by elsietee » Mon Mar 16, 2020 7:05 pm
More Vids from Koyuk:
Ryan: trail was real soft - have a feeling it's going to be like that all the way to Nome
Paige: This year Norton Sound was just miserable. Her favorite "movie" is when Jeff King saw the rabid seal out on the ice - makes her laugh. So they were out there and it was sloggy, and gross, and disgusting, and she started looking around going "where's the rabid seal? we need a rabid seal right now!"
Then an earlier interview camping out before Norton Bay: dogs were moving really well last night when they went through Shak, and she'd heard it was going to get warm, so she figured she'd come out and cut some mileage off the run and avoid such a long leg in the noon-day sun. Her plans totally changed - at the end of the day, she'd rather come across the finish line with the dogs barking and having fun, rather than not looking as good as she'd want.
Wade: has a bloody nose and what looks like a piece of dog bootie stuffed up his nose. Says he and Brent are hustling for 5th and 6th place. Just have to maintain the team and not make bad decisions. Dogs got a bit "disinterested" on the way over Norton Sound <laughs>. Has never run a dog team at 4 mph before, but they did fine. Thinks Paige has the best chance of passing them. She could beat them in run time. She's probably the only one behind Mitch who could catch Mitch. [and maybe Mitch thinks that too, since he cut rest]
Brent: 4.5-5 mph... mashed potato snow. All you could do was brush your teeth five times. He quit asking them for more. Ski poled a bit just for something to do. Haven't seen temps this warm all year.
Thinks his original plan might have worked if it hadn't been hot. Even this morning he thought it was going to happen - there was wind. But then the wind dropped and that was that - plan gone. It was dead still. Going to wait until this evening for it to cool down. It barely got above 0°F this winter where they train - and if there's one thing that he can't train for, and that's heat.
He was definitely going to go through Koyuk, but the dogs wanted to stop 10 miles out on the ice, so figured he'd just get them into Koyuk and feed them. He would have stopped out there on the ice and fed them if he had any dog food.
But it is what it is, and he's fine with it. He has to concentrate on his team. Was bummed because he only got to actually race for a really short amount of time.
Mitch: was conservative earlier on - tough trail/cold weather, so gave the team lots of rest, so suddenly we're kind of speedy. Dogs have responded well - thinks they have the most rest. Thomas is pretty well out of reach, so nothing they can do. Compliments Thomas on his skills and dogs. Dosn't want to wish him ill, but it would take something happening to him for them to catch him.
If he cuts rest, he'll lose the speed. So he won't push it. Not worth having a really tired dog team at the end of the race.
Jessie: Have been running the race since 2001 and has never heard of a tail wind over Norton Sound... Can think of two other times it was "pleasant" out there - but never with a tail wind. She's wearing her "Never Give Up" Iditarod hat - you never know when you're going to come around a corner and get a surprise.
Thinks Brent could out-march them, but probably not with the warm temps. At this point, she and Aaron are just trying to put a gap between themselves and the teams behind. They're not even looking at Thomas - just the teams behind.
Talks about how animated teams don't mean anything - Nic's were animated and shut down, Richie's were animated and barking and shut down at Nulato.
Just trying to get to Nome with an adequate, but minimal amount of rest. If the trail conditions were better, you could cut rest - but they're SO slow, if you start pushing, we could all end up with the "hoods up", so have to be careful of that too. Have never had it happen, and am not about to.
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elsietee AT ponyhill DOT org
Repotted english person in the Sierra foothills, CA
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