Leaving Cripple I caught up with Brent Sass, who had camped out. He had a nice spot picked out, 5 miles past Cripple. I had hoped he would be up and about, and sure enough he was. We chatted for quite a while… all secrets I can not share here…., sorry.
Brent enjoys staying outside, and this weather his helping with that strategy. My thermometer showed 40 degrees. He reminisced about his fans out there and how much they motivate him to do well, and how it is challenging from his homestead, to at times get on the internet.
Technically Brent is in the lead, from the looks of it by about 12 miles, or 1.5 hrs. Dallas Seavey is coming off his 24 hr layover. He might travel a little bit faster, yet again, with Brent traveling close to 9 miles an hour, how much faster can you really travel, without injuring any dogs. This will definitely be a tight race down the Yukon River. From the sounds of it, we travel about half of the distance between.
It is notable, that Brent Sass only has stayed in ONE Checkpoint during the whole race. And that checkpoint was the remote place of Ophir, with no internet, no media. Each other checkpoint he has stayed less then 10 minutes. He is truly camping out!
Enjoy the shots