IditaProject Forum

Travis Beals in Nik - looking a little punchy and laughing in a slightly sad way - "normally they get to go through the Burn and leave it behind, but this time they have to go back through it".

Travis the night before, camped by the side of the trail:
Even though he loaded up his sled - a half bale of hay, 80 lbs of meat, all his food (biscuits and gravy), his dogs were still dragging him across the dirt at 9.5 mph. He had been wondering, as he pulled out of Rohn, if he should stay and camp for a while. Apparently not.

Says he doesnt' know what it is about the Burn, but the dogs love it. They pick up on the smells and whatever's out there, they love it - they must smell the buffalo.

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Ryne Olson:

Dogs are doing really well, pretty excited about the new trail, we've been keeping it steady. AK Range was beautiful, then the Gorge and the Buffalo Tunnels was a little "sporty", but fun. Then the last little bit into Nik was softer slow snow. This is the first checkpoint I've been to, so I have no idea where everyone is - I've just been camping with the same people all the time.

Richie in Nik:

I'm pretty much where I wanted to be. It's hard to assess where the dogs are at - you're trying to get them into that rhythm and going through the AK Range is a hard place to judge a dog team. You try to get through there without anything major happening to the dogs. Will probably go to McGrath for his 24.

Thinks people are pushing harder because the race is a little bit shorter. But says he's doing what he normally does.

Says he'll see on the next run over to McGrath how the dogs are really doing. Still need to work with his team to get them where they need to be.

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Brent camped on the trail Monday night:

Marvelling that they have to go back over the Burn, but says he's fine with it - makes it tough at the end, not just a straightforward race, that's for sure.

Dogs are doing pretty good, but don't like to eat and drink as much with the warmer temps. Coming from the Interior, they've had cold temps all season long, so they aren't adapted to the warm. They're doing good - he's getting a lot into them during the runs when their appetite is a little higher, and then letting them sit a little longer when they stop before he tries to feed them. Thankfully, they don't need quite as much right now because it's not cold, so they aren't burning it up as much. Hydration is important, so he's been soaking his kibble and getting water into them that way if they don't want to drink. Hoping it'll cool down a little bit.

Rick Casillo is currently the red lantern, and just stopped for about an hour, I think, about 30 miles from NIK. I'm surprised he's that far back and wonder if he's not having some sort of issue?

The reason is that he took 24h rest in Rohn. I haven't seen any reports of why he did it though. It is a bit early