Mike started the race with 11 dogs. They were Alaskan Huskies Mary and Tom, Lab/Beagle cross Goldie, and Siberians Bucky, Ricky, Willie, Lizzy, Bob, Cody, Barney, and Indy. Indy was unrelated, but the other Siberians were all from one litter. Mike was one dog shy of the maximum allowed, but the only other dog young enough to run - ten year old Ice - had made it clear that he had no intention of running in a team anymore.
Mary was a very experienced sprint team leader whom Mike had bought in December in order to strengthen his front end. Tom had come along with Mary in order to fill out the team. The one question mark in the team was Barney. His back legs were not structurally sound, giving him little strength and virtually no stability in the rear. While he had completed the 40 mile training runs okay, there were subtle clues that he might not hold up over distance. Mike had already decided that if Barney had any trouble during the race, he would be retired from distance running and turned over to a recreational home.
The first leg of the race was a 40 mile loop around the town of Lincoln, Montana. Mike started out with his best leaders, Mary and Bucky, up front. The first five miles went through rolling terrain in the woods, coming out to a gravel pit next to the highway. At the gravel pit, a handler was required to get in the sled for the next few miles since the trail went right along the shoulder of the highway and through downtown Lincoln. The idea was that the handler could get out and help pull the team back over if they wandered up onto the paved highway.
I got into Mike's sled at the gravel pit, and we headed toward town. The team was keeping a slow but steady pace, and the leaders were taking directions very well. When we reached downtown Lincoln, there were crowds of people, including many children, cheering the teams on. Leaders Mary and Bucky were quite shy by nature, so they scooted on past without any thought of stopping or sight-seeing. Indy, on the other hand, was quite taken with the children, and he would flatten his ears and wag his tail and woowoo whenever he spotted some.
The trail continued a mile or two out of town until it reached the High Country Beef Jerky place, which was acting as race headquarters. Mike was handed a little bag of goodies containing jerky, cookies, and hard candies, as the team traversed the parking lot. The team was then directed around to a culvert underneath the highway, which was the means of crossing to the south side of the road. Once safely through the culvert, which the leaders had no hesitation in going through, I got out of the sled and sent Mike on his way through the wilderness south of Lincoln. After a total of 40 miles, he would make his way to the first checkpoint back in Lincoln.
It took about eight hours to do that first leg, so a long rest was in order. The team had not been sufficiently conditioned for a race of this distance. In fact, we knew they would be unable to finish, so the plan was to give them lots of rest and just go as far as they were able.
Barney was definitely done. Mike said he did not even pull for most of the run. Kit adopted him on the spot, and he was royally spoiled for the rest of the time with extra biscuits and leg massages and lots of petting. His back legs stiffened up considerably after resting overnight in the box, so the massages were quite beneficial.
Mike had a long nap inside a heated (but not warm enough) building, and I also tried to catch a few winks after tending to the dogs. Unfortunately, I had contracted a most debilitating cold during the course of the day, and it hit full force overnight. This is a common occurence among mushers and handlers at races due to the stress of travel and the close proximity to people from all over. Luckily, Kit and Mike remained healthy. There were very few people left in the checkpoint by this time, but Steve Madsen's samoyed team was also planning a long rest, so we were not alone.