The Scratch

Me and My Barney

Hey all,

We are all home safe, sound but disappointed. Iditarod dogs are bouncing around on their chains, enjoying the sunshine.  I'm licking my wounds, wishing I had spent more time on the runners and wishing I had better luck prior to the race when several key  leaders got sidelined.  Oh well.  

We usually start the race thinking we have 6 to 8 leaders who can rotate up front and knowing about 50% won't end up doing it for some reason or another. This year I started with one proven  leader – Teva – and a whole bunch of question marks.  I dropped leaders Abbi - maybe prematurely - in Rainy and Athena in McGrath - she got wobbly out of Nicolai and I carried her the entire run. Athena really was the true leader of the team to that point; Teva would normally be a key player but a tight bicep and later a tricep meant she ran only two legs in lead.  That meant Pebbles and Phoenix had to carry the leader burden since Doc (kennel cough), Pistol, and Oprah (in heat) were not up to it.  

Once Athena was out of the team, leaving checkpoints became more difficult  since Teva needed time to warm up, Phoenix has never been one to leave a checkpoint - he was fine once out on the trail, and Pebbles had kennel  cough so really was not 100%.  When Phoenix - looking stiff in the back end - decided he was not up to leading to Grayling, I could see the likelihood of making it to Nome was slim and decided to return to Anvik to reassess.  That next morning, I had the vets check the leaders thoroughly.  Pebble’s cough had descended to her lungs so was at risk for pneumonia and Teva's shoulder was now a sore triceps which was unlikely to heal going forward.  Phoenix appeared ok except mentally he was not prepared to carry the load.  With no reliable leader our race was done.

Otherwise, I was pleased with the performance of all of the dogs in the team, they ALL really did really well.  Once I got my leaders rolling, the team looked awesome and would easily maintain a good pace.  I kept the team at the Bar-Mug pace which meant both Barney (the biggest male) and Muggles (the smallest male) were trotting comfortably along.  Our best run was probably from Rainey to Rohn,  the most scenic run on the trail.  The trail was the best I had ever seen it and kept my sled upright the entire run - a first for me on this segment!.  I was just amazed at how easy the run was and Athena led us ably through the twists, turns and drops.  We arrived in Rohn to see a number of top mushers were still there - John, Hans, Deedee, Martin, Sonny, Paul.  I went into the Rohn cabin and found all them squeezed into the little cabin and I quickly exited as the egos were just ping ponging off the wall.  A wall tent had been set up nearby for mushers, so I slept a few hours with John and Sven :)

Cruising on the Ceremonial Start

If you signed up for the Insider, you probably have seen my crash on the Steps between Finger Lake and Rainy.  I was told by the camera man that 70% of the mushers crashed and mine was not the worst of all - just the one they captured the best :)  The tree – the same one which broke Rick Swenson’s collar bone - stopped the team in its tracks and my sled pinned Screamer on the sled side of the tree and under the sled itself. Not sure how that occurred but fortunately she was unhurt.  Three dogs were loose because the snaps broke or harnesses came off at impact. Once I pulled the sled of the tree I moved down into the flats and collected the three loose dogs, then found a sunny spot to camp and assess the damage.  Devan built the sled well so I found no apparent damage and the dogs were all fine.  We enjoyed the sunny midday then proceeded to Rainy and Rohn.  

The trail from Rohn was also in very good shape the year with snow cover the entire way.  We maneuvered the Post River Glacier easily, took a short break at Buffalo Camp, and continued on to Nicolai in one run.  We did encounter a lot of wind the last two hours of the run which may have actually helped cool the dogs in the midday sun.  Deedee passed me with a fast moving team  and Jessie passed me when I stopped to snack.  

Leaving Nicolai, I could see Athena was not 100%.  Just a few miles out she started to neckline; she clearly had an issue which I could not resolve there on the trail so I loaded her in the sled. After about 15 minutes of quiet rest, she felt better and proceeded to howl the next forty miles to McGrath.  After 25 hours of rest in McGrath she appeared ready to go on but since we did not know why she stalled out, I knew it would be best for her to stay behind.

Taking my 24 in McGrath cost me some time and positions but I felt it best to rest them sooner than later and I knew Takotna would be overloaded with mushers.  I had McGrath pretty much to myself with a sunny/quiet spot for the dogs,  great sleeping quarters, a full staff of vets at my beck and call, and a professional chef cooking for me in the kitchen.  The only drawback was that I was parked near Gerry Willomitzer whose entire team had kennel cough thus further exposing the team (we had been parked next to him in Skwentna, the first checkpoint) to the virus.  

When Wattie MacDonald and Jerry Sousa - both notorious for their snoring - showed up for their 24, I knew it was time get out of Dodge.  I decided to split the run to Iditarod into two runs allowing us to camp in the midday sun.  Both runs went well although I started to see weakness in the front end starting out on the second run.  Leaving Iditarod was also a bit sketchy as I had to juggle who was in front but we got through what was a long and warm run to Shageluk.  I would have rested longer at Shageluk but needed to stay on a schedule which avoided the worst of the midday sun.  I don't really think more rest would have helped the leader situation; we just did not have the depth this year on the trail..  I decided we would take it one run at a time but as noted above found the game over after Anvik.  

I'm ok with all of this.   We all did our best and I appreciate all the support  and good thoughts.  Looking forward to some hottub action this weekend and, of course,  dreaming about next year.  I don’t think it will be the Iditarod again tho; thinking the Quest might be Best for 2012  

Happy trails, judy