A
Rookies Journey
November 6, 2005
When things freeze, everything changes. I mentioned that to a friend
the other day and her response was “You went to school to
learn that?!?” It seems so obvious, but there are many subtle
changes that you may not think about. Everyone who lives in the
north country knows that in the winter you don’t use your
parking brake on your car below freezing because it might freeze
(either the brake or the brake cable) and you have to climb underneath
the car with a cigarette lighter and try to thaw it to release the
parking brake so you can drive. But do you think the about the 4-wheeler
you use to train dogs? I’ve had the brakes freeze and not
release, or the cable freeze and not apply the brakes, always an
interesting occurrence! I’ve had the starter switch freeze
and not make contact to start the 4-wheeler, or catch in the down
position and not release (turn the key off). I’ve even had
the key socket freeze shut so you couldn’t get the key in
(key lock defroster fluid fixes it – same as cars).
Then there are the little things. We have been clear and cold (beautiful
days) but no snow so I’m carrying water on all the runs. The
trail is frozen hard and rough and about ¼ of the water bounces
out. Let me explain that I’m using the standard coolers you
see in all the videos. I could use water coolers, they fit tight
enough not to spill, but the little bit of water in the lid freezes
and you can’t get them open (picture a team with water dishes
looking forward to a nice cool drink and you can’t get the
water out… bad musher…). The regular coolers are loose
enough that you can hit them to break any ice in there and get the
top off to get to the water. Anyway the water that spills has to
go somewhere. So the top of the 4-wheeler racks are covered in ice.
I know, the solution is to park the 4-wheeler in the warm garage
at night, but when it’s late and you’re tired you just
leave it on the trailer outside (at least I do ;-).
Brass snaps freeze
up |
How about the brass snaps we use to connect
the dogs to the tug lines and neck lines? Just a little bit of moisture
from a panting dog and they freeze shut. It’s just a thin glaze
of ice and sometimes you can knock it loose by banging the snaps together
– other times you just hold it in your hand until it warms up
enough to melt the ice glaze. This isn’t bad at 30 degrees;
it’s a whole lot more fun at -30. Then if you go through any
water the lines themselves freeze stiff (as do the harnesses) –
the only solution is to bring them in and thaw them overnight. When
it freezes, everything changes.
The dogs are doing well this week. Thursday Bonnie brought her 4-wheeler
and we took both teams out at once. Since I know the trails better
I was in front with Balu and Keiko in lead and Bonnie followed with
Bass and 7 of 9. I don’t know why, but Bass and 7 are particularly
fond of each other and always run well together. My team was flat
for some reason – just didn’t have any get-up and go.
We stopped after an hour and 30 minutes to snack and water the dogs
and Bonnie said that her team was pumped up and charging and she was
riding the brake and in second gear trying to stay behind me. Well
I did the only thing any self-respecting musher would do. We were
running two 9 dog teams, so I took one of her dogs to even the playing
field. Now I’m running 10 dogs and she is running 8 and she
is still catching me! Bass and 7 of 9 were driving hard and the rest
of the team was supporting them. I love it when a team comes together
like that.
As an example of the power in those dogs, while we were stopped for
our break, Bonnie’s team walked off with her 4-wheeler with
the brakes locked! Admittedly it was in 2-wheel drive and only the
back wheels were skidding on the ground, and they weren’t going
very fast, but that’s still quite and accomplishment. 9 dogs
pulled a 550 lb 4-wheeler about 20 feet with the back wheel brakes
locked on a frozen dirt trail (they probably would have gone farther,
but that is when I caught them).
So far this year we have been working on long slow runs with the
4-wheeler, making the dogs pull it against the engine compression
do develop strength and endurance. For example the 23 mile run Bonnie
and I did Thursday took 3 hours and 40 minutes. I can do long runs
like that when I have someone to run the second team, but on Mondays
and Fridays I’ve been running both teams myself and it’s
just starting to take too long. One solution is to run the two teams
on different days. Another option is to run everyone in a single
team when I run alone. That saves me a lot of time, teaches the
dogs to run in a large team, and will provide some cross-training
(speed work), but let’s look at the numbers. The average sled
dog weighs 50 lbs. Friday I had 18 healthy dogs to run, so that
is 900 lbs of mostly-conditioned dogs pulling a 550 lb 4-wheeler
and 200 lb musher. And remember that 9 of these dogs walked off
with Bonnie’s 4-wheeler with the brakes locked just the day
before. It’s kind of like the old “Where does a 500
canary sleep? Anywhere he wants!” If the dogs decide to chase
a squirrel or a moose I’m just along for the ride. But if
I’ve trained them well everything works. Let me make the point
that with a large team I am conditioning the dogs, but I cannot
train them. To train you need control. You have to be able to stop
the dogs, even if they don’t want to. With an 18 dog team
(probably 20 dogs next week) there is no way I have control, even
on the 4-wheeler.
Alternate side
staging area. Teams are tied off to
the posts in the foreground with a snub line.
In training I always run up to the two posts in
the background and stop to simulate a race start.
The trail starts with a gentle climb which
gets steeper. |
So I have more than a little trepidation
going into Friday’s run. I’ve run 18 dogs before, once
on the 4-wheeler with Bonnie riding along. The trails were just a
little icy that time and it was one of Bonnie’s first runs with
me. Bonnie told me later that she was so inspired she said prayers
that she didn’t even know she remembered. We survived with nothing
more than good stories to tell, but didn’t try it again. The
other times I ran teams that large we were double sledding. That is
where you tie a second sled behind the first with another driver –
just like the Iditarod start. The extra control is incredible. For
balance my rookie trepidation, remember that until about 1995 the
Iditarod was a 20 dog race – on sleds. And I have seen pictures
of Buddy Streeper running a 28 dog string in a sprint race. So this
is something that other folks do routinely, but it’s new to
me.
Man what a ride! By the time I had the last dog hooked up the snub
line was so tight I could have played a song on it. I was going
to run Bass and 7 in lead again, but I’d promised Lycos he
could run today (and Lycos holds the line out better than Bass anyway).
So it was Lycos and Keiko in lead with Bass and 7 of 9 in swing
as backup. I swore as I pulled the snub line and released the brake
that those dogs wanted to fly. Here is where training and the trail
helped me. Frequently I run the local club races without much help
to get to the starting line, so every training run I go up to the
starting line for our races and stop. My goal is for the dogs to
expect to move up a short distance from the staging area and stop
every time so that I can handle them at races by myself. We were
running the alternate side and when we got to the simulated race
start line and I called “whoa”, the dogs stopped. I
was so proud (and grateful). When I called “hike” they
took off with a vengeance. Thursday with two teams we ran 23 miles
in 3:45. Friday we ran 15 miles in 1:40. That isn’t earth
shattering speed, but for out first fast run of the season I am
very pleased.
Dog
Box – Keiko jumped into the
top forward box. |
Another interesting story, I’ve
been trying to train some of the reliable dogs to run from the dog
lot to the trailer and jump into their boxes and then I lead in a
less reliable dog up, box them, and close both doors. Bass will run
up and jump into his box. If I’m not there he will jump out
and run around until I get there. Balu and Picard will jump into their
boxes and lie there waiting for me. Balu likes to stick his head out
and watch my progress. These dogs all ride in the lowest level of
boxes. Keiko rides in the top forward box and will jump up and down
in front of it waiting for me to open the door and lift her in. Well
Friday morning I opened the door and something distracted Keiko and
she ran to the back side of the trailer. I called her and she ran
around the trailer and JUMPED INTO HER TOP LEVEL BOX. It was a clean
jump – nothing but air as the basketball players say. All I
could do was stand there in amazement and look at her. What an athlete!
Keiko
who jumped into the top
level box in the dog box. Nothing but air! |
I’ve laid Jewels off all week because he occasionally skips
a step with his left rear leg in the dog lot. He is a good dog and
I want to be sure he is healed before I let him run again. He is very
distressed about this and doesn’t understand why everyone else
can run and he can’t. I’m not sure if he will run Monday
or not. Tussock was laid off last week, but is much better and will
continue to run as along as he can keep up.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
© 2005 All rights reserved
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