Yukon Quest '10

It’s hard to believe that we just finished up number 4!! Its seems like just the other day that I was volunteering at the Circle checkpoint and dreaming about being a dog musher and maybe even someday running the Yukon Quest. That was 6 years ago and it’s been one heck of a ride, I’ve been places, met some amazing people and had experiences that I could never even of dreamed. And this, my fourth Yukon Quest was no different. I can easily say that this was my toughest Quest, which is kind of funny because the race itself, as far as weather and trail conditions, was the best it’s been in years. This year’s season and race was an undertaking from the beginning. And proved to be one to remember. It would be impossible to retrace the whole season but here is a brief summary of how we got the the start line.

It started way back in May when I went out on a limb and started my own tourism attraction at the New Quest office in Downtown Fairbanks. I knew I was taking a chance but I believed in my ideas and plan and saw it through. I quickly found out the not only was my business plan a little flawed, but also that working downtown is not the place for me! Because of my loyal employees, (my sister being one of them), we were able to keep the attraction alive and running throughout the summer as I scrambled to earn as much money as possible to make this years Quest happen. To make a really long story short I ended up doing a lot of building projects, built one cabin start to finish in 28 days (solo) and landed the biggest Job of my life!How did I land the biggest job of my life (at least in part), by being the nice guy!

It all came to be after last years crazy Quest, which involved me traveling with the to-be champion Sebastian Schnuelle, for 500 miles, pulling a dog team over Eagle Summit and ended with a non negotiable 3 hour break 35 miles from the finish, that ended up costing me 3 spots and 9K, ya it was an eventful race for The Wild and Free team, but when isn’t it! After the race I made a phone call to the guy who took the pic of me pulling William Kleedehn over the top of Eagle Summit. Iw wanted to get a couple copies of the photo. It’s a great photo and moment I will remember for a long time. In the end it would turn into a partnership to guide 16 Norwegian students on a 200-mile dog-mushing trip to Iniakuk Lake, deep in the Brooks Range of Northern Alaska. This expedition would require me to obtain and train 45 dogs in addition to my 40. It was a large undertaking but one I new I could pull off. With Kyla (my handler) returning for her third season and the addition of Flo a new handler from Germany we moved the entire operation out to Eureka in Mid Oct and settled in for a busy winter season.

The 45 additional dogs came from Trail Breaker Kennel, owned and operated by David Monson the husband of the late Susan Butcher. David is a great friend of mine; Him and Susan got me hooked on Distance racing and really gave me the experiences needed to start my own kennel. David is also the reason that we are able to train out in Eureka. We stay at his camp and are training on the same trails that Iditarod champions like Rick Swenson and Susan Butcher trained on during the peak of their careers. It’s a pretty special area and we are very fortunate to have the opportunity to train in such an awesome place. So, it was crazy from the beginning! But with the help of a lot of friends, Josh, Cody, Paige, Mandy, Matt, Thom, Laura, (just to name a few) and Kyla as the Backbone the season seemed to be going really smoothly overall. It was an exciting time we even had Lance Mackey and Company come up to train for a week. I had narrowed my dogs in training for the Quest down to twenty and it was time to race!All signs pointed towards a great second half to the season.

In late December we had a great showing at the Gin Gin 200 finishing 2^nd behind Lance.On the way home my trucks brakes went out, in the end this would be the beginning of a long stretch of bad luck. The Brake issue would strand me in town for a week which would not allow me time to get back to Eureka before our next race, which was not good for our training. Next came the much-anticipated Copper Basin 300. I have always had a good showing at CB300 and had high hopes of bettering my 3^rd place finish in 2009. This is where my season took a turn.The combination of the wrong strategy, some bad decisions, injured dogs and a handler problem that I had to deal with asap, lead to the beginning of a challenging second half of the season. We ended up finishing in 8^th place, a little beat up and wondering what happened. But I stayed positive and told myself I needed to learn from races like this and in the end they will be a large part of our success. This is sounds good, and is true, but it is hard to face at the time. On the way home the truck started acting up again this time it was much more serious.

In the end I would come out of the mid distance race season with 4 major injuries and a truck that needed some major repairs. But yet I stayed positive, HAD TO, there was no other option. I needed to do what I could to get the healthiest, strongest bunch of dogs to the start of the Quest, a task that seemed pretty tough at the time. Because of the truck issues and the nearing food drop deadline I was forced to once again stay in town, and miss out on the comforts of Eureka. In the end I would do a great job of packing food drops, but at the expense of some good training for the dogs. All of my injured dogs seemed to heal well and by the end of Jan besides a few less miles on the dogs I felt pretty good about the set of dogs I had for the Quest. I need to mention that I am very fortunate that through all of this Kyla and the Crew out in Eureka all lived safe and happy, I never had to worry about the other half of my operation, I can’t thank all of them enough for that.

Next came the Handler issue. My dad has been my handler/truck driver for every race since I ran my first in 2006. He has been there for me and has done a great job. But there is a reason that most people don’t have their Dad handling for them. Being a dog handler is not an easy task. And when you add in the stresses that a parent has when their kid is out in the middle of the Alaskan Wilderness pushing themselves to the limit, it is just too much. After the CB300 I new that my Dad needed a break from the Long days without rest, -40 degree temps, and the overall stress of being a handler for an competitive Dog Driver, and especially for the 1000 mile Quest. I also needed a break from the stresses that he brings to me during the race, although not intended his stresses trickle down to me out there on the trail and are a distraction that can be very costly. But how do you retire your dad from a position that he cherishes so much and looks forward to every year, you just be honest, I had to and in the end I am sure he understood.

Now I had to find a new driver, Kyla would be there to take care of all the other handler chores but I needed to find someone that could get the truck from checkpoint to checkpoint, something I new I could always rely on my dad to get done. After talking with my good buddy Josh we both decided that there was one person for the job, Long time volunteer/ employee of the Yukon Quest, and a good friend of ours, Alex Olesen. Alex’s dad was one of the founders of the Quest, so you can imagine how educated Alex is on Dog Mushing and especially the Yukon Quest. He grew up with it, the Quest is part of Alex’s life and he takes it seriously. But it being less then two weeks before the race I was sure he had already locked down his Quest plans.Luckily for me he had no solid plans and it didn’t take long to have Alex on board as the new truck Driver/ handler for the Wild and Free Team. This was a huge weight off and with the late addition of a 2^nd driver/entertainer in the Amazing Steve Stoller I went into the Quest with 100% confidence in my support team.

Vet Checks came and went, the dogs all checked out n good shape, a few final runs and we were ready to go. With just under a week to go until race time my Dad finished up his yearly overhaul of the truck and gave it the stamp of approval, we got Mandy, Matt, Thom and Laura all set up to take care of the rest of the Kennel out in Eureka, and I felt ready, things were coming together nicely. In my head I already had my top 14 picked out but I needed to do one more long run to make my final decision. I chose to do an 80-miler in the Whites Mountains with 16 dogs, as the final run to qualify the race team. It was a perfect day; we got an early start and pulled the hook in the dark at 7am. As we croozed down the trail I was excited and the dogs seemed to get stronger and stronger as we got deeper into the run. When we arrived back at the truck in 7 hours and 30 minutes I believed we could win the Yukon Quest!! My top 14 were decided and I was smiling ear to ear.

The next morning I woke up to some stiff dogs! Not something I was use to or even crossed my mind as a possible issue. Over the course of the next few days I went back and forth on which dogs would go and which would stay, so much for having my 14 picked out. In the end Rocky one of my main dogs ended up with a really stiff back, he had a hard time on my final run before the race and I was forced to leave him home. Madonna my main female had also shown some sort of slight injury but in the end both Kyla and I decided that she was just putting on a show so she could come inside, smart dog, she won that game!! After a stressful few days I finally made my final decisions and had the team picked out 2 days prior to the race start.

The meetings are over the team is set and it is the day before the start. Kyla is packing the final equipment into the truck, and I am changing the runner plastic on my Dog Paddle Design Sled, This is the first year I have driven one of Cody’s sleds and it has been amazing. It is by far the toughest sled I have ever driven. I’ve carried everything from a person to 200 pounds of rocks in the sled this season and it never skipped a beat. Then as I am sliding the new runner plastic on I look at the back side of one of the stanchions and see a pretty substantial crack near the base of the stanchion where it meets the runner. $#&$^#*#*#*$$$*(# Is all I can say!!Luckily I know that Cody is the man and will help me anyway that he can. I quickly call him and let him know what I found. I feel bad because he is also helping his wife, Paige preparing for the Quest 300. We arrange for me to go pick up a piece of wood and to meet him at his place in a few hours. Thank god Cody is so dedicated to his work. By 8 pm I am back to my place with a fixed sled and even some extra stanchions to take in the truck. Big thanks to Cody and Paige for the last minute repair. By 10 Pm the truck is packed and we are set. The wait is over let the race begin! As I fell asleep that night I was so happy that in less then 12 hours I would be on the trail and have to think about nothing but Survival, little did I know that I would be doing just that for most of the 2010 Yukon Quest!