It’s hard to simply keep up with Martin Buser. He is off his 24 hr layover and was pulling out of Takotna, right when I came in. In general his team looks great; there is a little chink in the armour though, as they are having some dhiarhia ( no idea how to spell that, and I butchered it so bad, that spell check does not even get it ). It amazes me to see how big of a team the front runners are running. That is a real testament not only for their dog care in this race, but mainly for the training and conditioning those mushers have done with their teams.
The first few pictures are actually still taken in Mc Grath, where Cim Smyth talked with 2 vets about his dogs. To most people those dogs would look completely fine, not a limp to be detected. Matter of fact they were acting like to silly brothers, pulling and yanking on their leashes. Yet Cim, so in tune with his team, detected that slight irregular movement, something which was not there in the thousands of training miles he had done with that team. And his main concern was not the immediate run. It was the future of those dogs: ” I want to make sure they will not develop a permanent lope “.
Dog care is the name of the game here in Takotna right now. 24 hrs can do wonders for the dogs. But in general they look very, very good. The dogs can easily step around the rocks and tight corners of the trail. The sleds not so. I wonder how much of a grin some of those dogs had on their faces when they barreled down some of that trail. Dogs like to go fast, they enjoy speed, so I am sure they enjoyed that ride, at the same time being oblivious to their mushers’ struggle to keep upright behind them.
Normally, I get to stay here in Takotna a bit longer. But that was before Martin Buser and others running faster, as in the past, again. So… if I want to stay anywhere near I will hit the trail too. I hope I will be able to fire up my satellite bgan unit on the trail between Ophir and Cripple somewhere. Had a software glitch, but could download it now again and hope it will work. If not… Cripple it is.
Happy trails
Sebastian
Cim Smyth
Cim Smyth
Cim Smyth team resting
Cim Smyth
Freight Sled
Martin Buser team
Martin pulling the hook
Martin taking off
Teams resting
SP Aliy Team
Aliy packing
Snooze time, Mitch dog
Snooze time, Mitch dog 
Snooze time, Allen Moore dog 
The main building
New Armchair, sure I find room on the machine for that
Hot water for dogs
Jessie Royer, tough as they come
Jessie Team
Bruce Lee from the Insider
Jessie and her sled brake
She had a tale to tell
Nothing a cow girl can’t fix
Got ripped of many times
