Saturday, December 03, 2005
Tune-up
We had the Two Rivers Tune Up race today. The trails were hard and fast, and hooks were definitely not holding in the trails..but the race trails had loads of trees, which made it ok. The temp started out at -25F, but warmed up to -16F by the time Manny began his 20 mile race. Manny ran in the 10 dog class, while I ran in the 6 dog class. I decided to take both Munchkin and Jenny in my team. Manny was going to run Riley and Lovey in lead, but when we dropped Lovey, it looked as if she might be coming into heat. Since Manny had ALL boys in his team (though most are neutered), he decided to take Dutchess in lead instead. Since I had all girls in my team, Lovey being in heat wouldn't matter. So, that's how we ended up...Manny running 9 boys and 1 girl, while I had 6 girls left for my team. Unfortunately, all but Lovey are tiny dogs (at the most, China and Munchkin weigh about 40 lbs), so my poor girls had their work cut out for them. After hearing that the trail was so hard and fast, I then decided to leave Minerva at the truck and run a 5 dog team. Minerva is a young girl and I didn't want to push her on such a hard, fast trail. But once on the trail, I was wishing I had taken her with us, as I had total control of the girls for all of the run thanks to my excellent drag track. I decided to put Munchkin and Jenny in wheel, which was a mistake. Munchkin is the twisting Queen, as she continuously jumped back and forth across and under the gangline while we were waiting to go. Poor Jenny! Then, Jenny had to be around all those people at the start (all 4 or 5 of them, the horror!). We got off the line very well, with great control...but Jenny realized that there was this thing sliding behind her, bumping and making noise (she's only run with the atv until today). She kept looking back, almost necklining at the beginning of the race. I had to keep slowing/stopping, hoping that Jenny would settle. We got passed by Brendan Wolf, and that was it for Jenny. She decided that she'd had enough and stopped pulling, trying to sit down. I hooked onto a tree, and there came another team. They passed with no trouble, and I moved Jenny up into swing with Feather, leaving Munchkin by herself in wheel (much better for my gangline hopping girl!). Jenny was a bit better after that, though she really didn't pull a whole lot through the rest of the race. My valiant little girls did the rest of the race at a slow, but steady pace...we even passed a team on the backside of the River loop, doing very nicely! I was very proud of my little ones, as they loped down Pleasant Valley Road towards the finish line. However, next time I told Manny that I need to put at least 2 of the boys in there to help heft my tidy weight around the trail. :o)
Munchkin was incredible, driving the whole way and pulling hard. I am so proud of her! Jenny, on the other hand, did not have a good time. The poor girl just doesn't seem to be cut out for the race scene. Though I will say that the chaos of teams/mushers walking around may be a good thing for her. We dropped her with Manny's team, as she was in a top box and I just can't reach her when she hides in the back...so Manny unloaded her for me before he left on his race. Jenny was very unsure and when I walked over to her, instead of trying to get as far away as possible, she came over and laid down right against my foot/leg! I reached down and petted her, and she leaned in a bit. I know it was because she was so scared and I was the only familiar thing there, so the lesser of evils...but that was an awesome feeling!! So, now I'm torn between trying her on the race at ADMA next weekend, or not putting her through the stress. Perhaps it's what she needs to make her realize that we're her friends, not someone who will hurt her.
Manny had a few snafus on his race as well. At the end of Pleasant Valley Road at the beginning of the race, Dutchess decided to take the team right under a gate that is usually open for our races, but has been closed all winter. Since the road was pretty icy, hooks wouldn't hold. So, there's Manny with a fresh team, and half of them are under a gate! Luckily, Rattles was there and helped Manny get the team out, helped untangle and got them going again. Seems that Manny's team wasn't the first to do this, and probably wasn't the last. Up until this year, the race trail has gone right through where the gate is, so it really threw many teams for a loop. After this, Dutchess didn't pull much at all, and Manny said she held Riley back. Still, he said after losing a good 3-5 minutes at the gate, the team was rocking. Then, out around the slough somewhere, some teams ahead took a wrong trail and wiped out the crossed lathes that blocked the trail. Manny ended up on this section, which turned out to be an extension that added a good 1/4 to 1/2 mile to the run, as it looped out and then back into the race trail! All in all, he ended up passing 4 teams, and was passed by 2. Towards the end of the run, Limo (in swing), kept looking back and was off his tug. So, for the most part, Manny had 8 dogs working/pulling consistently. He finished in the middle of the pack, with about 5 teams within seconds of each other! Not bad for all of the difficulties. :o) Unfortunately, Dutchess is probably out for the rest of the season, as she's now sore and was limping again when we put her back in the dogyard. She had injured her shoulder several weeks ago and though she presented well with no pain, the run today must have re-injured the shouder. Dutchess is an excellent gee/haw leader who is also a strong, hard puller, so we will miss having her on the team. We'll see how she is in 2 months and try bringing her back up slowly, running her with the yearlings in the spring.
Now, we'll give the dogs a break before we take them out with the atv again. Besides, it's supposed to get down to -30F, but then start a warming trend on Monday. We are planning on taking the team over to the ADMA track for some training later this week to get Devlyn out on the 2 dog and get our main team out for a run on the sleds. Thanks for tuning in and check back as we'll be racing at ADMA next Sunday, then running the Solstice 100 on Dec. 17th. Think Snow!
Munchkin was incredible, driving the whole way and pulling hard. I am so proud of her! Jenny, on the other hand, did not have a good time. The poor girl just doesn't seem to be cut out for the race scene. Though I will say that the chaos of teams/mushers walking around may be a good thing for her. We dropped her with Manny's team, as she was in a top box and I just can't reach her when she hides in the back...so Manny unloaded her for me before he left on his race. Jenny was very unsure and when I walked over to her, instead of trying to get as far away as possible, she came over and laid down right against my foot/leg! I reached down and petted her, and she leaned in a bit. I know it was because she was so scared and I was the only familiar thing there, so the lesser of evils...but that was an awesome feeling!! So, now I'm torn between trying her on the race at ADMA next weekend, or not putting her through the stress. Perhaps it's what she needs to make her realize that we're her friends, not someone who will hurt her.
Manny had a few snafus on his race as well. At the end of Pleasant Valley Road at the beginning of the race, Dutchess decided to take the team right under a gate that is usually open for our races, but has been closed all winter. Since the road was pretty icy, hooks wouldn't hold. So, there's Manny with a fresh team, and half of them are under a gate! Luckily, Rattles was there and helped Manny get the team out, helped untangle and got them going again. Seems that Manny's team wasn't the first to do this, and probably wasn't the last. Up until this year, the race trail has gone right through where the gate is, so it really threw many teams for a loop. After this, Dutchess didn't pull much at all, and Manny said she held Riley back. Still, he said after losing a good 3-5 minutes at the gate, the team was rocking. Then, out around the slough somewhere, some teams ahead took a wrong trail and wiped out the crossed lathes that blocked the trail. Manny ended up on this section, which turned out to be an extension that added a good 1/4 to 1/2 mile to the run, as it looped out and then back into the race trail! All in all, he ended up passing 4 teams, and was passed by 2. Towards the end of the run, Limo (in swing), kept looking back and was off his tug. So, for the most part, Manny had 8 dogs working/pulling consistently. He finished in the middle of the pack, with about 5 teams within seconds of each other! Not bad for all of the difficulties. :o) Unfortunately, Dutchess is probably out for the rest of the season, as she's now sore and was limping again when we put her back in the dogyard. She had injured her shoulder several weeks ago and though she presented well with no pain, the run today must have re-injured the shouder. Dutchess is an excellent gee/haw leader who is also a strong, hard puller, so we will miss having her on the team. We'll see how she is in 2 months and try bringing her back up slowly, running her with the yearlings in the spring.
Now, we'll give the dogs a break before we take them out with the atv again. Besides, it's supposed to get down to -30F, but then start a warming trend on Monday. We are planning on taking the team over to the ADMA track for some training later this week to get Devlyn out on the 2 dog and get our main team out for a run on the sleds. Thanks for tuning in and check back as we'll be racing at ADMA next Sunday, then running the Solstice 100 on Dec. 17th. Think Snow!
