Today’s conditions were slightly better, with no snowfall overnight.  However, the trail was still very slow, and the more dogs running over it, the more it fell apart.

The nice thing about today’s race was that the dogs knew how far they needed to go, and they gave a lot more speed.  There were some very slow sections, but all in all the dogs gave it their all again and I am super proud of them.

Well, I never thought I would hear myself complaining about the snow falling!

We (my team and I) arrived in Anchorage last night to snow falling.  This is a beautiful sight, and one we are missing in Fairbanks.  But, with the 4 inches that fell previously that day, and the forecasted 2 inches to fall over night.  Then all day at the track it snowed. This would make the going slow for today’s race.

There is a certain amount of pride taken in getting a nice team together. There is a different kind of pride when the dogs mature and step up to the plate.  This weekend was fraught with sadness and pride.  On one hand I didn’t have my very trusty leader Katrina, and I felt like I was racing blind, or back training yearlings. Now, she came along for the weekend, I could not refuse that enthusiasm.  That was the sadness.  The pride was watching Clara (pronounced Claaara for those with American accents) go from a not so great run on Saturday to a near perfect run on Sunday.  Instead of asking the dogs to step up the pace on the way home, all I could muster was “GOOD DOGGIES!”  I am sure the photographers and other people near the finish line thought this was funny.

Day one is over.  This race is the big one for Montana Creek Dog Mushers Association, and like always they put on a truly professional event.  The trail was a little soft and chewed up, but working with what they have the trail was in great shape.

It has been two weeks since our last race  and, despite one major setback, we are ready again.

This past week I needed to get to the core of Katrina’s.  Her drive, her leadership and her stamina were all intact.  She just could not do what I was asking her to do, the same thing she has been doing for the last 3 seasons.  For such a strong willed dog to suddenly not be performing was very strange.

This past weekend was full of highs and lows.  One of the highs was the temperature – in Talkeetna where we stayed it hovered around 20 above. Nice and warm for the dogs and the people.  The temperature at the Montana Creek track was much colder, -5 on the first day and -13 on the second day – but just before the 6-dog class Eric pointed out the shimmer on the mountains – the cold was leaving the valley and the mountains had that shimmer that you see on bitumen on a hot summer’s day.  It as suddenly 12 above!  Mother Nature sure knows how to keep us on our toes.

It was close to -30 today in Fairbanks, so my friend Melissa and I headed for the hills.  We ran on trails I was recently introduced to.  What a change to run on new trails!  It was great for the dogs’ heads and nice for the mushers too.  We doubled sledded each others’ team which was probably a good idea for the first run up there.

Being New Year’s Day we encountered more people than generally use that area.  My team had 2 head-on passes and they did really well.  Melissa’s team encountered some snow machines and a family skiing.  It was a fun day and being out of the biting cold down in the valley was very fun!

Check out the pictures below, and the short video I made of the run

The team finished the run and parked alongside the truck

Melissa getting her team ready for her run.

Sprint mushers are renowned for being very specific about the conditions in which they run their dogs.  This one is no different.

With the temperatures plummeting in the valleys to -30 and below, we tend to move to higher ground.  The temperature inversions are pretty strong this time of year – cold air staying locked in the valleys and higher ground having air circulating and bringing in warmer temps.  Today I joined my friend Ken Anderson, Iditarod veteran 7 times over, and multi-time top 10 finisher, on his snow machine checking out his local trails.  Ken used to be a stage racer, even when he was competing in Iditarod, he would train his team to do both types of racing.

The past week has been a very busy one.  Sorry for the lack of posting.

I loaded the dogs in the truck and headed to Salcha for some great 10-mile runs.  Our head-on passing is getting much better, and Katrina is getting better with culverts.  I know, though, the numerous culverts in Anchorage will be major obstacles.  I am hoping that our training every run through the culvert will at least prepare Katrina mentally for big, black holes in the trail.

Today was another day in paradise.  The temperature was -15, but it felt like 0F (-10C). It snowed all day, and with that I loaded up the truck and drove to Salcha.

Once there, I coordinated with my friend, Arleigh, to make sure we did not head-on pass in the narrow trail in and out of his yard.  This would be a bad thing as the trail is very narrow, and the outbound dogs are all fired up and the bridge and culvert are not wide enough to allow passing teams.