Reflection

Well, this is a challenging blog post to write. But first, I want to say thank you, thank you to Derek, my mother Katy, Liz, Tyler, and all the Ryno Kennel fans and sponsors for giving us this chance and supporting us through thick and thin. Thank you to the Yukon Quest race officials and to my fellow competitors for your positive attitudes and support. Thank you to everyone who has reached out with a kind word or note. I feel so fortunate to be a part of the mushing community and can’t wait to get back out on the trail.

I never thought I’d be here, sitting at home, after only 250 miles. We hadn’t even traveled the length of Copper Basin. We hadn’t even reached the true remoteness of 150-200 miles of unsupported travel. We really shouldn’t be here. Every detail of the race is on a continuous loop in my head. Every decision from the weeks leading up to the race to the second I made the call to scratch- I’m dissecting each one. Where exactly did it go wrong? What were the contributing factors? What could I have done to change the outcome? Was there a specific moment when we should have done something different? I’d love to have a simple and concise reason for scratching. I’d love to have a single reason that when said, had authority and almost a comforting quality to it. That when I said it, I didn’t feel the need to elaborate or explain myself. It’s simple. Black and white.

Don’t get me wrong- “for the well-being of my team” is definitely a reason, and I stand by that reason 100%. The decision was not made lightly, and I would make the same decision again should I be in that situation. But tell that to Perm, Goblin, Wingman, or Uno (who were all screaming to go), and they’d disagree. I guess this is when mushing truly becomes a team sport. It’s not just me, the musher. It’s not just one or two dogs. It’s 14 dogs and one musher. Not to mention the immense support from friends, family, and sponsors. They, too, are part of the team, and I know all the human teammates weren’t ready to call it quits. But when it comes down to it, the canine athletes are the most important. And for that reason, we scratched.

We started having small issues immediately from the start line. A stiffness here, or a stiffness there. At each camp, I’d spend a significant amount of time massaging muscles and wrapping wrists. I opted to run more conservatively, keeping the runs less than six hours in length and trying to rest approximately equal to our runs. Sorenesses from earlier in the season started cropping up, and at one point, I realized every single one of my shoulder jackets was currently being used. However, it was still early in the race, so I was hopeful that the team could work out of it. They were monster eaters, devouring all their meals (even Boone, who I had yet to take on a 1000-mile race due to her picky appetite). They looked fantastic leaving every checkpoint and looked even better arriving into each one. They were maintaining their weight, and most importantly, had fantastic attitudes. Unfortunately, the sorenesses weren’t working themselves out. They were compounding on themselves. The original stiffnesses were changing the dogs’ gaits, putting additional stress on other joints and muscles, which in turn would cause something else to be sore. As I walked each dog around in Circle before embarking on the first truly remote leg of the race (150 miles to Eagle), I came to the realization that I would have to drop at least four dogs. I had already dropped Lefty in Central, which as many of you know was a big blow to the team, so dropping four more dogs puts us down to nine. Nine is a totally acceptable number. My rookie Quest in 2015, I finished with nine dogs. You can do a lot with nine. In fact, you can do a lot with even seven or eight. But only if those seven or eight are ready. I had to give it a shot.

After an eight hour rest, our nine-dog team left Circle. We traveled for about 45 minutes, and I realized, this was the end of the road. We were not going to Whitehorse. It was heartbreaking. While half of the team was ready for the journey, the other half was not. I wish I knew why we were plagued by so many injuries. This is something I’ll be stewing on for a long time. But the fact of the matter was, our race was done.  

I’ve received so many kind words from friends, family, and sponsors, and for that, I’m grateful. Everyone who I’ve encountered has been incredibly supportive. So thank you to everyone for being understanding and for following us during our race. But I can’t sugar-coat it. We did not reach our goal of finishing the Yukon Quest with a happy, healthy dog team. But a friend once said, “fail fast.” Be better. Don't dwell on the failure, embrace the lesson. So that’s what we’ll do. We’ll figure out what exactly went wrong, how we can change for the future, and be ready to go for Yukon Quest 2019.

 

Pictures from the trail

Hi Ryno Kennel Fans,

I know you all are wondering what is going on and why the team scratched, but please be patient. Ryne will blog shortly to explain in detail what led to her scratching the team. Please know that all the athletes are safe at home now after a busy night last night getting them off the trail. They have all been fed, stretched, massaged and tucked in for a long nap in the warmer temperatures of Two Rivers.

In the meantime, I hope you will enjoy the pictures we had been collecting as the race progressed. Out on this first part of the trail,  WiFi was very limited, and we had no cell coverage, so we had been stockpiling our pictures to share. Hope you get a little flavor for life on the Yukon Trail.

Ryno Kennel arriving at Milepost 101 checkpoint 7:48 Sunday morning. There is a video here:

https://www.facebook.com/YukonQuest/videos/10156124415699490/

Central Checkpoint

Checking out of Central

                                                                    Arriving in Circle CIty

 During the "heat" of the day in CIrcle  Yes, that is 24 below zero! We heard the temperature was closer to 50 below on Birch Creek, between Central and Circle.

                                                   The Vet team checked all the dogs with Ryne at Circle.

Checking out of Circle

Start day for the 2018 Yukon quest

Liz talking to Ryne's Quest rider, Jim, while Derek, Ryne, and Tyler prepare the sled.

Allan, a Quest volunteer, mounting the trackers on the sled.

The tracker in the black bag is just to track, while the tracker in the pink bag has the "SOS" button, also.

Each dog has a microchip inserted at the Vet check allowing the Vets to scan a dog at checkpoints to verify their identity. Wingman's chip had fallen out since the Vet checks, so he is having a new one inserted.

VIP Ryno Kennel fans at the start led by 80 year old Ardene! Thank you for braving those sub zero temps Ardene!

Heading to the start line.

Liz and Jim

1st shot from the trail -- just behind the Ryno Kennel home. Oh so close, but sooo far to go!

The 2018 Yukon Quest Team!

And the final 14 are.....

This crew is a mixture of experience and youthful energy! Yukon Quest finishers include Coot, Drake, Supai, Goblin, Katy, Cartel, Lefty, and Perm. Belle has started, but not yet finished the Quest. For Boone, Wombat, Wingman, Uno, and Ewok, this will be their first 1000-miler, and for Ewok, this will be her first race over 100 miles! We can't wait to hit the trail. My mother will be posting updates on the blog and Ryno Facebook Page. The Yukon Quest will be updating on their Facebook page, and of course, follow that addicting little tracker on the Yukon Quest webiste: http://www.yukonquest.com/

Final day of preparation

After preparing for 4 previous 1000 mile races and many more mid-distance races, one might think Ryno Kennel has these final days down to a science. Or at least an organized chaos. And though Ryne has run the Yukon Quest twice before (opposite direction), the weather, composition of dogs chosen for the team, and last minute race strategy always lend to last minute purchases and packing. As Derek spotted another musher in town yesterday purchasing snowshoes and a warm sleeping bag, Katy ran into town today to buy various supplies including replacement runner plastic, more gang lines, and surprise treats! (Did you all remember Ryne celebrates her birthday while out on the trail!) 

After a full week -- Musher's meetings, handler meeting, "Meet the Musher" open house, meet the "Quest Rider" luncheon, "Start & Draw Banquet", many trips to town, -- RYNO KENNEL is ready to rumble!! As you know, Ryne drew #8 for the team's start position, so that puts the Ryno Kennel on the trail at 11:21 AKST.  Go Ryno Kennel GO!!!

Please enjoy the following pictures from the week of preparation.

Official Yukon Quest poster

"Meet the Musher" open house

Quest Rider luncheon with Jim

Start & Draw Banquet

Catching up with Louise Russell of DogBooties.com

The Incredible Vet Crew who will help the mushers care for their amazing athletes. All these folks are volunteers, from Alaska, the lower 48, to Canada, Australia, and Germany. Thank you all!

Spare clothes kept dry and ready to pack.

Liz packing more snack packs!

Never enough spare gang lines

Lefty dreaming of tomorrow

Finally, and definitely a very appreciated, amazingly gifted group, a photo of the Yukon Quest  Official Visual Content Team who allow millions of Yukon Quest followers to live vicariously through them. L-R (back), Julien Schroder, Whitney McLaren, and Tracey Mendenhall Porreca. L-R (front), Seth Adams and Chance McLaren.

Photo courtesy of Whitney McLaren

The 16 Vet Checked

Good work everyone! We have our two winners! Congrats to Mia and Justine! The answers to the 16 athletes are:

Athlete 1: Ewok
Athlete 2: Supai
Athlete 3: Drake
Athlete 4: Perm
Athlete 5: Boone
Athlete 6: Wingman
Athlete 7: Lefty
Athlete 8: Gringa
Athlete 9: Coot
Athlete 10: Katy
Athlete 11: Cartel
Athlete 12: Wombat
Athlete 13: Goblin
Athlete 14: Uno
Athlete 15: Belle
Athlete 16: Niagra

Thanks for playing everyone!
 

Yukon Quest Vet Checks!

Today, we took the 16 potential Yukon Quest athletes to Summit Logistics for the official Quest Vet Checks. This means, we had to make the final cut for 16! The Yukon Quest allows 14 dogs per team, so we are allowed a couple extras before deciding the final team for next Saturday. It was a very hard decision with lots of incredible canine athletes. A few traits that we consider are:

1- Good Appetite/Weight: With all the exercise, these guys are burning lots of calories. On the race, the dogs can burn anywhere from 10,000-12,000 calories a day. If a dog is at all picky, they can quickly loose weight. A good appetite is a must. It's also helpful for the dogs to have great weight going into the race, so that they have a nice base of fat reserves should we run into weather, extreme cold, or any other challenges. Some youngsters are still such high burners (particularly if they are not spayed or neutered), so even if they are good eaters, they don't hold their weight too well yet. 

2- Experience: Having a dog who has finished a 1000-mile race (especially the Yukon Quest) is a huge advantage. The dogs remember the trail and know how to pace themselves over such a long distance. If they haven't run 1000-miles, have they finished a 300 mile race? It's advantageous for the dogs to have already learned the pattern of run/rest/run/rest/run/rest.

3- Healthy: This seems like a no-brainer, but just like human athletes, the canine athletes can develop strains or pulled muscles during training or racing. Oftentimes, the dogs will try to convince you they're 100% as if screaming, "Put me in coach!" and they would be fine for 20 miles or even a couple hundred miles. But, what about 1000 miles? The vet check helps to determine this, but we should have a good grasp of the dogs health ahead of time since we spend every waking moment with them.

4- Attitude: Do they want to run 1000-miles? Are they excited and enthusiastic to run no matter the day, time, temperature? Most of the athletes would LOVE to travel day in and day out, but some would prefer to go a little shorter distance. Take Drummer for example. She's healthy, a great eater, is a Quest finisher, and is in her prime, but she'd really just rather not run 1000-miles. Fair enough! Lefty, on the other hand, he can't scream "Pick me!" loud enough!

5- Age: Ideally, all the dogs in the team would be between three and eight years old. This is the prime age for competitive sled dogs. Of course, there are exceptions, with two-year-olds being particularly mature or older dogs being spry and fast; however, the norm is 3-8. In my case, I'll have several two-year-olds on the team because the kennel currently has several youngsters, and they meet the first three attributes better than older dogs.

So after all that- WHO WERE THE SIXTEEN ATHLETES?!!

Well, recently Liz got me hooked on reading Ready Player One (she reads all the time, and I realized I rarely do in the winter, so this seemed like a great relaxation book). Anyways, it's a great book and has lots of puzzles and riddles. So, we decided to make little riddles for each dog. The riddles either have to do with the dog themselves, or with the meaning of their name. Have fun! We'll post the answers in the next couple days.

Th athletes in no particular order:

Athlete 1- She traveled many parsecs from Endor, and now she might travel many miles on the Yukon Quest!
Athlete 2- If he’s not on the team, this will be the first time ever. EVER.
Athlete 3- He doesn’t fly south for the winter, but he sure is a pretty boy.
Athlete 4- She’ll have the best looking coat out there!
Athlete 5- This dog’s frontier exploits should make her a folk hero legend!
Athlete 6- This ladies’ man would be a perfect buddy to take to the bar.
Athlete 7 Contrary to his name, this athlete prefers to run on the right.
Athlete 8- This dog would stick out like a sore thumb if she traveled south of the border.
Athlete 9- I’m really cute, I’m such a hoot, I’m not a brute, my name is_________!
Athlete 10- My mother’s favorite dog.
Athlete 11- These famous Colombian groups secretly run the world, we’ll just run the Quest.
Athlete 12- She’s rounding out our furry crew coming from down under.  
Athlete 13- Almost a quarter of the kennel are his relatives, but he has not siblings here.
Athlete 14- The loneliest number, in Juarez.
Athlete 15- She’s the prettiest girl at the ball.
Athlete 16- She’s one of the United States natural wonders.

The first two people to guess all the names correctly (either email me at ryneolson@gmail.com or post in the comments below) will get a 2018 Ryno Kennel calendar!

THANK YOU to the Yukon Quest veterinarians for all the time, assistance, knowledge, and passion you bring to this race!

Tyler's Two Rivers 100 Recap

    We did it! The yearlings and I finished our first race in the morning hours on Saturday. Again I'd like to thank all the Ryno kennel sponsors as well as Alaska Icefield Expeditions because without them we most likely wouldn't have been in this race. Also, a huge shout-out to Liz Schell, my handler for the race (Ryne's other handler). I know handling isn't the most fun thing in the word, especially when you have to stand outside in the cold for multiple hours throughout the night, but I couldn't have done the race without you behind the scenes so thank you very much!!!! As for the race itself, it went as smooth as it could've for the team and I.
    At the start of the race, the team immediately had the poise and calmness of an experienced team. As we waited for our start time, the dogs sat calmly by the truck, not even a little bit phased by the new experience of being in a new location with hundreds of other barking dogs in sight. It wasn't until we started hooking up, that they couldn't hold they're excitement anymore. We left Chatanika Lodge around 12:40 pm on Friday and immediately started hill climbing. The first hill took all of us (especially me) by surprise, it was a big hill that we all worked hard to climb. Once we finally got to the top, we had a nice view of some teams climbing the second hill, and we over took them soon after. We passed three teams in the first hour and a half, and all but one went smooth. The weather was beautiful with a little, light snow. Unfortunately, the trail in the hills was soft and punchy (in certain sections) which meant we could not go as fast as we would've liked. There was a nasty down hill section with a bunch of "s" turns that had the inside corners washed out with 3ft drops. The dogs handled it well with the exception of Flash. Flash ended up, hitting all 3 washed out sections, and I definitely thought she'd have a wrist/shoulder injury after that. I stopped as soon as I could and checked Flash out. Not only was she completely fine, she was smiling, screaming, waging her tail and harness banging. After the hills, we dropped down into the valley and shortly after ran into my only negative situation of the race. We then hit a section of trail that had brush hanging over on all sides. When I was maneuvering around a tree stump, I ended up getting a stick lodged between my sled and brake bar that ended up snapping off the right side mount of the brake bar. The stick basically ended up acting as a pry bar, and before I could do anything my brake broke. At the point of the incident, I had about 2 hrs to go to the lodge, so I had to come up with some kind of fix. I ended up lashing the brake back to where it was originally mounted with some Paracord, and my fix held up for most of the leg.
    When I ended up getting to the checkpoint (about 630 pm), I decided that my brake could not be repaired and ended up having to replace my sled, which gave me an hour time penalty. The time penalty did not matter to much to me because the whole goal of the race was to get the youngsters some valuable race experience, and our finish time did not really matter. At the checkpoint, everyone looked great, and I didn't see any injurys. Everyone ate their food and got some rest; how much rest I'm not exactly sure but Liz watched the team while I rested and said she was surprised at how well they did! I ended up not getting any rest myself because I was too excited about how everyone was doing. The game plan for the team was equal run equal rest; it took me 5.5 hours to run to the lodge, so we then rested 5.5 hours there and left the lodge at midnight. It started as a nice peaceful run, but I knew I really had to pay attention because now we were in Two Rivers and getting lost would be fairly easy. After about an hour of running, I ended up having a head on pass with another racer. That was not supposed to happen. At first I thought it might not be a racer and just someone out on the trails but after another 10 minutes, I saw another headlamp and dogs coming down the trail ahead of me. We ended up stopping about 20ft from each other, and we met in the middle to talk. He was a fellow racer who was lost and said there was something funny with the trail markers ahead. After about 5 minutes of talking another racer ended up coming down trail in the wrong direction and we ended talking and got everyone headed down the right trail. After that, it was smooth sailing, the team was fast on the local flat, fast trails, and we cruised into the finish around 530am. Everyone again looked great and I was actually on my brake the last 10 miles because our guys were cruising. Our team did amazing and they had such a fun time!!! I'm so proud of these guys and can't wait to see how they do in the race pool next year!!!

Niagra and Ham (lead)
Niagra  and Ham ran lead the entire race and unfortunately they did have some hiccups. As I said earlier, our second pass didn't go smooth and that's because Niagra and Ham didn't want to pass for whatever reason that is. The fellow musher ended up having to help assist us pass. Also we ran into some unexpected overflow when we dropped into the valley. Again Niagra and Ham didn't feel comfortable crossing and we ended up getting in a little bit of a tangle. I can't be too upset there because I myself would feel a little uncomfortable leading a team across unknown water depths. After this little hiccup, Niagra and Ham were flawless and proved they were the veterans of the team.

Cooke (swing)
Cooke is the all star of the youngsters and ran in swing the entire race. He usually runs lead on our training runs and listens/responds very well to commands. After my overflow incident I mentioned above, I considered putting Cooke up in lead but after I broke my brake, I decided to leave Cooke in swing just for the sake of keeping things the same. Cooke looped most of the race and ate all his snacks as fast as he could. He performed just as I imagined, flawlessly. I know I'm not supposed to have favorites, but Cooke is definitely my favorite!!!

Nile (swing)
Nile ran in swing the entire time with Cooke as well. Nile also occasionally runs lead and has a great drive. He, just like most the other yearlings, performs amazing day in and day out. In the race, he was great, he did nothing to make him stand out (which is a good thing). He ate and did everything with a huge smile on his face!

Amelia (team)
Elmer (team)
Vanessa (team)
Badger (team)

So these four guys and girls all ran in team. These guys did most the hard work and didn't miss a beat. The tugs were tight the entire race and the all ate very well (minus Elmer with our first snack). These guys were our power, and they were dogs that really didn’t need much supervision. They were all dogs that didn't do anything spectacular or new, but dogs that put their heads down, pulled, and didn't get in any trouble. I was extremely happy with all four of these guys.

CJ
CJ was the only dog in team that was not a yearling. I haven't ran CJ much this year, so I can't say too much but she performed great. She was another one of those dogs that I did not notice much, which is a good thing. CJ ran the first 50 miles by herself and then the last 50 miles with Badger.

Louie (wheel)
Louie is another one of the all stars of the team. He has a lot of miles in lead already and responds to commands fairly quickly.  I put Louie in wheel for the race to help with hills and to let him relax for these runs. Louie did exactly what I asked of him and used his power to help up the bigger hills. As expected and like the other dogs, Louie did phenomenal and performed like a veteran.

Flash (wheel)
Flash is one of my favorite yearlings but before this race, I definitely considered her the weakest link. She is real ditzy and clumsy but is always excited and vocal. This race she proved how unbelievably tough she is!! As I mentioned before, there was a downhill section where she got tossed around. I was 100% expecting some kind of injury to her, but to my amazement she was ready to go with a smile on her face! She ate well on the race which can be a little bit of an issue for her at the kennel. She also surprised me at the end of the race, the last 10 miles of the race we ended up passing 3 other teams. Each time we caught a team, Flash would get real excited and start barking which got everyone else jacked up!!! It acted as a morale booster and it was a pleasant surprise to see Flash help out the team that way!

 

Yukon Quest Drop Bags- Check!

Yesterday I dropped off the Yukon Quest drop bags at Summit Logistics with the Quest logistics team. This is always a huge relief. We had almost 35 separate 40-lb bags labelled by checkpoint. Transporting those supplies is a massive undertaking, so a BIG thank you to all the Yukon Quest volunteers who make sure that all the bags arrive safely (and frozen) to their respective locations and are ready upon our arrival during the race.

What's in all the drop bags?

Meat, meat and more meat- Liz cut up and bagged almost 100 snacks of various meats such as beef, liver, BLT (beef, liver and tripe), and fish. This is one of the not-so-enjoyable jobs of handling, so thank you Liz!

Dog kibble- We prepackaged meal sized portions of kibble to be sent out to each checkpoint. There is always extra in case an unplanned layover is necessary.

Supplies- dog booties, human gloves, dog blankets, batteries, runner plastics (different colors for different temperatures, just like ski wax).

Human food- I did a short video about the kinds of human food I send out on the trail. Enjoy!

Vet bags- Included in the vet bags are supplements, wrist wraps, massage oils, foot ointment, handwarmers and other supplies used in caring for the dogs.

 

Liz cutting meat.

Delicious snacks made by Amanda Gecas

Bags all loaded!

Unloading.

9th Place!

Tyler with his leaders Niagra and Ham

Tyler and team finished at 5:48 this morning at Pleasant Valley Store with a team full of happy, charging youngsters! A big congrats to Tyler on finishing his first race, as well as all the yearlings- it was their first race also! Once Tyler has a chance to catch up on sleep, I'll get more info on each dog's performance. Until then, enjoy this short video from the halfway point at Two Rivers Checkpoint.