Howdy all!! Sorry it’s been so long, since we’ve updated. It’s been a tough “winter” so far. With no snow and hardly any cold, we’ve been on the road north for most of the last few months. Also my computer died and we haven’t been on the internet at all. I guess I’ll leave my excuses at that for now… Anyway, I hope you all had great holidays and have started the new year in fine fashion.

Tomorrow, we leave for Eagle Lake, Maine where Sue and I will both run 10-dog teams in the 100 mile race on Saturday. It’s sounds like the weather will be good, for a change, and the dogs are as ready as we could get them. We’ve actually run more miles this year than we ever have to this point in the season, but all the miles are with an ATV, not sleds. The work is considerably different for the dogs and so we really don’t know where the team is for speed. We know they are tough from pulling the heavy machines through the mud all fall and early winter, but we just don’t know if they’ll have any speed. Unlike our longer races later in the year which demand endurance over speed, this race is almost a sprint, and speed is much more important to your standing at the finish line. For the yearlings and Molly who will make up more than half of the teams, this will be their first race, so a positive experience is the most important thing! We’ll see how we do….

The weather continues to play a very prominent role in our training and racing plans. We have never had to wait so long to be able to run sleds. Our latest first sled run before this year was December 17th. This year it is a month later. The first race of the year on our schedule was cancelled last weekend and now it looks like the Beargrease will also postpone its date until late February. They are supposed to make that decision by today (check Beargrease.com for more info). This throws our plans for both this year and next into turmoil. We need a 300+ mile race to qualify or the Quest next year, but now it looks like going all the way to Montana’s Race to the Sky in mid-February is our only option as we will not be able to make it to the rescheduled date for the Beargrease. We really can’t afford to make the trip to Montana, so we may have to just wait until next year in order to qualify for Quest. It’s all very stressful and I’m not sure how it’s all going to work out. We are still VERY committed to running the Yukon Quest next year, we just don’t know quite how it’s all going to work out for us to get there.

Well, I’ve got dogs to feed, poop to scoop, dog treats to make, checkpoint bags to pack, dogtruck to clean and organize and then I can have some breakfast and get my day started. I better get busy!
Take care. We’ll have more updates soon, really…