March 6 Ruby—-Buser into Ruby at 6:44pm

The temp drops with the setting sun and wind here in Ruby.  A mob of fans gathers to watch Martin wind down a road in the creek bottom below to arrive Ruby, then climb up a long hill to the community hall.  Here he is greeted and checked in at 6:44PM.

Martin and dogs know the checkpoint and quickly hustle to a protected corner in the dog parking lot. 

Martin has defended and is still race leader.  We are now at the Great Convergence where all mushers are now completing their 24 hour break and we can actually see the race leaders.  Now we have to figure out the standings.

Luckily, Rohn Buser, Martin’s younger son,  is in the checkpoint with his agile mind.  He helps me make sense of the race.  After some number crunching, here is our view of projected times  for the lead mushers to depart Ruby.

Martin Buser will depart Ruby after an 8hour mandatory at                         2:44am

Robert Sorlie we think will depart Ruby after an 8 hour mandatory at                   about  6:ooam

Sonny Lindner will depart Ruby after his 24 at                                                   7:41 am

Jeff King will depart Ruby after his 24 at                                                                               8:26am

We think Mitch Seavey will depart  about                                                            9am

We don’t know about Aliy Zirkle because she is resting outside of checkpoints, but we assume she is on about the same time schedule as Robert Sorlie. 

So, at this point, Rohn and I are in agreement.  Buser leads and must defend his lead.  Sorlie  could be the fastest for the moment and attacking the front.  He is only three hours behind the lead pace.  You can see the other developments with King and Sonny about five hours behind.

King and Sonny Lindner will get a nice bump after their 24 rest here in Ruby.  Predictably, the good teams come off rests and scorch the trail to advantage.   Sonny and Jeff King will probably pick up two hours on Buser.

Therefore, we seem to have another historically close race.  The famous closers, Mitch Seavey and Dallas Seavey, are threatening.  Without even asking them, I know they will tell me that four or five hour leads mean nothing in the last half of the race.  They always depend on making a move in the last half.

Weather is about ten below, slight breeze, in the hills.  The Yukon (river) bed is like another weather zone.  It’s likely to see a bitter wind with colder temperatures.

A word on Buser’s dogs.  Resting on barley hay, Martin fills black plastic pans with clear water. The dogs drink.  Then he offers dry kibble.  Rohn and I are on the margins of the crowd and he tells me that the dry food left in the bowls is a good method because the dogs can snack and Martin doesn’t have to worry about the ration freezing.  I’ts kind of like chips while watching football. He appears to have 14 dogs—-a big team at this time in the race.