Off to Dawson & Mid race update

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Time to booty and put on coats — early wake up call!

Go team go! Next stop Dawson

After arriving yesterday in Dawson City at 6:39 PM, Ryne and the dogs were taken over to the dog yard for a formal Vet check on each dog. And boy, did they enjoy the individual attention. No poking and prodding, just range of motion moves, temperatures, massages, hugs, and more treats and food. A dog’s life!

Kalyn spent the night with the team: feeding, massaging, walking to stretch out, and most importantly, resting. Thank you for all the love Kalyn.

After check in at the dog yard (Ryne had eaten pizza on the way over), she promptly crashed for 12 hours straight (no massaging, no walking to stretch and no food — just rest!) But after waking, she was off to the dog yard to check on everyone. Following is her report on her team:

  • Boone: she has lead the team from the start. Exceptional and very strong. And best of all, eating is not an issue with this one!

  • CJ: a little hot and cold, but hanging out in wheel. Works hard on the hills (and yes, definitely some hills this last leg), but when the team is coasting down or on the flats, CJ lets her mind wander a bit.

  • Cooke: running in swing as the only 2 year old! Flawless. Not an initiator, but loves to join into the barking; always ready.

  • Goblin: hopped onto the team at Pelly Crossing — saving him for leading later in the race. Definitely the initiator — first to start the barking.

  • Jana: joined in Pelly Crossing. Super hard worker, no nonsense, always driving. One of those that quietly gets the job done.

  • Katy: lead the first 100 miles but then moved to wheel. Some might say she is small for wheel, but Katy is very agile, and because of her size, she can duck under the gang-line, maneuvering around.

  • Lefty: lead since Carmacks where he jumped on the team. Doing really well. Excited with any wildlife so runs with his head high trying to be the first to spot any critters out there.

  • Perm: rock solid since the start of the race. Loves to join in when Ryne sings; Perm gets everyone else fired up. Favorite is Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant” —

    We come from the land of the ice and snow
    From the midnight sun, where the hot springs flow
    The hammer of the gods
    W'ell drive our ships to new lands
    To fight the horde, and sing and cry
    Valhalla, I am coming!

  • Rucu: joined the team in Pelly Crossing. So big and strong; great to have his strength in the hills.

  • Supai: pulling since the start; hardest puller on the team. Also, great eater! Wrist has been acting up a bit but managing that.

  • Uno: working the whole race; ready since 1st day to get on down the trail. In Dawson City at camp, she is already bored and wondering why the team has stopped so long.

  • Wingman: running since first day and eating everything in front of him (and next to him!) Loves to eat. But what he loves more — trucks. If you heard a dog barking at the trucks in Braeburn or Dawson - bet it was Wingman!

  • Fish: had to be dropped in Scroggie due to an inflamed hock. Ryne was very bummed to leave Fish, the cheerleader. Fish would scream at all the checkpoints getting everyone excited.

  • Wombat: dropped in Pelly Crossing for a sore wrist. Showed no signs of a problem on the trail, but after the rest some definite soreness. Plus, Kalyn’s cuddler!

Dog truck back in action — headed to Fairbanks

Handler: Update #2

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Whew, we are so excited to have the Ryno Team with us here in Dawson City! What an exciting race this is. But while we wait for Ryne to decompress a bit and catch a little sleep, let’s update a bit on the handlers’ ride into Dawson City.

As you might remember, big Red was out of commission as of Carmacks, and we had enlisted our trusty little Suby to fill in as our dog truck in Pelly Crossing. Once the Ryno Team was back on the trail from Pelly Crossing, the handlers with Jezzy and Sasha and new mate, Wombat (dropped in Pelly Crossing when she woke up with a sore wrist) headed back to Carmacks to re-access. But the first pictures should tell the story. Suby is still activated as our “new dog truck!”

The handler team arrived in Dawson City last night, caught up with some much needed sleep, and then set to work building the Ryno Team home for Dawson City.

Derek building the base for dog tent

Kalyn shoveling in the entrance

Ready for the team!

After arriving in Dawson City and checking in, the dogs were driven to the official dog yard for vet checks followed by much deserved rest. All pups are doing great and eating like champs. At this time, Fish will join the handler team in Suby for the drive back around to Fairbanks (sore wrist from that hard packed trail.) This little Suby is AMAZING!

Vet check in Dawson at dog camp

All quiet: afternoon of 2/6/19

For a fun read, check out Jodi Bailey’s posts as the “Arm Chair Musher” for the Yukon Quest:

https://www.yukonquest.com/news/armchair-musher-what-not-ask-your-musher-dawson%E2%80%A6

Life as a Handler

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Okey dokey. The Ryno Kennel team is cruising down the trail from Pelly Crossing, and we won’t have pictures or updates for awhile. Hopefully you have better WiFi than we do, so keep an eye on that tracker for us! Think about sending some questions in the comments below to pepper Ryne with in Dawson City (once she has rested!)

In the meantime, thought I’d run a book idea by you; not another musher story, but a handler team story, an extraordinary team:

Ryno Kennel’s handler team’s story actually started days before the Yukon Quest even began. Katy (Mom, not 🐶) had rented a car months prior while in the lower 48. When Ryne, Katy, and Kalyn showed up to get it, not only were they informed that they couldn’t go into Canada with the car (this is the agency that sponsored Ryno Kennel in a prior Yukon Quest—which does involve crossing the border) but that Katy could be put on a “no rental list” for driving into Canada, and no national rental agency in Fairbanks allows driving into Canada. Well, as the agent sternly reprimanded them, Katy stepped away, booked a car online, followed up with a call to that agency at the airport who stated “as long as you bring it back, sure you can go to Canada!” So, the adventure to the Yukon start continued after picking up a nice new Subaru Outback! But....Ryne and Katy weren’t even across the border before a big ol’ 18 wheeler headed the opposite way threw out a rock to crack the windshield 🤬. Still love the Subaru!

In the meantime, as Derek and Kalyn hopped in the dog truck with the Ryno Kennel athletes, they quickly discovered the truck wasn’t going anywhere. The big green machine had thrown a rod. Quickly, the handlers unloaded all 14 dogs, transferred the dog box, and all the gear onto the “newish” big Red truck. A quick visit first thing the next morning to register big Red, and they thought they were Yukon bound. But no, the fuel lines kept clogging, so had to be cleaned before leaving town (spoiler alert: not the last time these lines play a role in this story.) Dogs in boxes and all lifted high to clean the lines, and then, finally....the team was Yukon bound.

So, the handlers are feeling pretty good about life until....Carmacks. After getting the team back on the trail headed to Pelly Crossing following that leap over the snowless trail and 12 hour layover, big Red would not start. Yikes! The handlers needed to beat the Ryno Kennel team to Pelly Crossing to deliver the last three members to the team (that’s Jana, Rucu, and Goblin).

Save the day Subaru was there to the rescue. (Did I mention Ryno Kennel pet dogs, Jezzy and Sasha, had tagged along on this venture playing co-pilot in big Red? Well, they had.) So, Derek, Kalyn, Katy, Jezzy, Sasha, Jana, Rucu, and Goblin all piled into the little Subaru to race the rest of Ryno Kennel team to Pelly Crossing. Oh, and because race dogs don’t do well inside warm cars, the little Suby windows had to be open. But don’t worry about the handlers — the temperature had risen to -18!

And, not only did the handlers manage to beat Ryne’s team to Pelly Crossing, but the newest teammates were able to jump into another teams dog truck for a quick acclimation back to “team” life.

So, what do you think? Do we have a pretty good start to a story of life on the handler’s trail? Want to join our handler team? We haven’t laughed so much in a long time and we aren’t even half way through the race?

The 2019 Yukon Quest Team!

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Canine Athletes

Watch the video to see who is on the 2019 Yukon Quest Team! Did you catch all 14 canine athletes?

In case you couldn’t catch all the canine athletes or have slow internet, the canine athletes of the Quest team are………… Jana, Rucu, Supai, Katy, Boone, Perm, Goblin, Lefty, CJ, Wingman, Uno, Fish, Wombat, and Cooke!

Human Support Staff

Ryne- Musher

Job: Care for canine athletes on the trail and in checkpoints. Hold onto the sled. Try not to be dead weight.

Kalyn- Canine Sports Therapist and Straw Specialist

Job: Care for canine athletes during 12 hour mandatory layover between Braeburn and Carmacks as well as 36 hour layover in Dawson. Rake straw after the canine team leaves a checkpoint. Care for any canine athletes benched during the competition.

Derek- Transportation Manager and Dawson Carpenter

Job: Drive the canine athlete truck and keep it in good working order. Construct canine team housing in Dawson.

Katy Human (aka Mom)- Public Relations Manager and Mom

Job: Update the blog and social media. Do motherly things.

Jezzy and Sasha- Truck Companions

Job: Be cute yet obnoxious to keep human crew awake.

Tyler- Guide and Retired Athlete Caretaker

Job: Continue providing tours with Last Frontier Mushing Co-op and exercising the canine athletes at Ryno Kennel. Provide a warm cabin from retired canine athletes to sleep in.

Saeward- Canine Trainer and Co-op Logistics Coordinator

Job: Aid in running canine athletes at Ryno Kennel, in particular her Two Rivers 100 team. Manage the logistics of the Last Frontier Mushing Co-op.

You (yes you reading the blog)- Ryno Kennel Blog Readers and Canine Athlete Fans

Job- Cheer for the Ryno athletes and send good vibes to the Yukon Quest Trail!

Count Down to start: 1 Day 12 Hours

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Super busy day getting ready for the Yukon Quest 1000 mile race start on Saturday. Both the handlers and mushers were in meetings this morning where they learned the latest trail conditions and logistics for the start. Though the prediction is for the temperatures to drop, the continued lack of snow here on the Yukon has caused a small course change: after racing to the first checkpoint, the dogs will be transported in dog trucks between checkpoint #1, Braeburn, and check point #2, Carmacks, so details and logistics were shared.

After the morning meetings, mushers had lunch with their Quest Rider. Ryne met her guest rider, Carole, from Colorado! Fun to have folks from her home state up supporting the team.

Carole, Ryne, and Dan

Tonight was the starters’ banquet where not only did we get to enjoy the evening getting to know Carole and her husband, Dan, eat some great food, but the mushers drew their starting numbers. Drum roll please —- Ryno Kennel drew # 21 — best number out there!

Tomorrow, Friday will be a day to catch our breath, walk the dogs and let them stretch their legs after a long drive, and—- get ready to rumble on Saturday!

Disclaimer: As Ryne makes her last preparations for the start, posts and updates for the race will be shared between Ryno handler extraordinaire, Kalyn, and me (Mom Katy).

Meet the Mushers

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My mom and I have made it to Whitehorse! Kalyn, Derek, and the dogs will be arriving later tonight.

Upon arriving in Whitehorse, our first event was Meet the Mushers. All the competitors sit at tables around the perimeter of the hall while friends and fans file down the line of tables, getting signatures from all the mushers on the posters, shirts, banners, or sometimes their own jackets! While this event is more socializing than most mushers do the entire year combined, it’s a great opportunity to say brief hellos to kids and folks from the community who will be excitedly following the race. It’s also fun to see all the other mushers who we sometimes haven’t seen since last year! Even though we’re all competitors, there’s a lot of camaraderie among mushers so the evening was filled with chatter between mushers- how are their dogs, what are they feeding, how was training, did their truck break down on the drive- all normal musher conversations.

Today will also be full of meetings including the Quest Guest Lunch, the Mushers Meeting, the Rookie Meeting, the Handler Meeting, and the Start Banquet. It’s currently snowing and 4F outside, but temperatures are forecast to drop to -30F by Saturday. Bring on the Quest!!

The Women of the Yukon Quest

One of the final runs before the Yukon Quest

Yukon Quest Vet Checks and Drop Bags

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Immediately upon returning from Copper Basin, we jumped right into Yukon Quest preparation. Last Saturday, the drop bags were due. Today was the official day for vet checks! And in ONE WEEK, we’ll be hitting the trail in Whitehorse!

Drop Bags

Completing drop bags for a 1000-mile race is cause for a big celebration. The first hurdle in long distance racing has been overcome! Like everything, practice makes perfect, so with this being our third start from Whitehorse, I do have an Excel Spreadsheet already generated with lists of what to pack for each checkpoint. Each drop bag is labeled with the name of the checkpoint, my last name, and Bag # ___ of ___. Some checkpoints only need 2-3 drop bags. Others like Pelly, where we’re about to take off on 200 unsupported miles require 6 or Dawson, 8. Items included in drop bags might include:

  • Dog food (Inukshuk 32/32, Inukshuk 30/25, Red Paw)- I like to have variety, although the main kibble is the Inukshuk 32/32, which means it has 32% fat and 32% protein.

  • Fish snacks, beef snacks, BLT snacks, liver snacks, chicken skins snacks, snacks, snacks, snacks!

  • Probiotics and supplements

  • Dog Booties- sizes range from small (Fish, Perm, Katy) to medium (Wingman, Boone, Cooke) to large (Rucu, Goblin, Lefty)

Saeward’s creations

  • Human Food- This is where I need to give a BIG SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU to Saeward! Saeward made all of my meals for both the Copper Basin and Yukon Quest. That’s 30 delicious, calorie-packed, vacuum and seam-sealed meals that I can soak in the boiling cooker pot water to make out on the trail. Shepard’s pie, enchilada casserole, pasole, canadian bacon and egg bake, and french toast are on the menu. She also threw some homemade cookies in for dessert. Thank you!

  • Human Gear- fresh socks, neck gaitor (made by another person who needs a thank you- Lynne Witte!), work gloves, hand and toe warmers

  • Resupply Vet Packs comprised of extra wrist wraps, vet wrap, Algyval oil, pink ointment, and handwarmers

  • Runner Plastic- just like ski wax, there are different colors of runner plastics for different conditions. Since we never know what the conditions will be like two weeks away, we send out a bit of everything.

  • Tosses- fleece blankets to make the dogs extra comfortable

The video below is of Kalyn explaining all the different kinds of snacks we send on the trail. Kalyn single-handedly cut ALL THE SNACKS for both our Copper Basin teams and the Yukon Quest. This is a huge task with lots of time standing in the cold next to the meat saw. A VERY BIG THANK YOU to Kalyn for keeping the dogs happy and fed!

Vet Checks

Prior to the race, we selected 16 dogs to be thoroughly examined by volunteer veterinarians to make sure they’re healthy and ready for a 1000-mile race. Specific items the vets looked for were range of motion, , weight, temperature, heart and lungs, and overall body condition.

Which 16 athletes were brought to the vet checks?!

Perm, Katy, Jana, Goblin, Lefty, Rucu, Supai, Uno,

Wingman, CJ, Fish, King Louie, Badger, Cooke, Boone, Wombat

I’ll be selecting the final 14 from this crew of 16.

Dr. Cole checking Rucu

Fish

A sample sheet of 4 of the 16 dogs examined.

In the midst of all this, we’re still of course training and preparing! In addition to training runs, the dogs occasionally have a free day to romp about and just be dogs. Kalyn snapped some great photos on her last walkabout with the crew.

Boone

Fish and King Louie

Cooke

Wingman

Uno and Fenton

Fenton

Supai and Lefty

View on a recent training run.

Yukon Quest Press Release

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As I hinted in my prior post, there are some changes taking place with the Yukon Quest trail. Due to the lack of snow in the Whitehorse area, race officials have opted to adjust the route with some rather significant changes. Check out the full press release here:

https://yukonquest.com/news/changes-made-2019-race?fbclid=IwAR073aCYkMZUuPKp7iVRFWM_b_DSbJys0kVYQNZz5g49yaDpA3TDfeodHWk

For the 1000-mile race the big changes are:

1) Mushers can decide to start with anywhere from 8 to 14 dogs. The remaining dogs will be added back farther down the trail (Carmacks to be exact).

Ryne’s Commentary- Hm… I’d like to start with the entire squad because we are doing this as a team, but hurtling down a trail at 15 mph also seems like a bad idea. So if we start with less dogs, who has to ride in the truck? Should we take older dogs? Or younger dogs? Leaders? Only 8? Only 10? Only 12? Or an odd number like 9?

2) Teams will run from the start to Braeburn, which is a distance of 100 miles. Once at Braeburn, mushers will load their teams in trucks and drive to Carmacks. Twelve hours after arriving in Braeburn, the teams will leave from Carmacks with their full team of dogs. This will keep teams more or less on the same timeline (for logistical purposes) as if they had run from Braeburn to Carmacks instead of trucking.

Ryne’s Commentary- Excellent. I get to sleep a nice long while after only 100 miles of mushing. But now, how long should we rest on the 100 mile run since we’ll all have 12 hours upon arriving in Braeburn? I’m guessing some teams will try to run it straight, but that seems like a bad idea for the Ryno crew. It’ll be like stage racing! Except for hundreds of miles!

Team camped in Dawson in 2015

3) For the second year in a row, the Dawson City dog yard will be located at Bonanza Road instead of the campground across the Yukon River. The Yukon River is still not safe to cross.

Ryne’s Commentary- We weren’t in Dawson last year, so this will be new. There apparently aren’t trees or things to construct a tent for the dogs. We’ll have to bring that along- note to Derek and Kalyn. Thanks Mom for getting us a hotel room at the hotel right next to the dog yard!

Another speculation bouncing around the mushing gossip circles is the possible effect of the government shutdown on Slaven’s Dog Drop. Slaven’s Roadhouse is located between Eagle and Circle on a stretch of 150 miles without a checkpoint. The Roadhouse is a Park Service cabin and typically staffed by Park Service Employees for the race. The stop is known for its welcoming atmosphere, copious amounts of food, and toasty, warm building after traveling on the Yukon River for 90 miles. Seriously, they normally have a menu of food you can pick from! And while I do tend to think with my stomach, the bigger loss would be the dog drop itself. I love how the Quest has 150-200 mile stretches without a checkpoint, until I realize 80 miles in, someone needs a ride. The prospect of carrying a dog for 70+ miles takes away some of the magic. Or it could be something as simple as hoping a vet can look over a dog during the course of two days of mushing (which is how long it takes to go 150-200 miles). By no means is it a game changer to not have Slaven’s, all I’m saying is that it will be missed! And losing it due to a government shutdown seems rather silly. And me complaining about it seems rather silly too. I’m sure other folks have a lot bigger issues than that!

Overall, I’m thrilled that the Quest is taking action to keep the teams safe. I can’t imagine the volunteer hours that go into the logistics of this race, and then throw in no snow! Phew! Thank you, thank you, thank you Quest volunteers! We can’t wait to hit the trail, wherever it may be.