Back Out On the Autobahn
9:30 a.m.
March 7, 2006

by Tyrell Seavey

Ultimate Iditarod's coverage of the 2006 Iditarod sponsored by:

            He is at it again.  One would think he was trying to win or something.  A slightly better rested Doug Swingley pulled the hook and left Nikolai at 7:09 p.m. followed closely Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle some 30 minutes later.  I would expect my dad and Ed Iten to hold for a good six hours unless they start getting antsy which is pretty unlikely for those two veterans.  Before this year’s race, Dad and Ed discussed intentionally traveling together to capitalize on each other’s strengths and perhaps eliminate a few weaknesses.  History has proven them a good pair.  The last two Kusko 300’s saw them usually within sight of each other, not to mention last year’s Iditarod.  They quickly decided it could potentially slow them down so they opted against the idea, but here they are once again nose to tail.  I doubt either is complaining about the company as they both have a tremendous amount of respect for the other as a calculated patient racer.  We will see if they can capitalize on this unintentional relationship. 

            There seem to be a few mushers off their schedules early in the race.  Certainly it is much too early to count anyone out, but where are Brooks and Buser?  I am sure they are camped at the Fish Camp about 11 miles before Nikolai and they will slingshot through the checkpoint sooner or later but in the meantime it is odd not having their names near the top (I picked Ramy to get second in my Top Ten Picks so he better get moving).  I would venture to guess that Bjornar wishes he were a little closer to the leaders right now.  He may have lost some significant time missing the trail but even factoring that in he is behind the usual Norwegian pace.  The question now is… is he having a rough race, or does this reflect a change in the Team Norway’s strategy?  I tend to lean towards the latter option but we’ll have to wait and see how things pan out. 

            I was happy to see Casillo move up into 29th place entering Nikolai.  It would appear that his race is coming together rather nicely.  I caught a two hour nap this afternoon so even though I have nine hours of class tomorrow I’ll probably be going at it all night tonight.  Feel free to shoot me an email at Seavey@UltimateIditarod.com with questions, comments, complaints, epiphanies, or suggestions for world peace.