This quote from an Iditarod news article really hit home.... "Then wet snow started falling, soaking everything in Gebhardt's sled. It was taking so long to reach Cripple that the tired musher thought he must have overshot the incoming trail, and he backtracked about a mile...." This and some other problems cost him (Paul Gebhardt) several hours. Maybe some orienteering experience would have helped.
whoa! you're reading the Iditarod too?! how about Mackey's First to the Yukon meal, nice huh?
yeah Mackey and his happy dogs!!
its a face-off between Mackey & King (at least right now, heheh), the ultimate adventure race...(IMHO)
For a really good story, read about this woman Iditabike rider.....
http://arcticglass.blogspot.com/
Any time I'm having a tough time outdoors, think of Jill......
Mackey got lost in the Yukon Quest too (but still won):
Monday, February 18, 2008
By Genesee Keevil News Reporter
Heading out of Dawson with Ken Anderson on his tail, Lance Mackey got lost. ?It?s my own damn fault,? said the three-time Yukon Quest champ ?I was running without a headlamp looking at the moon, and didn?t see the trail markers. ?Ironically, I?ve done it before in the same area.? Two years ago, when the Quest finished in Dawson, Mackey took a wrong turn and travelled at least five hours out of his way, almost losing the race to Whitehorse?s Hans Gatt. ?Let?s just say, I know the backside of Dawson real well,? he said. ?And this time, I got to see the wind tower.? When Mackey started climbing, he figured he was on King Solomon?s Dome, the 1,000-metre summit on the Quest trail. ?I thought I might be on the wrong trail, because I didn?t see any markers ? but it looked kind of familiar,? he said. A couple hours later, the road stopped at a tower. By now, Mackey knew something was wrong. ?But I decided to stop and wait 15 minutes to see if Ken had taken the wrong trail too.? When he didn?t show up, Mackey headed back down the mountain. ?When you turn a team around, it breaks their spirit,? he said. ?I sat and apologized to them for 15 minutes.? The side trip took about four hours, said Mackey. And it put Anderson in the lead. Hauling into Pelly just after midnight on Monday, the Fairbanks musher was in a rush. ?I need to get my gear and drop a dog,? he said to the checker. ?Where?s my handler? ?Where?s my stuff ? where are my food-drop bags?? Leaving Dawson, Anderson didn?t see any tracks, he said, tearing through his drop bags, grabbing some kibble and snacks. ?So I figured (Mackey) was lost; then I began to worry I was lost, but there were markers. It was like the Twilight Zone.? Mackey caught Anderson camping after the dome and rested with him. ?He did a 10-hour run to get there,? said Anderson, unhooking an exhausted dog from his gangline. ?I wanted to see where Ken was at,? said Mackey. Mackey cut over two hours? rest to leave when Anderson did. But to keep up with Mackey, Anderson is also cutting rest time. ?He?s faster than me,? said Anderson. ?He gains about a half hour on an eight-hour run. So, I?m also cutting rest.? Lying down at the checkpoint while Anderson filled his cooler with hot water, his team looked tired. Neck in neck, Mackey and Anderson split up before Pelly. Anderson camped behind Mackey, who was running in the lead. And while Mackey was resting at Stepping Stone, 51 kilometres from Pelly, Anderson tried to sneak by. But Mackey?s ?savvy.? ?He had his dogs right on the trail,? said Anderson. ?So they barked and probably woke him up.? Mackey left Stepping Stone an hour after Anderson blew by. But by the time he reached Pelly, about four hours later, he was only half an hour behind him. Mackey was also in a rush, but he took time to feed a snack to his dogs. ?Their attitude is not like it was last year at this time,? he said. ?They?re normally screaming and barking to go.? However, none of Mackey?s dogs were lying down like Anderson?s. And as the musher zipped up his sled bag, the team started to bark and lunge ahead. ?That?s more like it,? said Mackey, walking up his team, petting every dog. Tonya, his wife and handler, stepped aside and the string of dogs snaked out of Pelly with snow flying behind Mackey?s brake. A few subtle commands brought the team through a couple of tough turns and he was gone. Anderson?s handler had more trouble, falling and struggling to keep up as she led his leaders past the same tricky turns. Now that he?s in front, he?s having more fun, Anderson said. In Dawson, the musher was talking about holding back to save his team for the Iditarod. He placed seventh last year. But now the Iditarod is a little further from his mind, he said with a laugh. In Dawson, both mushers hoped to ignore the other?s strategy. ?It?s tough to put those blinders on,? said Anderson. ?But you can?t beat somebody playing their game.? Mackey was also finding it hard to stick to his original plan. It?s tempting to just hold back and run with Anderson, he said. ?Because know I?m faster.? But it could be disastrous. ?All it would take is one wrong turn,? said Mackey.
i thought last night that King had a chance, I dont now. Temperatures have dropped 10 degrees which favors Mackey. Mackey spent 7min in Galena and King is still there after 3 hours. I believe Mackey is the younger man and can probably handle sleep deprivation better than King. The 24 and 8 hour manadatory layovers are done and now it's full steam ahead and damn the hallucinations!!!
nah, jingo, there's only 13 miles difference according to the GPS trackers (isnt that reporting system great, and even better with those gorgeous aerial photos - at least as much fun as Jagge's Finnish GPS adventures :) at this point, that difference is nothing. Mind you, I'm rooting for Mackey, but King is still in there to make it interesting, IMHO - we'll see how it goes! (hmmm, dogs might be getting bored w/ the river - wonder who can motivate them better to keep charging along? King seems to have just upped his speed a bit...)
http://race.ionearth.com/iditarod/
yep, last night Mackey left Galena 5 hours before King, now Mackey is only 10 miles ahead, and at the speed they are going that's about a 2 hour lead... shows you how little I know about this race... but that wont keep me from giving predictions!
I'd be willing to wildly guess that anyone within 50 miles (given that's only about 5% of the race length, & the race is just over half-done) still has a solid chance, which opens it all up nicely. Not that I'm a dog-musher...But hey, actually I can say that I've bashed myself up pretty good while issuing gee & haw commands to a dog...heh...
is it unusual for King to have all 16 dogs at this point? Mackey and a lot of others are down to 12. I would think this is an advantage for King yes?? Kings seems to be running faster (at least running the legs faster).
isn't it great!? they are so duking it out! yeah, King's big team, I think he is managing the dogs well cuz he's a wizard at that, but at this point he has to be super careful to drop them at a checkpoint if they even hint at being tired or bummed out- carrying them will really slow the run down. There's hills coming up on that sorta peninsula thing I think & more dogs will make the hills easier & faster. This last section to Nome along the Bring Sea is gonna be so interesting, the 4 or 5 drivers (maybe 4-6 hr behind) still have a bit of a chance to pop forward if either of the two leaders blow a gasket...
Glad to see some other iditarod junkies out there. First thing i check when I wake up and the last thing before I go to bed. I have been rooting for Kjetil Backen. I still keep hoping that he has some trick up his sleeve, but that is just wishful thinking. At this moment, my call is King.
I think King is going to pull a Talladega trick and draft by Mackey on the final lap
I think Mackey thinks that too... look at them, stuck together like glue. I hope they don't bust any of their dogs just cuz they're keeping each other too excited...Mackey did drop a dog at Elim.
Jerritt, yer from Minnesota apparently, Minnesotans love dog-mushing! I'm watching Lanier's pretty white team, Ramstead, Palfrey, and Nelson Sr (altho there's not much info except in the List, and on some of their websites, cuz they're back in the pack)
Yep. My wife worked for a dog musher for a couple of years before we met. I have been to the start of the Beargrease race in Duluth, and would love to find a way to get involved in the sport.
Can't say I know much about it, except that our car was damaged from parking at the wrong spot at a race. Too close to a corner. Lost a tailight. The musher came to find us and offered to pay, but once we realized that we had basically parked on the trail, we couldn't say it was his fault.
well, for the front two, it's almost 2pm here in BC, and they are both resting at the second-to-last checkpoint, resting...resting...resting... less than 10 hours out...wonder if they will wait til it's cooler, and then just blow thru...aaahh!!! then we can kick back and enjoy the rest of the arrivals!
White Mountain is a mandatory 8 hr rest...I suspect both will be out after 8:00:00 rest.. Mackey 57 min before King
Those of us thinking King would pull it out have to admit we were wrong. One of the highlights of an article was King explaining how he had fallen asleep with his feet on Mackey's boots at an earlier checkpoint to keep Mackey from sneaking out.
Other finishers should be coming in shortly.
was that fun or what? I was up briefly at 2 and saw that Mackey looked like he had it. Now let's see who gets third & fourth, I saw that Backen was BOOTING it, maybe feeling like his lil dudes & dudettes have enuf steam to catch Seavey or whoever that is in front of him, less than an hour ahead, looks like? ooh!