Bits and Pieces

That's a good way to begin tonight's post - 'cause one of my sleds is in bits and pieces.  Well, it isn't quite that bad, but I do believe it is damaged beyond repair.  One of the runners of my nice basket sled is broken, right where the drive-bow stanchion is joined.  It also has a broken-off tenon on one of the stanchions.  I'm not sure when and how it happened, but I had to make a repair to that part of the sled a couple of years ago and I think it just finally couldn't stand the strain anymore. 

Meanwhile, my old training toboggan sled needs a new bracket for the drag pad.  I think I have enough parts here at the house to fabricate one, so we should be back on the trail pretty soon.  I'm hopeful we can be back up and running by Sunday.

The dogs have been out twice already.  Ted took them out for a short stretch while I was 'engaged' with my annual physical exam.  I'm already seeing benefits from my aggressive weight loss project.  I've dropped an appreciable number of pounds, and my blood work looks a lot better as well. 

Two Rivers is practically a ghost town tonight, with so many mushers and their crews of handlers down in Glennallen and Paxson for the start of the Copper Basin 300 tomorrow.  There have been some late additions to the line-up, including Rick Swenson, Abbie West and Jessica Hendricks.  As I say, Two Rivers is practically a ghost town this weekend.  I think Ted has picked up four or five "side jobs" tending to other kennels while their owners are off racing.  I only saw him once all day, and that was very briefly as he stopped in real quick in between a couple of those side jobs.

So, with 50 mushers in the race and so many of them experienced people with good track records and reputations, this is SO going to be a fun race to follow.  The race starts at 1:00 pm AST tomorrow, and you can follow the race on their leaderboard at http://www.cb300.com/RaceStats.html. 

 This year's route is a bit different than in the past, with the race starting and ending at Paxson Lodge.  You can see a map along with a text description of the route on the CB300 website.

Now, let's get back to the Stardancers.  We had a pretty steady snowfall for about 24 hours, so the dogs were breaking trail today through maybe 6 inches of fresh fluff, though I think once it settles it will be no more than a couple of inches.  It was enough to give 2 small teams a really good workout, even though we went short mileage (only 3.8).  Ted has been concerned that Orion works too hard and doesn't pace himself.  I admit he's a very hard working little guy, and I've seen him tired at the end of longer runs, but even though he was pulling for all he's worth today he was the first one to start barking and pounding his tug line wanting to go again when I stopped to give them a breather. 

Rose did an awesome job running single lead in front of three other dogs today.  As we approached the top of Rod and Julie's driveway she started to take a wrong turn (I didn't offer a cue thinking she'd just follow the scent of the first team that ran earlier today).  I shouted "No.  Gee.", and she corrected immediately.  I was SO proud of her.

So, I guess the news today involved mostly breaking a sled probably while breaking trail through a ghost town.  Not much else to report for now, so I'll let you go until later.

Swanny