Kaltag - Unk - Shak - Koyuk - Elim - WM

[mira]

Last year we had the coast, a subject covering Unalakleet to White Mountain. I suggest we try it once more. The first mushers have arrived in Kaltag, resting before the push to the coast

[elsietee]

Evening updated from Heister/Bruce from Kaltag:

Ryan was really alert - taking care of the dogs and himself. Bruce said he's high on leading the race. Really likes being where he is, has some speed on other teams, so really positive right now.

Heister says he was talking with Richie and said "this is going to be really fun for us, but probably less fun for you guys because this is going to be a grind all the way to Nome"

Richie looked at him and said "no, no, no, we love this. This is what the Kusko 300 is like every year, you have to strategize every mile of that trail. Pete and I are ready - and you have no idea how competitive Pete and I are."

: ) ) )

Bruce laughs and says he's wrong about that - they DO know how competitive they are because of the K300 and being out here. Pete particularly - he's so soft spoken ...and then you see his tail lights.

They talk to the pilot - Chris Klosterman - (Trig Air, who's been flying them up and down the coast for a number of years) who flew Brent out this morning. Pilot says Brent was in reasonable spirits, considering the situation, he was pretty disappointed to have to leave, but making the call for his own health is a hard one, but he did it, and was kind of at peace with it. It is what it is.

Bruce's take on the next section of trail. Minutes will count - 15 mins here and there start to add up:

1. Go to Old Woman, rest, go to Unk, go over the Blueberry Hills to Shak
2. Go straight to Unk if you feel you have a strong enough team.
3. Go to the last band of spruce trees about 20-something miles east of Unk, "Big Timber", rest there, blow through Unk and go to Shak.

Unk is larger, so a lot of activity, so the dogs don't rest as well. Unk really gets into the race, so lots of people and snowmachines, and not a lot of quiet time.

Last time Pete won, he stopped at Big Timber. It's a really good place to stop, just outside town. Good shelter.

Bruce expects Pete and Richie to stop there this year, while he thinks Ryan will go all the way to Unk and stop there. Things may change, but...

Heister asks if anyone will make a big move. Bruce shakes his head and says little moves, picking up minutes here and there is a safer bet. Depends what you think your team can do, but he's in complete agreement with what Mitch says - little adjustments that add up, more than one big bold move. And you could end up walking to Nome if you try something big.

With Pete and Richie - they're used to this Kusko pace - steadily moving down the trail, with the next team 10-15 minutes behind them.

Jessie stripped down his sled - took out his seat, etc to try and save weight, but is feeling a bit of a deficit; Kelly says his dogs are eating incredible volumes of food; Eddie said it's more fun coming into a checkpoint on the runners than walking in 20 miles (it is Eddie's 34th Birthday)...

* * *

Wade and Matt Hall are into Kaltag, seconds apart, at 7:15.

Liz Failor is in Unk, ready to stream.

[elsietee]

Another nugget from Danny Seavey, when asked his thoughts on the possible overland trail around Norton Sound:

The only way it really matters is a few of the coastal checkpoints can be skipped IF the trail is good. You'll see teams go from Kaltag-200 miles-Shak. Or Tripod-UNK-cabin past Shak-Elim.

Those aggressive plans don't work if the distance is increased significantly, and are hard to plan on if it's an unknown. i.e. they have to decide right now (literally for Ryan) which schedule they're on, and it's hard if you don't know what the trail distances will be.

It forces you to be more conservative.

[emwcee]

I think it would be cool to see Ryan Redington win.

[elsietee]

Bruce and Heister now in Unk.

(This was a really fun session - really, Insider has been a joy this year. They had some technical glitches in places, but the interviews have been fun and thoughtful - much less fluff. I think the smaller field really helped, because it meant that they could focus better.)

I typed this as they were talking, so it isn't verbatim:

* * *

Bruce:

As you leave the Yukon River Valley, it's a long gradual climb, so can look slow. After Old Woman cabin, it's more downhill, so the speeds will pick up.

Options on the trail:

1. Go to Old woman - 36 miles - breaks the trail to Unk nearly into half - feed a meal - stop for 1-3 hours. But you better be sure of your speed if you do that.

If you're Ryan, give the dogs a good rest and meal, wait for Pete and Richie to arrive, and then leave when they arrive.

2. Go to Big Timber - last big stand of spruce trees, has shelter from the wind. Breaks the trail between Kal and Shak mid-way. Nice and quiet, no snowmachine/people. Rest for as long as you dare, and go straight to Shak - that's what Bruce would do.

Bruce thinks Ryan is going to Unk [and I think he has another sled there, so it seems like he was planning to stop there] . If P and R stop at Big Timber, then Ryan has to guess how long they rested out there.

* * *

Other teams didn't go through Kaltag because they don't have the gas to do it. Bruce is starting to see the fractures in the teams from the previous 600 miles of trail.

He thought maybe Jessie might go through, but instead Jessie is doing dog maintenance and dealing with little issues - so being more conservative.

On Eddie and Hunter battling for rookie of the year: After Eddie lost his team last night and got a lift from Hunter, he was joking about "that team is really nice!". Apparently Eddie had a chance to have six of Hunter's dogs in his team, but turned them down - and now he's regretting it because they looked so nice. <they are laughing>

Hunter looks like he's in Disneyland, having fun and out for a trip.

Both rookies really enjoying the ride and make you laugh. They say they are the future. [I hope so! Both really fun competitors].

And the three rules of mushing when you first go to handle at a kennel are:

1. "Don't let go"
2. "Don't let go"
3. "Don't let go"

They then talk about the bond between musher and dogs.

Eddie said when the team got away, they weren't the same when he got back to them at EI... they seemed like they felt he'd let them down, perhaps. So today's run was a rebonding time - to rebuild trust and his relationship with them. The event sobered Eddie and changed him a little and he feels the need to make his dog feel like he's worthy of their trust again.

Dogs pick up on mushers' moods and because Eddie was critiquing himself, the dogs picked up on it. Heister cites Brent saying that his dogs reflected his mood from being sick.

The dogs arrived at the checkpoint, and although they were looked after, their person wasn't there - they feel like he left them.

[a note on this: other than a vet checking that the dogs were OK, I don't think they had anything done to them - they were sitting on snow when he arrived. Looking at the tracker - I don't think they were there for very long upon arrival. Guessing as soon as they showed up, they sent a snowmachine out to look for Eddie and picked him up and brought him back to the team.]

The bond between musher and dog is incredible - esp on a long-distance race like this one. Heister says he doesn't think they talk about it enough - and Brent and Eddie's experience really showcased that.

* * *

Ryan is speedy, but Pete hasn't showed his cards yet... and Richie has both. Right now, Bruce can't pick any one of the three as .

Bruce thinks the ideal race will be for all three to arrive at WM within 15 mins of each other.

Ryan is used to the pressure - when he won the Beargrease, 2nd place was only minutes behind him.

All three are too smart to do a hail mary move.

But Heister is thinking of how Lance won when Jeff had the better team - Lance faked it that his team was better, and therefore ended up winning.

But Bruce says you have to read between the lines of what Richie said "you have no idea how competitive he and Pete can be".

Good stories all:
They want Ryan to win - after 51 years, having a Redington win it
They want Pete to join the small group of mushers who have won multiple times
And they want Richie to win beating one of his best friends.

* * *

Wind isn't blowing in Unk - probably as nice as it has ever been on the Bering Coast.

* * *

Bruce is not ruling out the other mushers - but having looked into their eyes and seen their dog teams first hand (and says there's a few that have considered throwing in the towel at this point), he doesn't see that they have the teams to beat this front three (anything weird happening, notwithstanding). But Bruce also thinks that the guys in the next pack are going to have an even harder competition amongst themselves.

[Agreed! Right now, places 4th through 11th are only separated, in real time, by about 4 hours!]

[elsietee]

Interview with Jessie in Kaltag:

The last two years he went from Kaltag to Nome without his seat - takes some weight away, keeps him awake, and he can do a more effective job of pedalling.

Bruce: what happened on the river? why did everyone suddenly speed up - what was the river like? You guys just broke away from everyone else...

Jessie: <looks puzzled> did we? I'm in a bubble out there, I felt like I was going slower than drool out there. Part of it was having the wrong runner plastic. Kelly came in with black plastic and he said it was slow, so I guess it was snow. You usually associate snow with a blown-in trail, with deep trail breaking. But it was just soft and sticky and I think it was 20 to 30 below out there - with the wind it was really abrasive.

Bruce: These are the runs where teams with little issues start to back off.

Jessie: yes, but if you slow down for those runs and you have little issues, you can put them back together. Whenever it was slow going, you just went slow. No use pushing them to go faster.

[elsietee]

Richie in Kaltag:

It seemed like the run from Grayling to Eagle Island - me, and Pete, and Ryan had good runs - but I expected that coming off our 8s. My team looked good going into Grayling, and they just needed a good break. And sure enough, they roared out of there.

Out at Eagle Island, for me it wasn't the cleanest of runs but they were still moving good. And not a couple of hours in, Ryan went by me and he was just flying. "wow... are we going to Kaltag? what are we doing here? "

Bruce: Less opportunity to make moves from here out. So speed is more important.

Richie: Every run from here out is going to be important. And seeing what's around me - what they're going to do for rest and then run. You've got to be ready to move if something happens, or you've got to be ready to do something on your own.

Bruce asks about the dogs cycling and Richie agrees - he'll have bad run, they'll have a good run... they have a bad run, he has a good run. Says he's been around Ryan mostly, hasn't been around Pete so much - but has seen his team - both teams are really strong.

"And are you going to win this? Heister wants to know?" says Bruce.

Richie laughs and says "Can I say this? F**k you, Heister"

[elsietee]

Ryan in Kaltag:

Bruce: YOu're leading the Iditarod now to the coast, how does that feel?

Ryan: Feels good! Dogs are doing good, it's a long ways to go, but it does feel good to be up at the front. I don't know how long we'll hold it, but I've got confidence in the dogs and no matter what happens, I'm very proud of them and proud of the race that we ran and <nods> I feel good.

Bruce: You seem to have a little more speed than the others. Have you unleashed it completely yet?

Ryan: I do have a little bit more speed than some of them... and a LOT more than some of the others. I saw that last night. But... speed.... Funny thing, on the coast we can get some wind and those slow teams could go right through it and we could be held up. It's a dog race, anything could happen, but I'm really enjoying how the team looks, and our position.

Bruce: Looks like that early rest and holding them back is paying dividends now?

Ryan: It is. It looked like I was running up front, but I had an early bib #5... but I think I did a good job managing them. I feel pretty happy.

[elsietee]

Interesting to see who took what rest at Kaltag

The front three are all in sync, whereas in the next pack you can see who has confidence in their team (Matt Hall, Wade), and who is a little concerned (Jessie, Matt... not sure about Hunter - he tends to always rest longer regardless). Eddie looks like he's on the fence.

Ryan Redington- 4h 28m
Richie Diehl - 4h 34m
Peter Kaiser - 4h 33m

Then:
Jessie Holmes - 5h 24m
Eddie Burke - 4h 45m
Matt Hall - 3h 50m
Wade Marrs - 4h 1m
Kelly Maixner - 8h
Matt Failor - 6h 32m
Hunter Keefe - 5h 37m

(Kelly, Matt Failor, and Hunter all left within minutes of each other)

There is now a spread of 5 hours 45 mins between the top ten, which is crazy.

[mira]

I started to look at when to expect arrival in Nome. Last year Brent used 55 hours from leaving Unalakleet. So.. 2.5 days from now.. should be Tuesday morning or something? Easier to calculate then they get to Koyuk.

Ryan is going steadily, 20 miles to go to Unalakleet, Peter and Richie is 7 miles behind.

Mille has just finished her mandatory rest on Yukon and has left Kaltag.