For us it is our second race environment exposure having run 2 four dog teams in Ham Lake 5 K sprint class in Feb. Plan is to run the course under 3 hours, this means slowing on down hills more then we would in a real race with an older more seasoned team and limiting driving them hard to passing quickly and pulling away, I tried to break fairly hard when being passed as well and in a real race not so sure I would yield that much on a 20 foot wide snowmobile trail
42 teams lined up for a sourdough start, .... Laying in my sleeping bag waiting for the shotgun blast to signal the start....
Midwest mid and long distance kennels here..
Jen and Blake Freking, Frank Moe, Matt Groth, Amanda Vogel to name a few.
Most of the rest of the teams I have seen on recreational class type race results and sign up sheets here in the midwest going back years and a lot have run this event before.
We have had no close mentors so to speak, got dogs read books and online tips, trained and here we are, .
Here we are 2nd event and it has a different start.. Frett
I was not impressed with the quick release we bought when it came, and thanks to Neil next to us asking if had come loose on us "YET" a few minutes ago and showing us his real nice 26 $ unit from XYZ, Inc. I am thinking it may be to late "NOW" to upgrade.....Frett
BOOM
Methodically I put on my boots lacing evenly and double a knot over the bow, get up start hooking harnessed dogs into the line, Axel first calmest at hook up then Argus who today decides he likes this racing stuff and is just a banging away to go, going nuts, then Albert and Avery steady but also getting worked up now, then the leads first Tyna-pilot then Vixen-throttle..Ok smooth so far...ooops straighten Argus out tug and neck are wrapped around the mainline 4 times already, Now connect Nuchok.. who is calm as a clam, and last its Sharky the slammer at wheel..
I reach for the QR, look up to check the trail ahead and see teams backed up single file from the chute at the end of the funnel going out as far as I can see in the snow across the Ice...
Its down to the last 10 or so teams to launch... whats the etiquette here? I point this out to Shelly and have her hold the leads steady....Do I go and try to hold em back in that line ? No way, they won't put up with it, would bang away till we went or drag us into another team, It's not a race, a fun run... If I sit here much longer (maybe 30 seconds now) they will break the QR or something for sure, Ok I see some other teams passing out there, wave Shelly off .. TYNA HIKE!
We are away and at the chute, TYNA GEE.
and we almost immediately start passing teams, I have seen a couple photos online passing Jen freking! WOW that's something...(She had a passenger) ;-}
We come off the ice onto maybe a mile of single track trail having passed perhaps 6-8teams on the lake, after the woods we cross the only main road (Gunflint trail) and there was a prize for first person to cross here... we did not win it. Dogs are dealing with spectators much better, and we have done so many road crossings in training that we breeze right on through, Tyna GOOD GIRL! Rolling hills with a constant more up then down now, wide groomed snowmobile trail with an inch or three of fresh fluff on it broken by previous teams and the run snowmobile trail breaker.
Based on the look of the trail I am in the middle roughly, I pass a few more teams and passed by a few, one big hill to climb, there is a map of the trail and a altitude graph here
Not nearly as bad as I thought it would be, the training trails we had run near home proved adequate.
For the middle of the route, roughly mile 5 to 15 I am alone, perhaps a pass or passed once or twice but relatively alone and cruse along simply enjoying the ride and view.
Dogs are all doing great all clean passes and only one little mishap in the single track woods where we were bunched up and slowed in sharp corner and Sharky at wheel and I got draged and tipped in the inside of the corner with a quick recovery.
At mile fifteen or so we came to three teams running together, I figure we caught up to them without chasing so we must be traveling faster, so I go to pass and drive them on to pull away, we pull away some but then one team is next to me again the other 2 teams are there as well...Hmmm this is just slowing us all down and risking tangles, So I let em pass and observe a bit, this jockeying around goes on for a while back and forth, so I brake set anchor and give em a break, figure to run cleaner behind again perhaps try and stick a pass again if we catch up, we do, I call trail this time and again it is just a bunch of back and forth again where I pass and get pushed along with a team trying to come around again...... Not sure if we are slowing down in front every pass or if they are giving chase after we pass..
Well anyway we are on the final lake now, run to the other end to the finish, so I climb in the basket and figure to just glide in, Tyna has stayed to the gee side and follows a set of tracks off slightly to the side of the trail, a bit rougher go with no grooming and drifts but we end up pulling ahead slightly now,
so I get back on the runners to steer them in and maybe help a bit and stick a clean lead into the finish, Loose a bit of that lead to having to stop Tyna and the team to get her to go Haw again onto the trail, seems she is trying to avoid the other teams...we get it over and finish up in front of this group.
~22 miles, 2 hours and 32 minutes. Happy dogs, Happy driver, a fine end to the season.
I am extremely happy with our run and the teams behavior, and thankful to have the best handler who puts up with me. My wife Shelly who without we would not have, or be a team.
Still green and young, but none the less I would say.
We have a team.
