Friday in the Dog Lot—Lull before the Start

This Friday March 2 is the rest day, the lull before the start of frenzied activity on 4^th Avenue, Anchorage when the Restart officially begins the annual migration of Iditarod mushers to the finish in Nome.

Circulating in the parking lot of the Millenium, now home to a caravan of trucks mounted with housing for a dog team, this morning from 7:30 AM, I wanted to follow the mushers on the day theoretically referred to as a “rest day.”

In fact, of course, the day is not filled by any mandatory obligations from the Iditarod Trail Committee, but nevertheless is compressed with last minute details before the official start of the race tomorrow morning, Saturday, at 10AM.

On my way out the front door I called John Baker, the 2011 Champ, and asked, to get the conversation rolling, if he was planning on running his dogs today.   “No, no plans today.  Probably everybody in the race is running dogs today except me, but I think mine are ready.”  This was absolutely true when I walked over to the Baker truck and noted the dogs on short pickets attached to eyebolts arrayed around the truck.   They were barking, spinning, animated, and obviously anxious to run.  John’s handler was watching the dogs, making sure over enthusiastic spectators who wanted to pet the dogs didn’t get tangled.

To test John’s remark, I asked Sonny Lindner, a Yukon Quest champ and longtime Iditarod veteran, and his daughter, about their plans.  “Later today we are going to Tudor Track (a sprint track in Anchorage.)  I’ll two teams of ten about fifteen miles each.  It’s a good way for the dogs to loosen up and I can look at all of them and make sure they are all sound.”  OK, that’s opinion 2.

I watched Sonny and his daughter Ava feed and water the dogs.  “Are you going to slack off on the calories before race day, or are you feeding as usual?”   This is sort of a rhetorical question, I thought, because he is either going to answer that he is still trying to put weight on the dogs for a calorie cushion on the trail, or he is getting the dogs a little edgy with hunger so they eat well the first time on the trail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Well, it’s kind of sugar free light.   We cutting all the extra oils and fats, because they really don’t need it right now, but the bulk part of meat and kibble is the same.”  As a finale, Ava, a small woman lifted sixty pound and more dogs into the dog box cubbies.   Some of the dogs are housed in the interior so that means she lifts them to the floor, and as you can see in the photos, then  steps up into the bed and gives the dogs a boost to their box.  “Some of them put two front feet up on the box, but I still have to boost them up into their beds.”   In answer to my question—-“Yeah, I am in pretty good shape doing this twice a day, especially when I have to do all twenty dogs myself.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Opinion #3, We proceed to Lance Mackey’s dog truck

Onward through the lot, I see that Lance Mackey is once again about his dogs just kind of fooling around, talking to his dogs, talking to the inevitable crowd of fans that always gathers, and essentially just hanging out with the dogs.

Conspicuously, I notice that Lance does not have a handler, unlike every other dog truck contingency I see in the lot.  “Do you have a handler, Lance?”  “No, I just do everything myself,” he replies.

Obvioulsy content to be doing all the work, Lance scoops his dog truck yard, constantly touching dogs, admonishing one of his huskies for growling at a neighbor, and managing to keep a continuous conversation intact.   “Are you going to drive your dog’s today?”  “Yes, I am going to go to Chugiach (another track)  for a light run of maybe fifteen miles (the length of a known loop at the track).  I like it better than Tudor.”

To any observer, one could say the team was wound up and probably needed a romp. Then Lance explains that this is a disparate team of young dogs and will be running for the first time  as a unit.  “The way I look at it, this will be a test of my skills.  This is a great team, they passed 100% at the vet check, have excellent weight on them for a long distance race.  I am really pleased with them.”  In the background, his famous lead dog Maple was running loose around the truck.  Lance called her over and snapped her to a tether on the side of the truck.

Before loading, Lance entertained a group of fans from Alabama.  “This is my secret weapon—don’t you feed salmon fish heads to your dogs?”   In fact,  Salmon heads are a delicacy to dogs, a well known fact of mushers living near commercial fishing sites.  Furthermore, if the heads are slight soured (a process that occurs at cool temperatures in the fall time), so much the better.

 

 

 

 

Lance explained that he is lightning up the food intact over the last three days.   He has plenty of weight on the dogs and now he is adapting their diet to the warm weather.   After years of racing, he knows how to meter more fat snacks into their ration when they are working.   “Really, I haven’t fed them a meal for the last couple of days.  They have just been on a big snack diet.”

My  observation.   True, it would be nice to have a handler.  After all, it’s a tremendous burden of work to “drop” the dogs from their boxes, then reload, plus feeding.   Here’s my take.  First, Lance genuinely enjoys being around his dogs, the guy is a mule for work, and he is already racing.  By doing all the work himself, he is presently, in the moment, already starting to race.  He’s hardened up.

Just my opinion, but he is the only 4X in a row champ.

The Final Opinion #4,  Jeff King is found presenting in a lecture Hall

Hoping to round out my story as I walk to a hall in the Millenium, where mushers have been asked to recount anecdotes from the trail, I found Jeff King 4x Champ delivering a very funny monologue of his experiences on the trail to include the purchase of a pup— for a 100 pounds of hamburger—which was his all time favorite leader Hickory.  I ask him about his training schedule for Friday.  “No, they already have enough training.  They are resting.  That’s the way I have done it for years, and it works for me.”  There it is, opinion #4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Thoughts

An angst pervades the community of mushers.  They have just about had enough appearances, interviews, observations, conjectures, and philosophical discussion for one year.  Tomorrow morning won’t come fast enough.

And finally, I find Ed Stielstra—-Marathon driver from Michigan

Ed Stielstra, Part II, is discovered with Jeff King delivering trail memories to fans.   I asked him from the podium, “How long?”

Incredibly, he reports they completed the journey of 4,000 miles in 3 days 1 hour, a new record.   They did not stop in Whitehorse, and instead continued, diesel engine whining, to Anchorage in time for Ed’s mandatory team veterinarian check.