Leapfrog to Frog Island
Friday, March 7, 3 p.m.
By Bill Gallea
THE RACE FOR FIRST PLACE
THE TWENTY- FOUR HOUR REST
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Jeff King pulls in to the Eagle Island checkpoint about 1 PM Friday |
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Front runners, Robert Sorlie and Jeff King, chat at the Eagle Island checkpoint Friday afternoon |
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Jeff King’s dogs pick up the last crumbs of their appetizer at the Eagle Island checkpoint |
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The team of Robert Sorlie soaks up the afternoon sunshine on their 24 hour break at Eagle Island |
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My work station at Eagle Island checkpoint |
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| A beautiful Yukon River sunset Thursday evening in Ruby |
We left Ruby late this morning and flew directly to Eagle Island checkpoint, just past Frog Island, on the Yukon River. We arrived to find Robert Sorlie’s team resting in the afternoon sun. They didn’t even lift their heads as Jeff King and his fifteen happy huskies came in looking strong. The hardy souls who were here last night when Robert arrived said his team looked strong coming in, and also ate well.
Jeff’s dogs inhaled the kibble soaked in warm water, which Jeff put on the clean snow immediately after stopping. Jeff told me he often leaves a checkpoint with warm water in a cooler, then adds it to his dog food a short time before arriving at a rest stop, so he can immediately feed his hungry dogs. After eating, his team bedded down on the straw that he gave them, ready to nap and digest their meal.
Shortly after Jeff King’s arrival, Robert Sorlie sauntered up to the bedding area. As he approached Jeff, he was heard to say to someone: “I couldn’t sleep”. Indeed, he looked awfully wide-awake. As Jeff greeted him, Robert expressed his pleasure at having company. Jeff’s answer was: “Well, I plan to be a lot more sociable with you in the next phase of the Race.”
Robert arrived about 3:30 AM, nine and a half hours ahead of Jeff. But Robert took well over nine hours to travel the 65 miles down river from Kaltag to this windy spot on the west bank of the river. Jeff took 65 minutes less, meaning he’s traveling a minute per mile faster…that is, if Robert did not take any rest on the trail. If these trail times really do reflect team speed, then Jeff has become faster.
Before we left Ruby this morning, I had a chance to analyze trail speeds between Nulato and Kaltag. Assuming that all teams went the fifty miles without planned rest (which is likely), then for that stretch Sorlie and Swenson were about equal in speed. King was a tad slower. Buser was a step off Jeff’s pace, and then came Jon Little, followed by John Baker. It would appear that Baker’s trail speeds are significantly slower than what he would need to keep at the front of the pack.
The real eye-opener for the last twenty-four hours has been the move toward the front of Rick Swenson. With his team’s speed, and their nearness to the lead, it would appear that he has a real chance to become the first six-time winner of the Iditarod.
I had a chance to speak with Jeff as he went between his team, and the rows of drop bags, to pick up his supplies. Jeff admitted he was impressed with what Robert has done so far in this Race. He regards it as unexpected and unorthodox for him to have jumped out in the lead quickly, taking so little rest at first.
Most teams start somewhat conservatively, taking care to keep their run/rest ratio close to 1/1, as we discussed in an earlier update. Robert has openly flaunted that formerly ironclad rule, and so far he seems to be pulling it off. I recall noting that his team seemed to leave the Tanana checkpoint a bit reluctantly, especially compared with Jeff’s team. I took it as a sign that perhaps he was pushing too hard, too early. I may have to eat my words, or at least revise my prediction.
One thing for sure…this race is not in the bag for any one team. It is still a very wide-open, exciting event, and I’m sure glad to be able to be so close to the action. We remain committed to meeting our goal of keeping you informed, not only of what is going on in the front of the pack, but also with teams throughout the field.
THE TWENTY FOUR-FOUR HOUR REST
One of the strategic decisions that teams are making now is where they will actually take their twenty-four hour break. Most teams plan for two or three different options for “their 24.” Robert declared his intention to take his here, and his presence for over 12 hours would seem to confirm that this is his plan. Jeff also declared his intention to “24 here” to the checkers as he signed in at 1:04 this afternoon. But most observers, including Jeff’s wife, Donna, who is traveling in our plane, suspect his real intention is to move further down river, perhaps to Anvik.
Doug Swingley, four-time champion from Montana, sat next to me on our flight from Helena, Montana, to Alaska. One of the things he shared with me was his personal race plan, if he were to run. He definitely felt that Eagle Island was the ideal place in the race to have a twenty-four hours break. As you may know, Doug is highly confident musher, and his confidence seems to be completely justified by his success. He told me that he thought that any team that took their 24, either earlier or later, was committing a strategic error, and would lose time and place as a result. So far Robert Sorlie seems to be following the Swingley strategy most closely, including his plan to twenty-four at Eagle Island.
The reason that this decision is so important is that a twenty-four hour break can really rejuvenate a team if tired, or suffering from illness (like a flu bug), or trying to heal injuries. If a team is healthy, as Jeff’s and Robert’s seem to be, the twenty-four can provide a platform from which to make a major jump ahead of the competition. A musher can take his or her team, with lots of rest “in the bank,” so to speak, and perhaps make a couple of longer runs, with only a short rest between.
This can potentially put so much distance between a lead team and those following, that there would be little or no hope of anyone catching them. Doug told me that a team which “took their 24” at Eagle Island could then swing around the loop to Grayling, Anvik, Shageluk, Grayling again, and back to Eagle Island here, in only two runs, with a moderate break in between. At least that is what his plan would be.
For other teams in the Race, not necessarily jockeying for the lead, the decision as to “where to 24” is more often made on the basis of what the dogs need to recover from the stresses of the early section of trail. This might be injury, or illness picked up from bedding near other dogs, and sharing the same trail. Or it might simply be fatigue. Not all the dogs in the Race are the super-athletes we’re seeing here in Eagle Island in the top two teams. All sled dogs are remarkable athletes for sure, but the majority of the dogs in the Race are not headed for the “Hall of Fame”, as it were.
Jim Gallea, for example, is taking his twenty-four in Ruby. I can share with you in detail what went into his decision. That is one of the advantages of being so closely associated with a few teams who are willing to share ‘inside information’ with the rest of the world.
Jim had planned to take his long break further down the trail, perhaps Galena, or even Kaltag. But his team seemed to be a bit trail weary, having come this far at essentially the same pace as Tyrell’s two year olds. Even though the dogs from both teams have been raised and trained in the same kennel, and are of the same age and experience level, Jim shared with me that Tyrell has more of the better athletes in his team. There are many good reasons for this, but the point is that Jim’s team has become a bit tired and sore trying to run at the pace of Ty’s dogs. So Jim has decided to take his 24 in Ruby, rest and feed his dogs all they will eat, and also work diligently on all their aches and pains. Once restored to their spunky selves, Jim will continue on, but with more rest than originally planned, and probably longer rests than Tyrell will take.
If Jim had gone on from Ruby on only a short rest, he probably would have left behind two, or even three of his teammates, who were stiff and sore. But he’s hoping that by using his rest in Ruby, he can rehabilitate these key players, and perhaps take them all the way to Nome. And if needed, he can take further long rests down the trail. After all, his goal this year is not to win, but rather to teach these young stars “the ropes”, so they can perhaps help Mitch win the Iditarod in a year or two. If he drops any dogs now, just so he can go on with less rest, then they miss the opportunity to learn the Iditarod Trail.
