cont./
Dallas: if you drop dogs, you may have a smaller team, but you often go faster. If you have ten dogs, but that 10th dog is slow, you'll do better to drop him and his buddy, and go at the speed of your 8th fastest dog.
Heister: mushers get demoralized because they think everyone around them is better.
Dallas: there has never been a musher in the lead who's left Koyuk being 100% confident in the decision they just made.
Pete has to roll the dice at some point... and this might be where to do that.
* * *
Pete arrives - just 35 mins behind!
Bruce: that team did NOT look tired!!! they were wagging their tails, looking around.
Basically - you have to go faster, or rest shorter. That's what Pete has to do to win.
Heister: Is it easier to win when you've won before?
Dallas: Lots of pressure either way - pressure on Ryan because he has the chance to win. Pete has won it before, so has the pressure of that.
Dallas says Ryan's dog team is great, but he still thinks Pete's dog team is just a little bit better.
Bruce: But Pete still has to use that stronger team. We're going to run out of trail.
Dallas: when they do long runs, Pete gets a little bit faster.
But Ryan may regain that speed after the compulsory 8 at WM.
* * *
[They rush off to watch the two teams and see how they eat.
Unclear at this point if Pete is staying or going through, but it sounds like he may be staying. ]