On to McGrath!

It was a blast watching the Sled Dog "Parade" today between Rohn and Nikolai!  Mushers at the check point spoke of a very bumpy ride with low snow, no snow or glaciated ice.....Paul Gebhardt summed it up as "tough.....very hard". 

Lance Mackey couldn't be happier!!  He isn't complaining about any aches or pains...and you know he has some!  I think Lance is just happy to be in the thick of it with 16 strong dogs.  Its been a long time since he had a good run! 

Aliy's Team trotted in with our boy Chemo in swing!  I couldn't be more proud!  She left Nikolai with 15 dogs just a short time ago!  Go SPK! 

The Seaveys are running another strong race and are right on their schedule.  Dallas is still fighting his sickness but it doesn't appear to have slowed him down at all!  Mitch said he is happy where he is.....he claims he is just running his set schedule and if it puts him in the front so be it.  Typically the Seaveys like the come from behind strategy....but I think everyone this year is being conservative with such a fast trail.  It was reported Dallas had 4 dogs in the trailer to give them a "rest"....that's like 200 pounds EXTRA weight!

I guess I can say this because its my blog....I don't really like the idea of carrying dogs, other than a hurt dog or a tired dog IN the sled...not behind in a trailer.  Mushers like Dallas have figured out it takes less energy to drag a trailer behind the sled as opposed to carrying a dog in the sled, and he is exploiting that tactic a bit too far.  4 dogs....4!  Nope....I wasn't a big fan of the trailers a few years back and now I'm really not liking them.  I totally "approve" of the sit down sled "tail dragger" style to carry gear like cookers....and I see even Dee Dee has one of those now!  But the 4 or 6 foot long trailers for carrying totally healthy dogs....nope....not a big fan.  How much "rest" can a dog get back there bouncing around...I wish they would ban them altogether, or at the very least put a limit of how many dogs you are allowed to trailer. 

OK...I'll get off my soap box.....here is the front runners on the trail right now:

Dallas at mile 284, Burmiester resting at mile 283, Mitch running along at mile 281, Wade Marrs at mmile 281, Kaiser at mile 277, Aliy at mile 275, Sorlie at mile 269, Petit at mile 269, Sass at mile 268, Mackey at mile 264 having just left Nikolai.  Sass and Burmeister stopped to rest since they did not rest in Nikolai....but all the other mushers rested 4 hours, with the exception of Petit and Mackey who rested around 6 hours.  Neff has declared his 24 hour mandatory rest...which is a little odd this early....most will start taking their rest in the next 3 checkpoints....but Neff is doing what he feels he should.  Time will tell if that will pan out for him!