“Sometimes a race isn’t about that race” was one of the major thoughts going through my head as I got ready for the Two Rivers Dog Mushers (TRDMA) Solstice 100 sled dog race this weekend.
That was the case for us this weekend. Yes it is a race; we went there to race and do the best we could. But there were other goals as well, that were equally important valid reasons for us to be there racing our dogs. And I wanted to share some of those with you, as a way to let you into what goes on in the preparation of race team.
Races offer Dan and I chance to get our dogs out around chaos and other teams. This socialization is critical to their long term success, and in a way happiness, on the trail. They need to be comfortable around strange dog teams, know how to remain calm, rest, and camp well, even when other dog teams are acting up at checkpoints. And they need to know how to pass and be passed by other teams without causing problems or tangles. Where Dan and I live offers us wonderful trails for training and conditioning our dogs, excellent places to camp, and a remote wilderness experience that has allowed me to (forced me to) hone my winter camping skills with the dog team. What it lacks however is the crowds and multiple teams you see regularly at races.
That is why early season events like this are so important to our team. We need them to see all the excitement and get used to it. We need them to run with over 20 teams on the same trail and learn how to deal with it. So you can see why even though we were at the Solstice to race that race, our goals were really much larger looking ahead to future races. Right now we have a young team, and giving them as much of this kind of socialization as we can is one of the ways we invest in them. Making sure they are comfortable with and understand what we are going to be expecting of them. This years Solstice was a great investment, the dogs all camped well in spite of the large number of teams and excitement at the checkpoint, and had strong runs. This was the very first race for The Rascals litter, they are all grown up and running with the big dogs now.
This year the Solstice race was very popular, with one of the biggest fields I have seen in the past few years. It really worked out well for us, the event had the wonderful relaxed Fairbanks feel, but also had a talented competitive field to run with, that induced past Quest & Iditarod champions. Where else can beside Two Rivers Alaska can you go somewhere and have a blast training your young dogs while running with Champions?
At the checkpoint volunteers were standing outside working for hours, mushers were resting camp style with their cookers going, enjoying trail food and conversation with the mushers parked around them. A few, including Dan, caught a nap laying down on their sleds. Others, like me, enjoyed the big social gathering and got caught up with musher friends. Mother Nature deiced to grace us with warm (at least by Alaska standards) weather. Made it very comfortable to be outside, and easy to camp with such nice weather. Never saw a thermometer, but I heard temps were in the 0-5 above range. Light snow fell during the day, and a clear sky at night, just beautiful.
Dan and I split our teams by sex. I took girls and he took boys, and personally I think I got the better deal. yeah he got all the power, but I got all the brains 😉
You can see all the results and times at the TRDMA website. And the Fairbanks Daily News Miner had a photographer there so they have some good photos with their article, which you can read online. In the photo section, the picture of the hands with the purple fleece sleeves sticking out, that’s me! I am putting booties on my lead dog Orchid.
Everyone is happy and rested today (the day after the race) and looking at me on this beautiful snowy day like, “come on mom, why aren’t we going for a run!” But they need a recovery day and the humans Definitely need a recovery day. So it was cooked fish stew and grooming for everyone today.
We have to give a HUGE HOWL of thanks to everyone who made the Solstice 100 such a fun event.
The Two Rivers Dog Mushers is our local Fairbanks area mushing club, and is a completely volunteer run organization. As the date for the race drew near it was apparent that the trails needed some serious work to be able to have a race. Unlike my mushing friends in other areas it was not a lack of snow, but the great dumping of snow and high winds that were causing the problem. Trees heavy with snow or blown over in winds were blocking major sections of trail, places were blown in, and some sections so deep that people had not been traveling on them yet. But thanks to a Herculean effort by a group of hardy fools – Oh wait I mean trail breakers (yes all volunteer) a trail was put in. And a great trail at that!
In addition to the massive amount of work done on trails a new checkpoint was needed to accommodate the new proposed race route. Hence the second Herculean feat was turning the shooting range on Chena Hot Springs road into a suitable camping checkpoint for teams. Now for those of you who do not regularly hang out at shooting ranges, they tend to be very far away from the rest of the places people hang out at (for obvious reasons). For those of you who do hang out at shooting ranges, the one on Chena Hot Springs Road may be more “rustic” then what you are used to. Cause if you are thinking nice open area with heated clubhouse and fancy targets you are over-thinking it. Think big open space far far from anything else, with open outside space to shoot things, and a government campground style outhouse. But camping spots were groomed for the teams, and a well planned enter and exit trail, volunteers brought caribou chili and cookies, there was a wall tent with woodstove, and a massive bonfire to heat a 55 gallon drum of melted snow water for dogs. There was no internet, which is often the case in the middle of a open space as far from populations centers as you can get on a paved road. And cell phone, well in Alaska it is spotty at best, and at the shooting range, well .
did you see that one little spot? well if you were lucky you might get a fraction of that out there. So I know the checkers and website folks were bending over backwards to try and get information out to the fans following the race. They went all old school and wrote things with paper and pen and then had to drive somewhere to give the pen and paper info to someone who could then post it. All things considered I am amazed them managed any updates at all, and they get my huge thumbs up for what they accomplished by making such a big event come together so well.
And speaking of big events, we have a biggie planned for Dan this March! There is still time to be a part of Team Dew Claw and help get Dan and the Dogs to Nome.
