A
Rookies Journey
December 4, 2005
And
a voice from the seventh cavalry came loud and clear.
What am I doing here? - Mr Custer (song)
What a difference a week
makes. Last week the Iditarod was something far off in the distance
and I don’t think it hit me exactly what I was doing. Tonight
I’ve just finished the two day mandatory Rookie meeting and
picked up my (empty) food drop bags. All of a sudden this is becoming
very real and I’ve got much more of a “deer in the headlights”
kind of feeling. There is nothing in this race that I cannot do,
but there is so much to do that it is a little intimidating sometimes.
I know I’ll be fine as soon as I pull the snow hook and start
the race, but somehow I need to get to the point where Marti and
everyone else can live with me between now and the start.
The Saturday Rookie Meeting session was held at the Millennium Hotel
from 9 to 4:30 (with Jeff Schultz taking official pictures from
8:30 on). It was kind of like old home week. I’ve been a volunteer
since 1992 so I know most of these people. Richard Burmeister (President
of the Board of Directors of Iditarod - http://www.iditarod.com/members/board.php
) was telling me about the days he raced. I commented on the rain
we had last year and he said that one year everyone got soaked and
then their zippers froze on their parkas. He and another musher
worked for 2 ½ hours to thaw one of the new guy’s zippers
so he could relieve himself. Mushers were tough back then. Then
Richard told me he went to make coffee and pulled out and old sock
he had worn for two or three days and put the coffee grounds in
it. He explained to the new guy that it had to be one that you had
worn for several days to get the flavor right. Said for some reason
the new guy didn’t drink any of the coffee ?
After the welcome Jeff King spoke for two hours giving us all kinds
of good information. He talked about the importance of a slow start.
He said the best thing a Rookie could do with a Wasilla start was
go to Knik (about 15 miles) and get a room for the night. This will
likely be the craziest thing the dogs have ever seen and that combined
with the musher’s excitement and stress will wind the dogs
up like a $2.00 watch. Remember this is an endurance event and pacing
yourself and the dogs is very important. When you get to the coast
you will wish you had some of the energy that your dogs wasted at
the start.
Then Debbie Moderow spoke about her rookie experiences. She scratched
at Shaktoolik the first time (the dogs went on sit down strike and
wouldn’t go) and they tried it again at Koyuk her second run.
By working with the vets to identifying the key insurgents and dropping
them she was able to finish her run.
Stu Nelson gave a very informative presentation on veterinary concerns.
Establishing a working partnership with the veterinarians is very
important to dog care and successfully finishing the race. So Stu
has a voluntary program of kennel visits for mushers in Alaska on
the road system to get us off on the right foot. I’ve know
Stu for over 10 years and have a lot of respect for him and his
team. Stu will visit my kennel this Tuesday.
After brief presentations
from John Norris (chief Iditarod pilot) and Will Peterson (one of
the Iditarod trail sweeps) Mark Nordman (Race Marshall) gave us
a quick overview of the trail. Finally Ed Stielstra spoke about
his races and experiences and gave us his drop bag list (a real
boon for any rookie). Everything that you need for the race must
be shipped in your drop bag to a checkpoint or carried on your sled.
Drop bags are due in mid-February and the concern is that you will
forget something or not ship enough. Horror stories include a musher
who forgot to ship any people food and almost starved. Ken Anderson
talks about his rookie year where he thought he could buy a meal
in the villages (only McGrath and Unalakleet are big enough to have
a café, restaurant or lodge) and did not ship enough people
food. He was going through the stuff Dee Dee Jonrowe left behind
in Rohn and found some meat balls that he cooked and ate. He said
they had an odd flavor but were not too bad. Talking to Dee Dee
after the race he found out they were “Turbo” snacks
for her dogs!
On day two Martin Buser invited all 27 Rookies plus some Jr Iditarod
drivers and Iditarod staff to his home. Martin was very kind and
shared his kennel management system, his drop bag and sled gear
lists and his checkpoint routine. Martin also gave us a scratch
routine to follow when we feel like quitting (he said when not if).
First thing is to come into the checkpoint, take care of your dogs,
eat, get your sleeping bag out and climb in (No Alarm). We know
it’s a race, but if you are going to quit anyway who cares
if you sleep 12 hours. When you wake up the world will look entirely
different and the insurmountable problems you faced when you were
tired will most likely have solutions. He said that before the race
you should make a list of three people to call and talk to if you
still want to quit at this point. He kindly volunteered to be on
that list for one and all of us. Of course he will be a little hard
to get a hold of, but that is the whole point. Take more time, get
more rest and most likely you will feel like finishing. He said
that if we do scratch to remember it will be 50 very long weeks
before we can try again.
I’ve wanted to attend this meeting for several years and wasn’t
disappointed. It was very well done in an organized and coherent
fashion and I am grateful to all the people who worked so hard to
share the tips and tricks that will make this a rewarding experience.
Last week we left Mocha leaning into her new more open dog house,
but not actually going inside (she had been sleeping in the snow
outside her conventional house). Remember I even put fresh straw
in the house to coax her in. When I got up the next morning Mocha
had taken the straw she could reach from outside the house out of
the house and made a little nest just in front of the house, just
like she did with the old house. So Mocha is still sleeping outside.
This isn’t all bad news. Mocha will adapt well to camping
where she has no house to sleep in, but it has been cold here (right
around 0 for a couple of weeks) and without the house I have to
work to keep weight on her.
Then Dijon pulled a silly one last week. I was booting the dogs
for a run and they were on drop chains around the trailer. I had
just done Dijon and evidently didn’t get his snap tight because
I looked up from the next dog and Dijon was slowly wondering away
from the trailer. I called him, but he ignored me – just kept
walking slowly away like he really didn’t know what to do.
Then he saw the sled tracks from the day before and started to follow
them and when he saw the open trail he was a changed dog and off
like a shot. Luckily our trail makes a one mile loop and comes back
just past the staging area so I ran off to intercept him. Just as
I got there here came a golden streak down the trail. I called him,
but he ignored me so I positioned myself at the edge of the trail
like a linebacker defending the goal line and as he passed I tackled
him. He was a very happy dog and didn’t seem to mind the tackle
at all, but there was no way he was stopping on his own. Silly dog!
We are busy getting ready for our first race in just under two weeks.
On Saturday, December 17, we will run the Sheep Mountain 150. Check
out the web site http://www.sheepmountain.com/alaska-sled-dog-race.shtml
for more details and Zack Steer will be posting our progress
during the race so you can follow us. There are some very competitive
mushers entered. I am using it as a training exercise and will be
in the back of the pack. Zack puts on a good race and it should
be fun for all.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
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