I'm a Musher!

I love being on a sled. In my opinion it is the best part of what I do here. I won't go into the peace and tranquility that a smooth ride can bring. I won't go into the calming feeling of being part of a team working as one down the trail. I won't even go into how much better I feel at night after a good day of working with the dogs. I won't go into any of that because in this post I'll explain how I finally became a real Musher.

Same trail. Different night. Nothing to worry about. I've been here not many times but enough to be more comfortable on the sled. Maybe too comfortable. You have to be on your toes at all times or the dogs will take that moment to surprise you.

It was on the way back from the turn around that I would learn yet another valuable lesson in the world that is Mushing. 

One of my leaders, Tristan, was getting tired and his tug was starting to slack a bit. To give him a break, I decided to stop and swap out him and Thunder. If you remember (because I sure didn't) the base hadn't really developed under the snow yet making it harder to set the snow hook.

I set it, however, like normal. Making sure they pulled it into the snow and before I let go of the brake I let them give an extra tug to make sure it was set well.

It seemed fine and they weren't really pulling hard at this point and were ready for a little rest. I got Thunder and brought him up front and swapped him and Tristan. I put Tristan back where Thunder was and walked back to the sled.

I remember one of the first things Jaye told me when I was to get on a sled for my first time. "ALWAYS BE READY TO GRAB THAT SLED IF IT TAKES OFF!" This is where I was too comfortable that night because I was not ready.

I thought I had time. If they didn't pull the hook out by now then it must be set really well. As I put one foot on the runner I found out that I was really wrong. The sled took off and I fell on my ass. I got up as quickly as I could yelling "WHOA, WHOA!!" but of course there was no stopping them from where I was standing.

As I ran yelling and watching the sled disappear into the darkness my stomach dropped. I couldn't believe I had just lost Jaye's dogs. So many things began to run through my mind. Will they stay on trail? Will they find and animal and run into the woods? Will they get tangled in a downed tree? If they get tangled will that cause a fight and I won't be there to break it up?

All I could do was follow on foot and hope that one of the other mushers would get them. As I walked back I kept my eye on their tracks looking for any sign that they went off trail. Luckily, Dave was sitting on his snowmobile about a mile ahead of me. He didn't see my light so went to offer his thinking mine had died when he noticed that the sled was empty as it went by.

I saw him hauling ass towards me to bring me to my team. I had thought one of the girls had my team and Dave would just bring me there on the snowmobile. Well, that wasn't the case. The dogs were still running with an empty sled.

When Dave got to me he said "Get on and Hang on tight!" I swear I peed a little on that ride. I know we had to catch my team but that was a scary ride. I'm glad he knew what he was doing and soon we came up to my team trotting along like nothing in the world was wrong.

I then realized that I wasn't just going to pull up, hop off, and grab my team. This was a moving operation. I felt like a cowboy saving a runaway stagecoach as I stood on the snowmobile and hopped onto my sled as we were racing down the trail.

I stepped on the brake and brought the team to a halt so we could all catch our breath. Well, so I could catch my breath. The dogs were just fine and wondering why we stopped.

So, they say that you are not a real musher until you have lost your team. That night I became a real musher and learned to put a little pep in my step when dogs are on the snow hook.

Upper body strength.

It's important. Just how important I found out on this run.

This was my second time on this trail on a sled. I wasn't too worried about it. There was nothing too technical and I expected an easy run. We lined out and the ladies took off first. I figured they would catch and pass me soon anyway so I waited to give them some running room and then pulled the snub line release. 

They were on fire again. These dogs love to run but you've heard me say that before. I reached down to grab my mittens. The first part of the run is not the time to let go of the handlebars or take your focus off balancing and controlling the sled. I learned this quickly.

When I bent over to reach the mittens the sled began to tip. I was unable to recover being bent over the handlebar and down I went. I held on though and was dragged by the team at 20+ mph on hard, crunchy snow. 

Days prior to this a friend of mine from Canada, Mario, was explaining how to recover from just such an incident. I had been dragged probably 500 feet by the time I gathered myself. The conversation with Mario came to me now and I began pulling myself up onto the sled which was now on it's side.  I managed to get my waist over the edge and put both feet on the runner that was on the ground. Crouching and trying to balance, I yanked the sled upright and quickly put my right foot on the runner as it landed. It worked! I thanked Mario a few times after that.

I had tipped over before even though I've only been on a sled a few times. This was the first time it happened while I was going that fast and the dogs did not stop. So, among all the lessons I'm learning good upper body strength is one more thing needed to be a musher.

First sled run of the season

We finally got enough of snow on top of a base to carefully venture out on sleds. Planting the snow hook wasn't perfect but we went for it.

David and Jaye went ahead on the snowmobile to break trail and make a loop at the end for the dogs to follow so that we could hopefully avoid a come haw (U-turn with 18 dogs). It was also nice to be able to hook to the machine if the dogs needed untangling instead of trying to pound the hook into the frozen ground.

We made an early start with 5 teams running that day. I set up the sleds and dropped dogs. Jaye was still out on the trail by the time I got to the staging area. The sleds were lined up with gang lines (8 dog team for me and 11 for Jaye) and harnesses were on the dogs. It was cold but sunny and the dogs were itching to go.

With some minor issues and tangles from over excited dogs, we hit the trail one by one.

When I pulled the pin to release the team we shot out of the parking lot and down the trial like a bullet train. I had not been on a sled by myself except for a few times and that was a year ago, with less and slower dogs. Needless to say I had a death grip on the sled.

I still only had my liner gloves on from handling the dogs and didn't dare reach for my mittens even though they were right in front of my laying on the sled bag. They say one hand for you, one hand for the sled. I gave both to the sled as my heart was trying to jump out of my throat.

Luckily not long after the start we began a long gradual uphill climb. This slowed the team down enough to where I was comfortable reaching for the mitts. My hands were starting to sting at this point but I hadn't noticed because I was excited to be on a sled at all. This is what I had been waiting for.

One I wiggled my hands into the mitts and pulled them up so that no cold air could get in, I settled in for the ride. With a few dips but mostly up hill, I felt at least a little control standing on the sled. The other side of the mountain, however, was a little different.

This was a long downhill with some steep and fast areas thrown in for when you get bored. I started to feel like a ballet dancer by the time we hit the bottom. The sled has a drag mat with spikes on the underside. To slow the team down you turn in your heels and put weight on it so you look like you are doing a plie. With the new snow and hard ice under it, most of the downhill I was doing a plie.

Becky was ahead of me and was returning from the bottom as I was getting close to the turn around point. The trail was narrow and we were coming at each other head on. She had an 10 dog team to my 8. I slowed down waiting for my dogs to pick a side and pass her. Both of my leaders had a different idea.

Tristan went left, Thunder went right and Becky's team ran right into the middle. We stopped our teams quickly but not before my leaders decided to wrap up with her team. I planted my hook as best as I could and ran to get my dogs out of her line.

I grabbed Lightening because somehow she got in there but had nowhere to hook her so I was trying to pull Thunder out one handed with little luck. David had been patrolling the trail back and forth making sure everyone was doing ok. Luckily, he was there when this happened.

He and Mari jumped in to help straighten out the mess that was getting worse by the second. After the 3 of us got my team out of Becky's way she went on to give us room to fix my team. I had to unhook necklines to give them slack and figure out who went where and try to line them out again.

Jaye went by as this was all happening and stopped just behind me to make sure we were ok. Thunder took this as a chance to join her team. He would not line out and just wanted to turn around. Mario and David grabbed my leaders and ran with them for a few feet and we were off.

We reached the bottom and hawed into the loop created by the snow machine with no problem. So much better than a U-turn.

You would think that by now they would be tired enough to take it easy but they attacked the return ride uphill with the same determination as when they first start the run. By now, though, I was getting the hang of it.

The turns, dips, rises, leans, and bumps of the trail all require the musher to do something. You are never quite standing still on a sled. Immediately after the loop when we began the uphill climb I took the opportunity to squat down on my heels for a minute.

It was then that I noticed just how much work I had been doing. My ankles, and calves ached from the almost constant tippy toe plie braking on the hills. My knees and hips hurt from constantly shifting my weight in relation to the slope of the trail and corners so I don't tip the sled at 20 mph. My shoulders, forearms and wrist hurt from the death grip and my lower back was chiming in as well. Mushing is very physical.

The ride back was uneventful which I didn't mind at all. I had my tangle for the day. It was good to be on a sled and once you get a rhythm it can be very peaceful on the trail. I think that's the part I like best. 

A quiet, peaceful ride to just think and work things out with a bit of adrenaline thrown in now and then on corners and downhills. Next time I'll talk about tipping the sled at 20+mph. Yeah, I did that.