Runs Today

My friend Trish had some time before she had to be at work, so we went dog mushing.  I ran a team of 6, and set her up with a four-dog team that included her own little Alaskan husky female.  Maggie is a dog that she rescued literally from starvation, a lovely little sprint dog from the looks of her.  I've run her on teams before and she just loves it, so I thought Trish might enjoy running her own dog in a team.  I put Nels beside Maggie in wheel, to give her some bulk and power, and Cassiopeia and Rose in lead.

Trish and her team did GREAT.  Not a single upset the entire run.  All of the dogs and humans had a great time.

My second run was supposed to be another double, with Jeff (our handler) running a team of his own dogs.  Unfortunately he leader quit on him, apparently not yet quite out of season, so he ended up having to put them back in his yard while I ran my team.

He clearly needs a stronger leader to get his gang on the trail, and I may be able to help him out with that, as others helped me when I was getting started in the sport.  Give us a couple of days, and I think we can make it all good.

Here are the entries in today's training log:

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Date, Day, &c: Friday, 4 January 2013

Mileage & Speed:  4 miles.  Max speed 12.3 mph, average speed 6.9 mph

Equipment: Traveling sled with bag of traveling gear (sleeping bag, cooker, picket line, &c)

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:  Home to Swamp to Rod and Julie's trail back home.  (Followed by second team)  Packed, fast trails then about 1/2 mile of soft snow over packed trail.

Weather:  Overcast, 14 degrees

Team:  Orion & Pella Chetan (single) Denali (single) Seamus & Beau

Narrative:  Followed by Trish with a small team. Hook up easier than expected, nice fun over the trail.  Dogs took the "haw" on top without hesitation, and the 'haw' onto Rod and Julie's without a problem. Seamus was a bit absent minded with the haw onto the powerline which pulled the sled askew, but all was corrected quickly and easily.

Date, Day, &c: Friday, 4 January 2013

Mileage & Speed:  4 miles, max speed 12.3 mph, average speed 6.9

Equipment: Trish on empty toboggan sled

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:  Home to Swamp to Rod and Julie's trail back home.  Packed, fast trails then about 1/2 mile of soft snow over packed trail.

Weather:  Overcast, 14 degrees (F)

Team:  Cassiopeia - Rose Maggie* - Nels

Narrative:  Chased my team.  Maggie and Cassie both a bit difficult on hook up, but once started they had no problems at all.

Date, Day, &c: Friday, 4 January 2013

Mileage & Speed:  4 miles.  Max speed 12.7 MPH, average speed 5.7 MPH

Equipment: Traveling sled with traveling gear

Route, Trail & Terrain Conditions:  Home to Swamp to Rod and Julie's trail back home.  Hard packed, fast trails then about 1/2 mile of soft snow over packed trail.

Weather:  12 degrees, overcast and twilight

Team:  Just - Aumaruq Animosh (single) Selene (single) Midnight - Grace

Narrative:  Intent was for Jeff to follow me with a team of his own dogs, but he was unable to get them out of the yard.  I asked for a "whoa" on the powerline trail to wait for him.  While waiting Aumaruq got jumpity and in a harness tangle that had to be corrected. Finally I just ran the team, figuring Jeff wasn't going to make it.  They gave me a nice, steady run through the whole course.  Just had to push Aumaruq into the turns, of course, but did so willingly and skillfully.  Did have to stop to fix another harness tangle on Aumaruq when Just had to pull him into the haw at top of the swamp. Otherwise pretty much a trouble free, easy run.