Next Stop: Iditarod

This past weekend I made my first, very important, step towards winning this year’s Iditarod… Our friend Mike invited me and a couple of the roomies to help ‘run’ the dogs. ‘Running’ dogs, as I mentioned in the previous entry, basically just means 'training them'. Because there’s no snow yet the dogs are forced to run the streets of Bethel. Eventually, when it snows (in like 15 minutes) we’ll hook them up to a sled and actually take them out for realski.

For a basic intro to dog sledding, based entirely on my very limited knowledge…Sled dogs stay in a dog yard of sorts. There will be a bunch of dogs chained up to posts and each with its own dog house. At this particular house there are about thirty dogs which get broken up into about three teams. The first and second team will race in all of the major races including the Kuskokwim 300, one of the biggest races in Alaska. The dogs train and race throughout the entire year except in the summer when it’s simply too “hot” to take them out. The max temperature they like to ‘run’ the dogs at is 50 degrees. Any hotter and the dogs over-heat. After the dogs’ long, boring summer they are all ecstatic to start training again which I learned quickly as I was pounced on and nipped at by excited huskies.

I’ve been helping out with these dogs on weekends and this weekend we made that major step towards actually racing. We learned how to hook up the dogs into their spots and bring them on a training run. They formation is probably exactly what you’ve seen on TV. We had 5 rows of 2 dogs. Maybe the funniest part about the whole experience was taking them from their dog house to their spot in the line. You’re supposed to grab their collar and pull upwards forcing the dogs to stand on their hind legs. Then, they hop like a kangaroo the fifteen or so yards to their spot in the line where we connected them to a beastly six-wheeler that looks very similar to a Gator. No sooner did we have the dogs in their spots than we were jetting off down the street. The entire process of unhooking the dogs from their chain and bringing them to their spot is a chaotic, noisy and sometimes frustrating endeavor. The dogs are so excited to be moving around that they have no regard for the pitiful rookie (me) trying to hop them like a kangaroo then hook them up in their spot. They don't waste anytime as the moment they’re hooked up the dogs are pulling. We actually had to put a block in front of a wheel of the six-wheeler so they wouldn’t take off without us. God bless these dogs, they were pulling as hard as they could but we kept the six-wheeler at a cool eight miles and hr to pace them a little bit.

My vantage point was fantastic. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I was cruising down main streets in a sweet six wheeler being pulled by ten very hyper sled dogs who were leaving a trail of slobber and sweat in their wake.

A couple of times an extremely bold (some might say slightly idiotic) dog would run out into the street to challenge the sled dogs who were now parading through their territory. Don’t be fooled by the amazing strength and ambition of these sled dogs... as soon as they saw a challenger they immediately slammed on the brakes and began a chorus of barking, snarling and posturing. Casey, Mike’s partner, and I sat powerless as these dogs all tried to get a piece of the poor sap that thought it stood a chance. Besides a few minor hiccups the training went great. We cruised around Bethel for about twenty five minutes. Any longer would have been a real struggle for the dogs, especially in this weather. It was about 55 degrees and I could tell by the frothing mouths and 3 feet of slobber hanging off one of the dogs that we were pushing our luck a little bit.

After the run was an equally amazing sight to the hyper, crazy pre-run moments. My roommate John commented that it looked like Casey and I had driven around the corner, beat the crap out of the dogs and come back. The dogs were covered in slobber and panting so heavily that the drool literaly poured out of their mouths. An even better indication of how tired they were…they actually let me take their restraints off. Although it was easier to unhook them, there was also the disadavantage of being covered in doggy drool.

All in all, it was one of those TIB moments. It was really cool to get an inside look at an activity that is so ingrained in the culture of Alaska. I’m really excited to see the team progress over the next few weeks until it snows somtime in October.

Random comments….

BC football…54 yards. Seriously?!?!?!

I had to wear a winter hat today on my run…very depressing.

My land line phone here is 907-543-2319. You are all welcome to call here anytime. (Just remember it’s probably a 4 hr difference for most of you!)

I miss you all and I love to hear updates so feel free to send me an email pj.driscoll1@gmail or just say ‘hi’ on my Facebook.


PEACE