Off we went, the team running great and really flying down the trail. Unfortunately, so were all the booties as one by one, they all came off of the dogs' feet within the first 2 miles. Oh well....I hadn't had booties on the dogs all season, so why start now, right? Things were going great til we hit the first hills of the race. Boy, some of those slopes were doozies!! Looking back, I know my dogs weren't ready for climbs like that, as we soon got passed up by the 100 mile racers and all but the Malamute team who started last. That was ok though, because after the first set of hills, we were only a half hour behind the leaders, so it wasn't completely hopeless. We had some trouble along the mine road, as there was a part of snow berm missing so my team decided to try and run on the road with huge haul trucks barreling down on us. From all the brake marks, I could tell we were definitely not the first team to do this! A passerby saw my dilemma, hopped out of his car and grabbed at the leaddogs, and Achilles presently nipped the guy for his trouble. Luckily, no damage was done, and the nice gent went on his way after getting us back on the trail. Well, I ended up taking Achilles out of lead and putting my little speedster, Curry up front with Dutchess. For some reason, Dutchess just didn't want to Haw that day...so Curry cured that problem real quick and we were booking! We hit the first descent before I knew it, and had no troubles. It was straight down, and the soft snow really helped me keep the team slow, so it was uneventful. Soon we were climbing again, so I gave the team a quick snack break. It was so hot!! I was drenched and the dogs were rolling in the snow to cool off. Once we crested the second set of hills, I stopped the team and unhooked some tugs for the twisty second descent. Once again, we made it down nicely with no trouble and I felt I had worried for nothing.
We started up Iowa Dome real soon after that. The sun was baking right down on us, and I thought the climbing was never gonna end. The dogs and I kept punching through into soft powder, making it even harder to get up those inclines. Everytime it looked like we were cresting the top, there'd be another section of climbing. Up, up, up we went, until FINALLY, we made it to the third descent. Once again, I unhooked half the team and we started down with very little trouble until about halfway through. There wasn't a lot of snow there, so the brake kept snagging on roots and such. I was afraid of ripping it off and just used my drag. Well, we picked up speed and right as I was thinking how easy this was...BAM!!! We slammed into a tree on the left side of my sled. We hit so hard that it completely ripped out the eye bolt holding the bridle, smashed the metal bar down against the bed, split the runner down the center and broke the bed plastic down the middle as well. Unfortunately, I flipped over the handlebar and really cracked my knee...but the dogs were all ok, so I got up to begin repairs. I looked over at L4, who was in wheel on the right, because he hadn't been pulling(he hates going slow), which helped me go into the tree on the left. He lowered his head, flattened his ears and gave me the sorriest look I've ever seen. I had to laugh at that...how could I be mad at such a goof? I got the bridle rigged to the top of the sled and we set off again, but the descent was really hairy, especially seeing that my sled was hard to steer. Still, we made it through the road crossing 2.5 hours behind the leaders and took a 3 hour rest break. The dogs didn't act too tired, and really weren't resting, so I cut the break and we took off for Valley Center.
The team acted like they had swallowed rocket fuel! We flew down the winter trail and hooked onto the access trail to Potlatch Creek. The sled wasn't steering well, and it was so narrow in there, that I almost hit a few trees with my arms! Then the dogs got going too fast around all those corners. I saw the tree coming and tried to flip the sled, but it was too late. We cracked the tree just about in the middle of my brushbow. I saw a piece of bed plastic fly through the air as I flipped over the handlebar for the second time, cracking my already throbbing knee in the process. Surveying the damage, I saw the other eyebolt was pulled out and a chunk of plastic was missing from the front of my sled. Rigging the bridle to the metal bar on the top of the sled, which hooks just behind the bent, but amazingly intact brush bow, we headed off down the trail again. Needless to say, I was almost ready to drop and kiss the ice when we got out of the trees and dropped onto the river. The dogs settled into a fast clip and we were in North Pole before I knew it. Stopping long enough to grab a couple cups of water, as well as changing out my headlamp batteries, the dogs and I hit the trail, determined to get to Valley Center.
The team went flying along the Quest trail, and after about a 20 minute period of playing musical leaders and a snack, Achilles set the pace and we were through the slough and onto Baseline in the blink of an eye. I stopped to load Sox...she injured her wrist dipping into the soft snow. Achilles and Dutchess led us into Valley Center and the team looked fantastic!! Too bad the sled didn't. After a good feeding and rest for the dogs, I took a 2 hour nap and looked at the sled in the light. While it wasn't falling apart, one more tree hit would've done it in. Steering was virtually non-existent, and with the daunting, twisty, narrow descent of Flat Top Mountain still looming before us, I decided to scratch. It was one of the hardest things I have done. But it wasn't a loss...the dogs outperformed my best expectations on hills they weren't prepared for, and really pulled off a nice run into Valley Center when they should've been too tired to run that well. So, all in all, we did the hardest part of the race, and were ready to go on, but our equipment wasn't. The dogs got up and became all excited when they thought we were heading out, only to all quiet down as soon as they realized they were going to the dogtruck. I hugged each one, and told them sorry for being such a bad driver. We got home and the dogs got nice snacks, hugs and massages, which made them happy dogs as they curled up in their houses for a rest.
I am so proud of my dogs and even myself. True, I could've chanced going on, but I couldn't see taking the chance of hurting my dogs or myself. The best thing of the whole experience is that now I'm not so terrified of downhills, and am totally looking forward to running the Quest 250 next year. The team is incredible and this race showed me that we've put together an awesome combination of dogs who have the heart and will to be champions. Thanks to my wonderful husband for supporting me and helping me through it all, my friends and family for being there (and Raider for cheering me on along the trail), you don't know what that means to me! Look out next year!
Tammi