The Howler

Friday, March 9, 2012

On to the Mighty Yukon

Mike is running towards Ruby tonight. The trail snakes over rolling hills and eventually will drop down to the village of Ruby on the Yukon River.

Mushers are required to take an 8 hour layover at one of the checkpoints on the Yukon River. I expect that Mike will do this at Ruby. This will allow the dogs a good break after the long run up from Cripple. This 70 mile run has taken most mushers over 10 hours and some have elected to stop and rest to break up the run. It looks like Mike will go all the way without a break.

This year the Iditarod is following the Northern route. This means that when the racers got to Ophir they turned North to Cripple rather than South to the village of Iditarod. Therefore, since Ophir, the trail has been new to Mike. He has, however, been to Ruby before. In 2008, when Mike ran the All Alaska Sweepstakes race out of Nome, he drove our snowmobile from Nenana to Nome, an 800 mile journey. The route he took joined the Iditarod trail in Ruby. So once he gets to the river, it will be somewhat familiar for him.

I am really looking forward to seeing Mike and the dogs and hearing about their amazing adventures. I cannot even begin to imagine what it would be like to be in the bubble, as Mike calls it. The special union of a musher and his dogs working together, nearly independent of the world around them.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Moving Towards Cripple

Mike left Takotna this afternoon after his 24 hour break. I was really pleased to see that he kept all 16 dogs with him. I heard via Jeff King that Mike's team look great as they arrived at Takotna on Wednesday. This is a testament to Mike's ability to care for the dogs and his intuitive understanding of what they need. His decision to put the needs of the dogs first was noted in the Anchorage Daily News.

Mike made the 21 mile run from Takotna to Ophir and passed right through. He is now resting about 30 miles further down the trail on the way to Cripple. This is a long stretch of trail. I expect him to camp for several hours and then continue on to the checkpoint. Mike most likely picked up straw for the dogs in addition to some extra food to feed them during this break.

Here in the kennel this evening, I saw some of the most spectacular Northern Lights I have ever seen. There were beams of green stretching all the way to the peak of the sky, not just low on the horizon. They lights moved rapidly and showed reds, purples, and whites along the edge of the green. I hope that Mike is sitting with the dogs watching the same amazing show.

Tomorrow will bring more long miles. I cannot imagine having the athletic ability of these dogs. Their ability and desire to run for hours on end, day after day is unmatched. The chance to witness their accomplishments is part of the addiction of sled dogs.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Taking a Rest

Mike and the dogs have made it to Takotna where they will take their 24 hour break. I am so impressed with their performance. If you look at Mike's run times they are nearly as fast as the fastest teams in the race. I can tell that Mike is running carefully and making sure the dogs get what they need. This has allowed him to bring all 16 dogs to this point in the race.

Mike got to Takotna t 1:22 PM on Wednesday, which means he will not leave until nearly 3 PM Thursday. This will give all of us Iditarod junkies a chance to rest. For Mike and the dogs, this will also be a chance to rest. Mike will be feeding the dogs lots of kibble, meats, and fats and stretching and massaging them.

Photo Sebastian Schnuelle

Mike was asked at our meet and greet whether he gets a chance to bathe during the race. Sorry Maria, there will be no shower on the agenda in Takotna. Mike says that 3 days worth of dog stink adds 10 degrees of warmth.

Photo Sebastian Schnuelle

I look forward to a good night's sleep without temptation to hit refresh on the computer or guilt over thinking about Mike's sleep deprivation. It begins again tomorrow when Mike will cross to Ophir and turn North towards Cripple. These will be long runs as he moves towards the Yukon River.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Over the Alaska Range, into the Interior

They're off! Mike and the dogs have hit the Iditarod trail.

As I write, Mike and the dogs are resting in Nikolai. Mike is running a very smart race. His travel times are very competitive, yet he is giving the dogs enough time to rest so that the youngsters, including Gunnel and Gibson who are only one year old, can succeed. I look forward to watching him make steady progress.

I expect Mike to leave Nikolai after giving the dogs a good long rest. From here he will push through McGrath and on to Takotna where he will take his 24 hour break. Actually it will be 25 hours and 30 minutes to accommodate for the start time differential.

At this point Mike has made it across several of the difficult parts of the trail: down the Happy River Steps, through the Dalzel Gorge, and across the Farewell Burn. I was glad to see that the burn had some snow on it. The Iron Dog snowmobile race crossed this same area a few weeks ago and showed very little snow on the burn.

There have been a couple of videos on the Iditarod Insider that have great footage of our team. Look in "Alan Taylor, Iditarod Volunteer" "Dr. George Stroberg Explains What the Vets See" and "Mike Santos’ Young Team Headed to Nome" You need to be an Insider, but again, I highly recommend it.

Iditarod 2012

Let the games begin! Iditarod 2012 is underway. Mike and the team had a wonderful time at the ceremonial start in Anchorage. From our homebase at the Inlet Tower hotel, we were able to attend several fun events. The festivities included time to meet with friends and fans at the musher's banquet. Mike drew bib number 22 from the mukluk. On Friday, Mike, Mitch Seavey, and Jeff King, put on a jam packed musher meet and greet. On Saturday, Mike gave a great presentation for the Denali PEAK homeschool families.

The ceremonial start was a party. Mike played it up for the cameras and there is a great video of him and our team on the Iditarod Insider. If you are not an Insider yet, I highly recommend the account. I especially like the GPS feature which gives you updates of Mike's precise location and speed every 10 minutes. (Which leaves about 5 minutes for working or sleeping in between updates. :) )

In the ceremonial start, the mushers take two extra people with them. Their Iditarider bids to ride in the sled and someone else rides a tag sled for extra control. Our Iditarider this year was Fran Lockwood from Indiana. She had a lot of fun and made us feel like family. Mike took me along on his tag sled this year. I was nervous that I would mess up in some way and either hurt Mike's race sled or be photographed upside down, which could get Mike in the paper, but maybe not in the fashion he would choose. However, it turned out that I was worrying unnecesarily. (Not me!) The ride was really fun and easy. I had never driven Mike's race sled before and it steers really well. I guess he knew what he was doing when he built it. (Thanks Jim Wheeler for helping make it happen!)

On the ride through the city we went through crowds of fans. They clapped, rang bells, reached for high fives, and yelled out words of encouragement. I was impressed by how they would yell, "Go Mike!" It gave the impression that they knew us. I realize that Mike's name was in the paper, but personal greeting feel very Alaskan to me. We are a huge state geographically, but very small in population. People really do know each other and take pride in the accomplishments of fellow Alaskans.

The ride took us through the city streets and trails, through two tunnels and over two bridge overpasses. The dogs had no problem with seeing all of these strange things. Snow was falling and the trail was soft. About half way through the run, Mike asked me to pick up my drag mat. On the sled there are two breaks, a drag pad for slowing down and a metal break with teeth to stop. Mike often makes fun of me for standing on the mat too much. This time he asked me to pick it up right before we went over an overpass that led into a sharp turn. Even without my mat, we made the corner, and the paper.

Sunday was the restart in Willow. Mike left the starting line with Rachel, our neighbor, riding the sled with him. I wondered if she would go all the way to Nome with him, but she was in school the next day.

This whole weekend could not have been possible without the help of many people. I really feel like we had the dream team this year. Christian and Ian, our handlers, Ellen, Chris, Rick, Shane, and Jen for doing everything needed, Tom Farbo for caring for all the dogs at home (especially Willie), Justin Mason for taking amazing pictures, and most importantly Clint Warnke for making sure everything was done right and taking the load off my shoulders. Thank you all for your help.