What a great race this is! Definitely a qualifier though...you won't find one much more technical, that's for sure. It was gorgeous the entire weekend...hot though. Friday found us with temps around 40F, though it did start out to be overcast, the sun soon came out to bake down. I put the furkids in this lineup: Just & Dusk (lead), Zen & Feather (swing), Ahab & China, Jericho (single), Inu & Luke, then Rocket & Chevy (wheel). I chose to run 11 dogs and left Sunshine at home...he really doesn't do well in the heat and is pretty heavy (actually, he's downright fat!), so I thought it better to take one less. The first part of the trail is 40 miles of climbs and drops. I'd drawn number 13 (lucky?), so that meant that the trails would be chewed up for my team. The warm temps made the snow rather slick and a bit slushy...icing up the runners, brake and drag mat. I didn't realize this until the first drop....the first few are short, but a bit twisty. My feet slid right off my mat/runner, dragging me down the first hill. The second one, the same thing happened, but this time I lost my grip on the handlebar. Luckily, there was a burnt out stump off to the side that caught the sled...though it shredded my bib, which had been tied to the front of my sled. I planted the hook, lifted the sled out of the soft snow...then, tried for about 10 minutes to get my hook out! I kicked, dug, used my other snowhook, nothing worked. Just when I'd get it a bit loose, the dogs would replant it. Definitely a good hook. We had 4 teams pass us, as I got very frustrated. I then dumped again going around a sharp turn...don't know how that one happened...first we're in the turn fine, next thing I know, I'm on my side and my hand hurts like crazy! I jumped up and immediately got going again...but was feeling pretty stupid and clutzy at this point. The dogs were super strong...Manny had warned me; but, I really thought it'd be fine. He was right and by this point, I was a bit nervous at the sheer power singing through the gangline. We took off again and we were hanging right behind Bill Cotter for many miles. I did have one more dump...at the first road crossing. Chevy was in wheel and cut the corner, launching us off the banked snow, dumping the sled. My head cracked on the pavement, shooting pain through my skull. Luckily, Manny was the volunteer at that road crossing...so he caught the team as I staggered up and across the road. I was ok, til he asked me if I was alright...at which point tears started to swim before my eyes as pain radiated across my head and down my neck...I told him through gritted teeth, "No, I'm not alright!! I lost the team, crashed, hurt my hand and now my head is splitting!" And here, we were only 10 miles in!! What the hell did he think? Definitely wasn't a bed of roses. I jumped on the sled and got going. I gave myself a mental shakedown at that point..."Come on, Tammi! You've done this before...you know what you're doing...quit messing around and DRIVE." That worked, as we came down the mine hill, crossed the 2nd road crossing and actually stayed upright! Todd Mackinaw was manning that crossing....he said, "Good Job!" and told me I was one of the few who actually made the 90 degree turn. That made me feel better. I told him my head had bounced off the road at the last one. He said, "Good thing you have a hard head." and laughed. That got me chuckling and off we went. Greg Stoddard caught up to us going up the next set of hills...we pretty much stuck together from there until we crossed the Little Chena.
We stopped to snack down at Fairbanks Creek, when I noticed something funny about Rocket. He was eating his fish, but his bottom left fang was poking out of his mouth. Somewhere along the way, he must have caught the tooth on a root or rock while dipping....and hurt his lower jaw. He didn't seem to be doing badly and was pulling strong, wagging his tail. So, off we went. Before going down Iowa dome, I decided to undo Ahab's tug as he had started overheating and wasn't pulling much. I wanted to make sure he didn't get tangled in his tug. We were doing great going down Iowa Dome...a little faster than I would've liked, but not too horribly bad. Unfortunately, Ahab tripped and fell about halfway down the descent. I couldn't stop the team, though I managed to slow them. I kept calling him to get up and he did. Then, a little further down, he slipped his collar and was running loose. I called him as the sled went by...but at that point, I couldn't stop as there was a mess of humped overflow that I had to negotiate before I could stop the team. I did finally get Ahab...he came limping up to me a few minutes later, so I loaded him and he rode the next 12 miles. I got to the dogdrop and dropped Rocket; the vet said that she's seen it before...(he'll lose his bottom fang and a tooth)...but he'll be fine. I was sickened...but she told me not to worry about it and to keep going (Jeanne Olson is just awesome...I'm glad she's my vet). I also dropped Ahab, but they never did find anything wrong with him. That was good, as I thought he'd hurt his wrist or shoulder.
We crossed the road and pulled over for a break a few miles down, parking right behind Greg. We rested for 2 1/2 hours...I broke spruce bows off for the dogs, which they gratefully used. The rest of the run to PV store went very well...we had to slow down for the connecting trail between the North Pole trail and the Rosser....it was narrow, tight, twisty with trees that you couldn't avoid kissing. Better to go slow and not damage the sled. We got into PV store in like 10th place! That was very cool! The dogs rested GREAT and we left 5 hours later, with 9 dogs. The run to Angel Creek was pretty uneventful, though I was really freaked out about the trail to the finish (steep downhill with ice). We got into Angel Creek and rested for 5 hours. Jericho had developed a limp, so I decided to drop him. Then, China was holding up her left wrist, not putting weight on it. I had Dr. Rose check her out and she said China would be fine to go...but since I was already worried about the steep downhill on Flat top...I decided to drop her and run 7 dogs. Better safe than sorry.
The next part of the race went well until Colorado Creek. There were 2 sections of waist deep overflow that the dogs had to swim and I had to wade through. Luckily, Greg Stoddard and I were running together, so we helped each other out. The first one was about 50 feet across...the second one was about 200 feet. Greg led the dogs while I manhandled the sleds through. Greg got even wetter, when another musher came up and needed help across. He helped her go through, too. Greg went into the overflows 12 times, what a He-man!!! I went through 6 times. I actually did alright...my bibs just ROCK and so did those Cabela's boots...they did get a bit wet...but the water never did go through to my socks. :o))) So, my feet stayed warm and dry....my bibs iced over before the water had a chance to soak all the way through. However, Greg wasn't so lucky and his boots filled with water. We got some wood and got the fire going to get him warmed up. I told him to change his socks/pants, which he did have a spare set (thank goodness)...and I took care of keeping the fire going while he got into his sleeping bag and attempted to dry out his boot liners (he has the Cabella's boots, too). He ate a bit and just warmed up. But, he wanted to get going as we'd already spent over 3 hours dealing with the overflow/fire...so he didn't wait for his liners to dry and we took off. He decided that he was going to PV store via the road crossing (was only 4 miles versus finishing the 20 mile run to the store) because he couldn't feel his feet at that point...Casie and I (she was the other musher) followed him to the road where I could place a call to tell race officials what was happening and that he was borderline hypothermic. They told us if we came with him to the store that we'd be dq'd. They reassured me that race officials knew Greg was coming and would make sure he got in. Then, I turned my team and helped Casie turn hers. We bootied, snacked, then took off and backtracked to the race trail turnoff.
I was all freaked out about that last 20 miles of the trail, as other mushers (myself included) thought it would be dangerous and difficult. It turned out to be just fine and the trail was even better going back. I actually had a good time on it! But, my headlamp batteries were dying (we spent a good 3-4 hours dealing with the overflow, fire and getting Greg up to the road)...and I'd left the spare ones at Angel Creek figuring I wouldn't need them. I'd also given Casie my lithium pack that was for my backup light, cause her batteries were almost dead. Luckily, the batteries I'd changed out at the beginning of the leg had just been cold. I put them in my pocket to warm up, then tried them in my headlamp and whala...they worked. :o) Wasted a good 15 minutes though...which was just enough time for Casie to beat me in to the finish line by 12 minutes. Ha ha ha! Aw well...I'd rather help others out and know they are safe than worry about a spot or two. The dogs practically flew the last 6 miles...they were loping so very strong and looked gorgeous, muscles rippling, tongues lolling, tugs tight...they knew we were almost done and really stretched out. They made me so proud of them! I'm happy knowing that I was holding the 10th place spot for most of the race and that I have a top 10 dog team. Cool! Definitely musher error, which I'll be working on for next year. All in all, we finished 12th out of 19 teams. There were 15 finishers and 4 folks who scratched.
Well, I'm off to bed. Another thanks goes out to Greg, for being such a top-notch competitor, but better than that, for being such a fantastic person. He's one helluva a nice guy and that certainly trumps everything! You ROCK, Greg!!!!
-Were you a Rogue today?
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