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A
Rookies Journey
October 15, 2005
The white man and the dog must be related, for neither have any patience.
– Native Alaskan Saying
ADMA Symposium |
The ADMA Symposium in Fairbanks was great.
Bonnie Foster and I drove up together and stayed with Jan DeNapoli,
Lycos’ sponsor and a great lady. Going to Jan’s is just
like coming home – it is that welcoming. In addition to hearing
several very good talks I met Frank Turner. Frank has run every Yukon
Quest and won the race in 1995. Among the suggestions that Frank made
was to stay on the 4-wheeler as long as possible a keep the dogs pulling
against the engine compression. Later I talked to Ken Anderson and
he made the same suggestion. Basically keep working on strength and
teaching the dogs about honest hard work and save speed for later.
Of course part of the challenge is to keep it fun for the dogs while
doing that.
There are some milestones, at least in my mind, in training the dogs.
I’ve heard it said many times not to start interval training
or other speed work until you have 20 runs on the dogs. We hit that
milestone last month. The next milestone is running for 2 hours. On
the sled that is about a 20 mile run, but on the 4-wheeler it is more
like 15 miles (at least with a small 10 dog team). We hit that milestone
this week. I had intended to use the motor to speed the dogs up and
work on a solid 10 mph pace which would mean that we would have hit
that milestone at the end of October, but based on the conversations
at the symposium I will keep the dogs slow and honest. That means
I need to drop the miles per week in the plan until we get to the
sled. I’m sure you know that not all miles are created equal.
Uphill miles are much harder than downhill miles, so time has to figure
in there also. The next milestone is a 6 hour run. That is the fundamental
building block for my Iditarod plan. If the dogs can run for 6 hours,
rest for 6 hours, and continue that pattern for 14 days then the Iditarod
will be complete. Actually as a rookie I’ll give both the dogs
and myself a lot more rest, but that is the general plan.
Over the years I have learned that patience is a skill that must be
practiced to be of any value, just like exercise is necessary for
any athletic development. So when I ask God to give me patience, and
yes I have even said “right now”, He is more than willing
to accommodate my need by giving me the opportunity to improve my
skills. Not quite the response I had in mind, but it works. Anyway
I had the opportunity to improve my skills again this week.
When we left for the symposium I had a dead 4-wheeler and observed
that the nut holding the choke cable to the carburetor was stripped.
On Monday I learned that was a dealer part, no surprise, but the Anchorage
dealer is closed Monday’s. Luckily Bonnie Foster loaned me her
new machine and the dogs had a nice run. Tuesday early I got the part,
replaced it and the machine still wouldn’t start. I checked
the spark – just fine, so it had to be fuel. Several phone calls
later my favorite mechanic mentioned the fuse to the fuel pump (why
didn’t I think of that?). Sure enough it was blown. A quick
replacement and the machine ran fine. Bonnie met me and we took both
machines and ran the two teams simultaneously instead of sequentially.
That is a real blessing.
About 5 miles into what was supposed
to be a 16 mile run my 4-wheeler quit. First thing I checked was the
fuse – blown again. I had packed a spare and put it in. The
machine started right up and I revved it up to blow out some of the
carbon you get by having the dogs pull it in gear all the time. It
immediately died again, this time I had no lights, starter, or anything.
I’d blown the master fuse in addition to the fuel pump fuse.
I’ve only got one spare, but it’s daytime and I really
don’t need the lights. Suffice it to say when I finally gave
up on the machine 15 minutes later I had one fuse in the box that
hadn’t been blown. Meanwhile I am becoming very frustrated and
am thinking very nasty thoughts about the 4-wheeler, it’s ancestors,
and any progeny. I don’t think I said anything out loud, or
even under my breath, but the dogs knew. Bonnie is holding the front
end of my team trying to keep the dogs from coming back to help me
and as I get more and more frustrated the dogs get more and more aggravated.
Next thing we know there are shoving matches breaking out in the team
– the kind of “Oh, Yea”, “Yea” type
of junior high posturing. Bonnie was holding the front of my team
to keep them from coming back and helping me. Later she said it was
very interesting to watch the dogs’ reaction to my frustration.
That is why I keep emphasizing
patience and coping skills. I believe that you can fool all of the
people some of the time, but you cannot fool any of your dogs any
of the time. I don’t know if it is the way we smell or body
language that gives us away, but your dogs know and almost before
you realize it yourself. So the patience must be genuine, and that
means practice, practice, practice. I firmly believe that ability
to calmly accept and cope with what ever happens in the race is the
prime skill needed for Iditarod. If you are calmly in control the
dogs will follow your lead.
By the way, I put the 4-wheeler in neutral and the dogs pulled it
the mile back to the truck. In hindsight they could have completed
the run if I had handled things better myself, but with my being out
of sorts it was the best decision for the team. Never try to train
a dog if you are having a bad day. You can do more harm that good.
When I tore the 4-wheeler apart to replace the fuel pump I found one
of the power leads had come lose and was resting against the engine
(ground). Silly me, no wonder I was blowing fuses.
Otherwise the dogs are doing very well and acting as a team. Everyone
is pulling hard working towards the common goal. I have had Java and
Keiko, Balu and Basil, Lycos and Dash, and Platinum and Mocha in lead
this week. Lycos is holding the line out when we hookup the team (what
a blessing) and Platinum is working on that. Everyone is driving hard
and the team is coming together well. So far this season we have 34
runs (hookups) and 211 miles. That is only 2 runs more than last year,
but an easy 60 miles more. Last year when I was working full time
we had to do short runs during the week and longer runs on weekends.
This year I am much more consistent. It makes for a very long day,
but the dogs are showing the improvement already.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
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