The update. Teams are now streaming out of Willow for real, so I take this time to give the reader an impression of the THINKING of our lead mushers, before we take -off with the helicopter for aerial views of mushers enroute to Yetna and then Skwetna.
First, arrival time for the very interested fan, should be about 9:30 PM in Skwetna, according to 4X champ and last year’s second place finisher Doug Swingley.
Swingley was putting on dog “tee shirts” just before harnessing the dogs. The very professionally fitting tee shirts actually serve several purposes. For one, they insulate the shoulders and upper torso of the dog. When temperatures descend this evening to ten or twenty below zero, the dogs shoulder muscles will be warm—a good prevention for sore muscles. Also, the shirts are a good padding for the harnesses that fit over the neck and chest of the huskies. This is all very good planning, and I was impressed.
When asked if the dog’s would have a tendency to heat up in the afternoon sun, Doug commented that it would probably happen and the dogs would naturally slow up as a result—which is exactly what he is looking for on the first run of Iditarod. Slow and deliberate is the musher’s mantra, because the inclination of these animals is to go fast and hard.
In addition, Jeff King, Doug, and others are using a modified “King harness” (after Jeff King, the 2007 champ) which connects the tug line of the towline to the shoulders of the dogs. The mechanics of this harness are interesting. Although the dogs can pull easily and have the freedom to move on the trail essentially unencumbered, they are also not able to pull hard. Doug told me he could easily stop the team with a sled brake—not an easy thing to do with a willfull team of sixteen dogs.
To pull hard, the harness tug line needs to come off the hips. As Swingley explained, however, that is exactly the goal. Since the trail is hard and fast, the dogs do not need to pull hard, and in turn benefit from the modified harness. Later in the race, he will switch to another set of harnesses that allow the dogs to pull harder off the hips.
More Innovations
Martin Buser, our prime time contender, gave me a quick tour around his dog truck and team posted. Gorgeous, absolutely, gorgeous animals. Noticeably well fleshed with some weight over muscle, he told me how he had prepared the team. In stages, using preliminary races to test his dogs, he noticed that they would recover after an event (such as a 200 mile race) and add weight. With each event, the team became physiologically more efficient. In the end, the trick, the genius, the skill, of Martin was to catch the dogs when they are on the curve going up to gain weight. Today, the team arrived rested, powerful, and gaining weight.
Jeff King, the defending 2006 champ, is the measure. He resides in Iditarod’s top echelon. A quick visit at the champ’s truck found Jeff packing his unique sled, known as the caboose sled. Now used by Swingley, Buser, and others, the caboose sled positions the musher in the middle of the runners, with loads to the front and rear. Of course, it is contrary to the classic photos of the old time freighter, but for racing it is easier and more efficient for the dogs.
An added twist, as if to remind the Pack that he was still the Master of Innovations, Jeff had an improved handle bar heater (fueled by the same alcohol that powers cookers for melting snow) and another tail dragger mini-sled behind his main sled. The purpose? The tail dragger was an air kennel big enough for two of his leaders. The idea is to start out with two dogs in the kennel, at rest, while the other fourteen easily pull the sled on flat river bed trails to Skwetna. AT Skwetna he can decide to abandon the trail dragger or continue to use it if he judges trails good enough.
What to Watch for:
WE will follow Robert Sorlie out of Willow at about 4PM. Since he starts 50th, he will be well in the back of the Iditarod pack. Then we will follow with the chopper and a special gyro stabilized camera, Wescam, and document the first hours of racing on this year’s Iditarod.
Dark falls here about 6;30PM. Musher Doug Swingley told us to expect a musher in Skwetna about 9:30PM. That musher, could be Doug Swingley, will take an approximate rest of four hours and then launch his team of swifts in direction Finger Lake.
Like all Iditarods, most travel is done in darkness.