Cold Winter

With cold temps and mostly frozen rivers, I spent most of my outside time fat biking around Lowell. I did one overnight trip near the Pere Marquette.

Last snow run of 2013-2014 winter?

Dawn breaker

Frosty Dogs

2014 Fur Rondy video round-up

Rondy 2014 Trailer
Some Day 1 start and out on the trail foootage. Kevin Cook and Ken Chezik's teams look awesome @ 4:35
Neat video with some start and finish line shots - Day 3, I think.
and one more -

Fort Custer

Haven't been to the Fort much lately. Took the long way to Jackson to pick up the kids from my mom's and made a quick stop. The trail was still basically in nice shape from the race two weekends ago. There was enough snow that I could actually use my snow hook! - so that was worth it in and of itself.

Early Morning Sled Training

Egil Ellis sled cam - Day 2 of the ExxonMobil Open at Tozier Track

View of the trail from the dog sled of Egil Ellis, a 5-time winner of the Anchorage Fur Rendezvous Open World Championship and a 7-time winner of ExxonMobil Open, who drove his sprint dog team to a second place finish on Day 2 of the ExxonMobil Open at Tozier Track in Anchorage on Sunday, Feb. 9, 2014.

Sled Ride with Emmy

Took the dogs out with Emmy in the basket, let her drive for about the last few hundred yards. She fell off a few times, so she's not quite ready and will have to stick to riding in the basket for another year.

Fun Sled Dog Ride with Emelia

Took Emelia for her first longer distance sled dog ride in the sled basket today. She had lots of fun and helped take care of the dogs before and after the run.

2012 MUSH Clear Lake State Park Sled Dog Race: Videos and Results

13th Overall 5-dog team. Borrowed three dogs. Kenai and Cello in lead on day 1. Cello in single lead day 2 w/ Kenai in point, seemed to solve the issues Kenai was having.

Half-Fat Bike Experiment: Dog Trial Run #1

 

Went out for my first dog powered run on my newly modified half-fat bike. Pretty mixed results. My existing back tire, isn't made for any type of sandy or snowy surface, so this resulted in a nearly unrideable first run. I don't think I traveled in a straight line for more than a few hundered yards over the 6 miles. And I was litrealy standing still, spinning the back tire when trying go up hill. So I need a more aggressive tire for the back. I knew that, but wasn't sure if I should go with a studded tire or not. Still not sure, but am leaning towards studded .

Next step, upgrade the back tire. This will hopefully give me enough traction to stay safely upright. I took one big spill, but was able to adhere to the first rule of mushing - never let go of the sled, or in this case bike.

Bikejor: Fort Custer

Training on a Fat Bike

Don't run dogs on paved trails

Quote

You will not rise to the occasion, you will fall to your lowest level of training.

On the wall of the Alaska State Troopers Training Center

Douglas Valley Vineyards Dryland Sled Dog Race

3-dog Bikejor at the VASA Trail

Hundekjøring 2011.mov

Nordic Combined Event: Ottawa Fun Race

Second Nordic Combined Event held in North America - 2011

Tahquamenon Country Sled Dog Race

Here's my "race" team getting ready for the big event -

7-dog & 3-dog Loops at Fort Custer

Looking for another opportunity to run more than ten miles we headed to Fort Custer Saturday afternoon.  My goal was to run the 7-dog trail (~6.5 miles) twice and then try for either the 3-dog or 5-dog loop.  Never having once seen a snowmobile at Fort Custer I figured we'd have the place pretty much to ourselves  Wrong...I could hear the whine of snowmobiles flying through the woods the minute I stepped out of my car at the campground trailhead.

We still had some light so I hit the trail.   I was testing out a new bridle I'd put on my sled a well as the short pulka ManMat harnesses I'd just gotten from Howling Dog.  We ended up just doing the 7-dog loop once and then the 3-dog loop once (total GPS mileage of 10.6 miles).  We could hear snowmobiles the whole time, but we only crossed paths with one group of riders, taking a break at the intersection of where the 5 and 7 dog loops dump into the 3-dog loop.  We weaved through them and their sleds easily and continued on our way.

We had a great run. The new bridle system worked awesome and I absolutely love the pulka harnesses.  The heavy snow on the trees along the 7-dog trail made for a beautiful run.