like you couldn't steer. The trail was also extremely narrow, so sometimes you felt like you were squeezing in your shoulders to get through. Very up and down and never straight, so you're constantly banging into trees - shows where he tore his coat and says his sled got banged around and he ended up on his side a few times - was holding his breath for a lot of the run.

Felt good to arrive on the river - and that's why he took his 8 there - he, Hunter, needed a breather after that.

[This explains why Nic was so surprised when Matt Failor said he was falling asleep on the sled when Matt pulled into Shag right behind him, "On that trail??" he asked] .

Says that his sleep deprivation is starting to really affect him, but he says it sounds like all the mushers are in that situation [see above re. Matt :) ] - but that trail really jarred you awake. But he knew it wasn't going to be the perfect joy ride the whole way. Says last night he was thinking that he hoped NEVER to have to do that trail again, but he can see that if the trail had snow - "I mean, it's always going to be nerve-wracking, with such a technical trail. But if you had the ability to actually be able to drive the sled - it would be fun". Says when the sled can't be driven it really messes with your head - you drive the sled all year round, so know exactly how it feels, so when it's just not reacting, you keep thinking it's broken.

He thanks Raymie and Barb Redington "This dog team is just a dream to be behind".
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby elsietee » Sat Mar 11, 2023 3:11 pm

KattiJo in Shag:

Has had two cups of black tea on this race, but that's it - no coffee... She quit drinking coffee because it really makes her up and down. As a result she has felt really good - has had energy, but has had trouble falling asleep when she needs to take a nap. Says she'll likely sleep when she gets to Grayling [for her 8] [looking at the stats, she actually stayed 8:45 there].

Says her worst run was the second - she camped short of Skwentna, and then ran all through the night. Says the boring river runs at night are the worst for staying awake - but other than that, she's been awake.

Asked about the last run. "OMG, this last run was so annoying". She had the wrong plastic on for the conditions. She had wide plastic on (has changed it now) and it was pink, so really, really fast. Because it was super-warm earlier in the week, the trail got super-icy, glassy, so like a skating rink. And the sides of the trail aren't level - they are sloped, but sloped in an undulating way (she demonstrates with her hands), so it was like a luge. She was flying around corners, crashing into the snow bank, crazy. She ran the gorge with absolutely no problem, just one small crash, and she was so proud of herself... and then today she had 20 crashes before she finally opted to change her plastic. She had the narrow, grooved, yellow plastic with her, so that really slowed it down, but then she really felt it climbing up the hills. She had been doing 8.5 mph up the hills, but with the yellow plastic they were down to 7.5 mph and her dogs were looking around, like 'why is this so hard now? It was super-easy an hour ago'.

Said she isn't sure if she's going to switch the plastic back, but says it was nice to come in and have other mushers confirm that it wasn't just her being a bad sled driver, that it was tough for a lot of people. She's really happy to be there.

Interviewer: "But you're always smiling!"

KJ: "I'm always relieved to get to the checkpoint in one piece!" <laughs>

[and yes, she's still super-upbeat and fun to listen to].
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby elsietee » Sat Mar 11, 2023 4:04 pm

Jessie H arriving in Kaltag - dogs look good - but instead of going through as speculated, he'd bedding them down after a 47 mile run. Interesting. Is he building speed, or repairing cracks? Either way, by stopping here he lost his location advantage, which puts him in 4th.

* * *

Kelly arriving - Bruce "dogs look really nice and have for the last few 100 miles. Nice looking dog team for 650 miles into the race". Dogs still all standing up and looking focused forward. Kelly, like Jessie, pulls off his jacket as soon as he arrives - they are toasty. No coats on these dogs.

* * *

Bruce says all the mushers say they were surprised how fast the trail was on the river - so they came in really fast last night. Pete says he really likes the river (where he lives is flat, so his dogs are used to it).

* Ryan has unleashed his speed - is happy with what he sees. Ryan was not surprised that Jessie stopped, from what he's seen on the trail.
* Richie - alert, nice looking dogs, def in it for the win - but dogs are ready to take on battle
* Pete - dogs are quiet and do their job so well, with a smile on their face - everyone is worried about Pete being behind them.
* Jessie - dogs feet have been a little sore, so he's been taking extra time to put ointment on and really paying attention to the dogs' health - and therefore has backed off a little.

Bruce also says you're starting to see the front pack break away.

They have sent a filming team out to Tripod Flats (wanted to get them out there ahead of the mushers, so they weren't bothering the teams on the trail which is narrower after leaving Kaltag). The trail leaving here is light timber, then goes into rolling tundra. The teams have to do something in the next two runs to separate themselves. Can't do as much on the coast. The power should pick up.

"Who would have thought a tooth-ache would take out the front runner". Brent has had medical attention in UNK and is fine. Dogs are all safe, probably in UNK.

Bruce and Heister going to UNK tonight. Kaltag live cam will stay here until Sunday afternoon, before jumping on to White Mtn.
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Re: McGrath -Takotna - Ophir - Iditarod - Shageluk - Anvik

Postby elsietee » Sat Mar 11, 2023 10:16 pm

Nice interview with Matt Hall in Shag - talking about the trail, the temps, and a little strategy:

Talking about the trail between ID and Shag: "I was joking that if we were awake, had an 8-dog team, and a sporty little race sled, that would be a blast... so much fun, but ...uh, it was a lot last night. <laughs>

Snowmachine tracks are just a bit wider than a sled, and it was so up and down and windy, and you'd set up the brush bow on your sled to ding off one tree, but then you catch in the other track, and you shoot this way, and hit that tree [on the opposite side] <hes's miming this> - even though you thought you were going to hit this tree <motions to the opposite side of the trail>. ... For hours!

Looking back now, it's starting to get fun, I guess, but last night...

My mid-back from torquing on the sled is super-sore.

Coming in last night, one of the guys asked what the temperature was. And thinking about it, I was thinking 'I got really cold', but I don't know if I want to say that because it has been so warm this whole race - surely it's just that my body has acclimated [to the warm]. But out there on the river I had to put on a face mask, and zip all the way up with my parka. I needed my mittens, but I could see the lights of the checkpoint, so instead I was swinging my arms, thinking 'man it's cold'.

And one of the guys said 'on the river my thermometer said 25 below [-31°C] and when we climbed up on the bank here it was 10 below [-23°C]. And I was <phew> that makes more sense. <laughs> I didn't want to say it was really cold out there when it was probably only 10 above [-12°C] and my body is used to 45 above [7°C] - but [it turns out] it was pretty cold.

Every dog is snacking away like little pigs, which is what we want to see, their weight is good, they're holding up real good. I have a few stiff guys, which is another reason for taking my 8 here - the longer the rest, the more recovery there is, so it's easier to see how stiff they really are. Coming up are two short runs, so if any dog is feeling a little off, it'll be easy to drop them. I still have 12 dogs, so have room to do that before the longer runs on the Yukon.

[note, he did not drop any dogs and still has 12 in the team at Kaltag]

Interviewer asks if he pays attention to other mushers times/positions?

"Just on the way in to this checkpoint was the first time I was wondering what the other times were. It's just starting to get important - for me. So I am curious what times were in here. But even on this run, the terrain we were going through, I was still on the brake a lot. There were only half a dozen times when I was going up a hill and thought "we could be going a little bit faster". But the rest of the trail I didn't want to be going faster, I was trying to keep them slowed down. Which means times don't matter, because I didn't want to be going any faster.

But now we're on the Yukon (or close enough), it's time to start looking at time and thinking about doing some real moves instead of just cruising.
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