It's always a sigh of relief when Anna and Kristy pull their snow hooks one final time and head down the Iditarod trail with their dogs. No more anxiety about last minute dog team or gear decisions. No more checking weather forecasts to see what might be in store. No more concerns about the dog truck breaking down or a traffic jam caused by an errant military vehicle creating delays on the way to the restart (which apparently happened this year?!). Once mushers and their teams are on the trail, what will be - will be.
For your Mad Blogger, the official restart it is also a relief. No more scrambling to get questions answered by the twins before they head into the wilderness with little to no connectivity. No more watching the clock and adjusting for time zone differences to make sure I caught the action virtually. No more stressing about how I desperately wanted to have been boots on the ground in Alaska to help but simply wasn't able to swing it this year. Again.
That relief is pretty short lived though. At least for me. The prior angst is replaced by frequent browser refreshes on the Iditarod GPS page. Frantic scans of news sources for the latest tidbits. Binging on weather forecasts. Comparing the twins' run/rest plan to what I see them actually doing out there and debating what might be causing any deviations. And then, of course, trying to craft all of that into a timely blog post for all of you to enjoy.
Before we get to all of that, let's take a little time to bask in all the details of the weekend that was.
If you tuned in online or saw any pictures from Saturday's Ceremonial Start, you already know it was a winter wonderland of big juicy snowflakes. With temps in the low 30s, it was definitely on the warm side for the dogs, but great for the humans. Lots of excited fans of all ages turned out for the 50th running, with lots of spectators in downtown Anchorage and at Campbell Airstrip, the destination for mushers, their Iditariders, and tag sled drivers 11 miles down the trail. Their was also plenty of "trailgating" along the route.
Direct interaction between mushers and fans was more limited than in years past thanks to the Iditarod bubble and Covid protocols, but that didn't hinder folks from seeing their favorite mushers hit the trail. A last minute surprise was the addition of 4-time Iditarod champ Jeff King. King, who is still actively involved with sled dogs, mushing, and mid-distance racing, had previously indicated he was retired from running Iditarod. But when Nic Petit was diagnosed with Covid and tapped the seasoned vet to step in and run his dog team, King seemed happy to oblige. It's been a whopping 41 years since King ran his first Iditarod, and now he's doing so with a dog team he first drove the Thursday before the launch! I get a little nervous when I drive a rental car I'm unfamiliar with for the first time. I can't imagine driving a dog team I had basically just met 975 miles! But Jeff King knows dogs and he knows the Iditarod trail. If anyone can do this and do it well, it's him.
As for the twins, they both reported a smooth and enjoyable ceremonial run. They had a great crew of handlers, friends both old and new, to guide the dog teams from the dog truck to the start line. Anna said the trail was easy to navigate and with all the fresh, heavy snow, it was also slow. Which isn't a bad thing at all given the nature of the ceremonial start. Neither of the twins saw any moose along the way, nor did they hear any stories of other encounters, but that could change. I'll have more moose musings for you as we get into the race.
The twins made fast tracks back to the kennel Saturday afternoon, as the to-do list before Sunday's restart still had several line items. The evening was spent organizing dog jackets, repacking sleds, making final decisions on a couple gear items, and getting a little sleep (although not nearly enough in my opinion, but that is how these two roll). Although Saturday's snow was scheduled to taper off overnight, they planned a very early departure from the kennel Sunday morning in case the roads were dicey.
Sunday arrived with bluebird skies, bright sun, and continued warm temps. Seeing Double didn't have any issues getting from the kennel to Willow Lake and had plenty of downtime for a quick call with me and final-final preparations. They both left the start with their sleds positively bulging. Not only did they have all of the dogs' jackets packed, which takes up as much room as a rolled up sleeping bag, they also packed their parkas. Way too warm for anyone - dog or human - to be fully geared up on launch. They were also hauling a bit more by way of wardrobe changes than they might otherwise have, as they were anticipating encounters with overflow and open water.
And with that - they were off and running. Anna had Yondu and Rizo in lead, Kristy was guided by Havoc and Crocket. It looks like they spent Sunday afternoon and evening as planned - running to and then through Yentna before having a trailside camp about 50 miles in. They did stop in Skwentna briefly, which wasn't on their plan. But I see Kristy opted to return a dog here, so I'm sure that prompted the change.
Speaking of dogs - I have all the info for Anna and Kristy's dog team biographies! I'll work on that later today after I get my own dog out for a walk (I can't ignore him or eventually he'll eat my laptop and then we'll all be in a pickle). I will also be back with a report from our Returned Dog Correspondents (RDCs) as soon as I learn which pup Kristy returned home.
Check back in a few hours for the bios as well as our first official race update as mushers complete their first full day on the trail.
For your Mad Blogger, the official restart it is also a relief. No more scrambling to get questions answered by the twins before they head into the wilderness with little to no connectivity. No more watching the clock and adjusting for time zone differences to make sure I caught the action virtually. No more stressing about how I desperately wanted to have been boots on the ground in Alaska to help but simply wasn't able to swing it this year. Again.
That relief is pretty short lived though. At least for me. The prior angst is replaced by frequent browser refreshes on the Iditarod GPS page. Frantic scans of news sources for the latest tidbits. Binging on weather forecasts. Comparing the twins' run/rest plan to what I see them actually doing out there and debating what might be causing any deviations. And then, of course, trying to craft all of that into a timely blog post for all of you to enjoy.
Before we get to all of that, let's take a little time to bask in all the details of the weekend that was.
If you tuned in online or saw any pictures from Saturday's Ceremonial Start, you already know it was a winter wonderland of big juicy snowflakes. With temps in the low 30s, it was definitely on the warm side for the dogs, but great for the humans. Lots of excited fans of all ages turned out for the 50th running, with lots of spectators in downtown Anchorage and at Campbell Airstrip, the destination for mushers, their Iditariders, and tag sled drivers 11 miles down the trail. Their was also plenty of "trailgating" along the route.
Direct interaction between mushers and fans was more limited than in years past thanks to the Iditarod bubble and Covid protocols, but that didn't hinder folks from seeing their favorite mushers hit the trail. A last minute surprise was the addition of 4-time Iditarod champ Jeff King. King, who is still actively involved with sled dogs, mushing, and mid-distance racing, had previously indicated he was retired from running Iditarod. But when Nic Petit was diagnosed with Covid and tapped the seasoned vet to step in and run his dog team, King seemed happy to oblige. It's been a whopping 41 years since King ran his first Iditarod, and now he's doing so with a dog team he first drove the Thursday before the launch! I get a little nervous when I drive a rental car I'm unfamiliar with for the first time. I can't imagine driving a dog team I had basically just met 975 miles! But Jeff King knows dogs and he knows the Iditarod trail. If anyone can do this and do it well, it's him.
As for the twins, they both reported a smooth and enjoyable ceremonial run. They had a great crew of handlers, friends both old and new, to guide the dog teams from the dog truck to the start line. Anna said the trail was easy to navigate and with all the fresh, heavy snow, it was also slow. Which isn't a bad thing at all given the nature of the ceremonial start. Neither of the twins saw any moose along the way, nor did they hear any stories of other encounters, but that could change. I'll have more moose musings for you as we get into the race.
The twins made fast tracks back to the kennel Saturday afternoon, as the to-do list before Sunday's restart still had several line items. The evening was spent organizing dog jackets, repacking sleds, making final decisions on a couple gear items, and getting a little sleep (although not nearly enough in my opinion, but that is how these two roll). Although Saturday's snow was scheduled to taper off overnight, they planned a very early departure from the kennel Sunday morning in case the roads were dicey.
Sunday arrived with bluebird skies, bright sun, and continued warm temps. Seeing Double didn't have any issues getting from the kennel to Willow Lake and had plenty of downtime for a quick call with me and final-final preparations. They both left the start with their sleds positively bulging. Not only did they have all of the dogs' jackets packed, which takes up as much room as a rolled up sleeping bag, they also packed their parkas. Way too warm for anyone - dog or human - to be fully geared up on launch. They were also hauling a bit more by way of wardrobe changes than they might otherwise have, as they were anticipating encounters with overflow and open water.
And with that - they were off and running. Anna had Yondu and Rizo in lead, Kristy was guided by Havoc and Crocket. It looks like they spent Sunday afternoon and evening as planned - running to and then through Yentna before having a trailside camp about 50 miles in. They did stop in Skwentna briefly, which wasn't on their plan. But I see Kristy opted to return a dog here, so I'm sure that prompted the change.
Speaking of dogs - I have all the info for Anna and Kristy's dog team biographies! I'll work on that later today after I get my own dog out for a walk (I can't ignore him or eventually he'll eat my laptop and then we'll all be in a pickle). I will also be back with a report from our Returned Dog Correspondents (RDCs) as soon as I learn which pup Kristy returned home.
Check back in a few hours for the bios as well as our first official race update as mushers complete their first full day on the trail.
