Carbon Hill Race

Whoa! It was a chilly -30 race day!! Beautiful and sunny though, so you didn't notice the cold as much. A bunch of us planned on showing up and doing the course even if the race was cancelled due to the cold. The area down there at Annie Lake is so beautiful and always fun to run on those trails.

Here's a frosty me and Jonathan (some photos courtesy of Evan & Jenn Lowe!).


First off there was a 30-mile 8-dog sled race, which my buddy Ray and other sled-buddy, Laura entered. There were about 11 teams entered in this. I'm ecstatic to say Ray WON!!!! He did really well, finished in 2hrs 27 minutes, coming in 12 minutes ahead of the 2nd place team. He was super happy, as it's his first win ever. We both started doing the 10-mile race 3 years ago - not even having enough dogs to fill the maximum allotment - and coming in near-to-last. Well... at least one of us has moved up!! Nah, he's much more serious about racing and his hard work is paying off. Best of all, he got some great compliments from other well-respected mushers there.

Laura had to borrow 2 dogs from Ray's yard to make a 7-dog team and was able to pull off a Red Lantern finish!! Those who know me and my racing background will find this phrase very familiar - it's for the last placed team. But Laura was happy with their placing and had a great time. Plus, she got to take home a real working Red Lantern - very cool!

The skijoring - I decided just to go with Jack & Harris for the race (although I was kicking myself for not taking Ripper later in the race - everyone else but Jon and I had 3 dogs). The 10-mile trail was set, and it was the trail that I'd done with the dogteam for the last 3 years so I knew it pretty well (even though, I did get lost last year). Darryl pulled #1, I got #2, Tyson (my neighbor) pulled #3, Jill (fantastic local skier) pulled #4 and Jon (rottie dude) pulled #5. All this, after I tried so hard to psych out the competition the night before (Darryl and Tyson), by saying the rotties *really* like to visit when being passed, and how "Jon can kind of control them, but if they really want to visit... they will!" Yes, I was resorting to under-handed tactics to throw off the competition... but hey, you do what you have to. So, Darryl was sufficiently worried since his leader, Polar has a hate-on for rotties!! Darryl was a bit worried, and kept mentioning it the night before and the morning of the race - perhaps a bit nervous?!? Heehee...my plan was working... until Jon pulled #5... dammit! Plan thwarted!!!

Anyways, Darryl was off first, and we followed 2 mins behind, with Evan, Jenn and their adorable kiddo, Hunter helping me to the start - somehow they always get suckered into being my helpers/handlers since I never really organize this stuff, thank goodness they're usually at these races volunteering (or are they covertly scoping out future competition? Hmm...) Either way, I always appreciate their help!

So we took off, and I saw Darryl a couple miles into it out on the lake and it seemed we were gaining on him. I looked back and could barely see Tyson, he hadn't caught up to me at all. So far, things were looking great! The dogs were rockin' down the trail and my new skis were gliding well, even at these cold temps. But... I knew early on, 10 miles is a loooong way and I tried not to get too excited. We headed into the wooded trails and they weaved all over the place, but were *just* a bit narrow to get a good skate stride going. Then, my skis started sticking a bit after about 5-6 miles and the dogs really noticed it and started to slow down. Today, as I took the skis out of the truck, I believe I uncovered the source of my sticky skis: A BIG SMEAR OF FROZEN DOG CRAP down one ski!! That must have really cut into my brilliant skiing technique. Even more confusing is how I didn't notice (or, uh... smell!) the pile as I skiied right over it.

Also, in skijoring (well, regular skiing too, I 'spose), your skiing ability and endurance really makes a huge difference!! I have to admit, I never push the dogs or myself too much on a training run, so I felt pretty wiped by about 6-7 miles, just when the work started to get harder.... argh... And I'm not spectacular on the skis... yet...

So, just when I was sufficiently tired, things went haywire. My pole got stuck in the deeper snow as we flew ahead without it. I had to backtrack about about 20 ft (which is not easy with 2 dogs who want to go.... FORWARD!!! They may not have been zooming down the trail at this point, but they sure as hell did not want to go BACKWARDS!!!). I retrieved my pole, looking back half expecting to see *someone* catching up, and as we got going with the pole back in hand, my ski launched itself off of my foot and flew down the trail way AHEAD of us!! Yep, it zoomed ahead past the dogs as we started up. My foot (and me!) came down and plunged deep into the trail as I flailed about. I think I made a lovely *splat* at that point. You know when you get so tired and annoyed you just don't care anymore??? Well, I was *really* close to that point as I was cursing my pole, my ski, the snow, anything. Then I realized we were not far from the finish and the seconds were counting!!! So we were off, and then....

Tyson appeared. I don't know why, but my initial reaction (which spewed out of my mouth without realizing what I was screaming) was to yell "Ah!! You Bastard!!" Like, how dare he catch up to me!!??! Must think before I speak...Ha... luckily, I know Tyson well, and he knew I was joking - but we did later joke about how I should have gotten the "Sportsmanship Award" for that one. But really, I was happy to pull over, stop (take a break, vomit into the snow, tangle with his dogs, in a feebile attempt to slow him down - heh heh...), but off he went. We followed and a minute later I see Jill behind me too. She came cruising up, passed me in no time, and passed Tyson right at the end!! I came in a bit behind them, frantically looking behind me every 2 seconds for the rottie team. Luckily they didn't pass me!

Here is the close finish between Tyson and Jill (in front):

And here we are coming into the Finish Line:

(Note the nice leaning forward, semi-unbalanced stance...)

Darryl was happy when he got back, and said he had the "best run ever!" He was totally excited and found out he won. It was nice to see him finally pull off his first win too. He finished in 50 minutes. Jill was next in 53, Tyson in 55, me in 58, and at 1:23 Jon and the rotties came trotting along!! They came in frosty and happy.

I was pleased with our time, and realized that was the longest skijor I'd done with these two. They've done this mileage before lots, on the sled though. I did wish I had brought Ripper - I realized I could totally have handled 3 dogs on those trails... but it's better to be safe. I think he would have made a bit of a difference (not saying we would have moved up in the standings), but he definitely would have given us that little boost and a bit more power in the end. But Jack & Harris responded well when I asked them too, and they were really fired up for most of it!! But once the skis start to stick, it really SUCKS!! Gotta practice waxing more. And skiing. Those other guys were really moving and skating hard down the trail.

Oh yeah, and Tamara WON the 1-dog class with Pingo!!! Ok, so she was the only entrant, but it still counts!! (even though they almost forgot her at the Awards Banquet...)

Here's some loot we got for participating:

They had a gazillion prizes AND cash prizes for the top finishers. Somehow, I got FIRST pick out of all the prizes on the huge table. I jumped on that rabbit fur-lined hat in black/grey there. Sweeeet eh?!? Laura's red lantern is there, Jon's new LED headlamp, Ray's nice carved (yet kinda creepy) trophy he gets to keep for a while (and his name gets engraved on it), and his smaller trophy (a keeper!), and other various hats and fleecy thingys.

This race is a blast, and all about the fun!! No pressure, and as Ray put it, it's about "good dogs, good food and good people!!" Nicely said.