Readers may have watched the broadcast of today’s  (Saturday) ceremonial start on 4th avenue anchorage.  Limited to 12 dogs, mushers exited the start chute, cameras exercized by thousands of fans lining the streets of Anchorage, with either two sleds in tow or one large sled carrying an Iditarod passenger (you can bid on the ride earlier in the year) and a handler to help navigate corners.  Necessarily, that means four dogs in the sixteen dog teams sat in the box while their team mates stretched their muscles on twelve miles of trail.   

This foray is mandatory, but not t imed, and essentially for the fans to view the teams before tomorrows official restart further north up the Steese highway at Willow.  The atmosphere is light and mushers, fans, and riders had a good time.

But what about tonight as the mushers actually prepare for real start on Sunday?

This is  a field of knowledge between art and science.  Teams may adequately prepare for the Iditarod with 1500 miles of training, but the consensus of the top mushers indicates dogs are arriving with 2500 or more miles in training.   Dogs trained at this level develop a metabolic efficiency whereby they can perform for long periods with remarkeable abilities to process unthinkable quantities of food. The extraordinary performances—over a hundred miles up and down mountains—is only possible with very high and efficient calorie through put.

In fact , consider the very interesting conversation I had with Dr. STu Nelson, head Iditarod veterinarian this afternoon. (you can see the whole show at the Insider.com website)   While a house dog may have a heart rate of over 100,  Dr. Nelson finds that ECG’s performed by his team of vets indicate the top performers come in with very low heart rates of 50 or so.   Furthermore, he cites studies that suggest sled dogs on the Iditarod consume 10,000 kcal a day on the trail.   Compare that to a 150 lb human eating 700 cal Big Macs and do the math.  What’s that,  over forty big Mac’s a day to stay on the trail?

This is where musher intuition becomes important.   Aaron Burmeister, for example, believes as many mushers that the metabolic efficiency of these sled dogs is a magic that requires maintenace.  That’s why top mushers have tapered their dogs on miles in the last week, but are still exercizing to keep the through put of calories at a high level.  They want the metabolic miracle to be in operation tomorrow evening as the team knocks off a seventy mile run to the Skwetna checkpoint and the race to Nome.

Furthermore, many mushers may reduce calories tonight and tomorrow, getting their dogs on the edge of hungry, and setting them up for tomorrow evening when they want intake to bump back up to those numbers in the thousands of calories.  How the mushers do this, with what rations and presentation, is part of the art.  They may snack every two hours, as the legendary lance Mackey did, in addition to planned meals in checkpoints. 

Readers are familiar by now with the basics of long distance mushing.  The best trainers, ironically, are the ones who can first condition their dogs to travel at a pace slower than what they are naturally inclined.  This is a very tricky and important training problem, as the husky is easily motivated to travel fast.  This is all upside down, but trust me, the mantra on the first two days of racing is “go slow and get there faster.”  Many mushers will put their familiar and dependable older leaders to the front who will lull the rest of the team into a desultory trot.  Remember Mitch Seavey?  He will bury super star leader Tanner in the middle of the team with his wild and reckless 3 year olds.  Therefore one is reminded to view the standings on the first several days with caution—some of-the fastest may be just the most inexperienced.

Little whispers in the wind suggest some mushers may push to the summitt of the Alaska range, somewhat duplicating the unconventional run of Martin Buser in 2013.  Martin proved that a giant thrust up the Alaska range is possible, and may be a strategic coup, particularly as weather is predicted to remain relatively mild and clear for the next five days.   Some mushers, I am told may want to traverse the most difficult parts of the trail on long runs with more manageable teams.

After attending several musher gatherings this afternoon—-collections of friends, supporters, and family —-I am reminded of the network that supports the individual musher.   Pete Kaiser, a young and very athletic musher from the Kuskokwim delta is on our prime time list of competitors who could break to the front—-but not without a support team.  During the summer he often works away from home, but  I am told his dad feeds and maintains the kennel, a fact not mentioned in the headlines.  I’ll bet his Dad bought a subscription to the Insider with GPS and insider video and stories!   Follow his lead and support the Iditarod.

Big Correction:  Mark Moderow, an astute reader, corrected the obvious in a previous article.  Of course, Robert Sorlie does not have the best batting average in Iditarod wins,  Dick Wilmarth, the winner of the first Iditarod does!