Off to Mendeltna Creek Lodge

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Both of our racers are out of Sourdough and headed to the last checkpoint at Mendeltna Creek Lodge. Ryne left at 7:36 PM last night and Liz headed out at 1:03 AM this morning. Our handlers have mentioned numerous times that the snow keeps coming down; what normally takes them 30 minutes to drive to next check point, took over 2 hours. Wow! We have an amazing team of mushers, canine athletes, and handlers. Also, a BIG thank you to all those amazing volunteers out there -- without them this race would not happen. Everyone -- please be safe.

Please enjoy the pictures taken yesterday.

Ryne signing in at Sourdough. (picture by Barbara Cellarius)

Word from the Copper Basin Trail

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Ryne's team arrived at Meier's Lake at 3:48AM this morning  where they will be completing the mandatory 6 hour layover plus start differential. That should put the team out about 11:04AM.

As soon as the team pulled in Ryne started to work feeding and massaging each dog, and then, they all snuggled in for their rest. Took Ryne about two hours to settle all the team, at which time she was able to settle down with them to catch a little sleep. The handlers expect to see Ryne up about 9:00 to start waking and feeding the dogs for their next run.

The run over from Chistochina is one of the more challenging legs of the race. The teams had quite a bit of climbing with cresting a big peak, “The Hump”, at an elevation of 4,085 feet. There is also a large peak right after the checkpoint, so dogs and mushers will need a good rest here.

Liz arrived with her team at 6:59 AM this morning with a happy team. She has started feeding and massaging her team, and we anticipate she will take her mandatory 6 hour layover plus start differential at Meier's Lake, too. 

News from the handlers is the weather has turned, and just south is a winter storm advisory. At Meier's lake it is snowing hard. Everyone is moving a bit slower due to the change in weather. We will have to wait and see how it affects the teams as they leave this checkpoint.

Following are some more pictures from yesterday.

CB300 - Mushers Draw

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The drawing of the bibs for the start of the Copper Basin 300 occurred last night, and the stars lined up for Ryno Kennel: Ryne was very happy to draw bib #4 and Liz drew bib #6!! If my calculations are correct, that means Ryne will head out at 10:06 AM this morning, and Liz will follow 10:10 AM.

 

As I learned from Ryne's mentors at SP Kennel, two key elements make for a successful dog team: "the attitude, appetite and ability of the dogs, and the skill, strategy and stamina of the mushers." But there is a third element that plays a role in any endeavor, and that is luck. Whether it is luck with being dealt the perfect cards in bridge or not catching that cold before a 10K race,  in dog sled racing, there is luck of the draw.

 

43 mushers will be starting this year's CB300, starting at the rate of one every two minutes at 10:00AM this morning (AKST!). Each team will make up their portion of the start differential at the mandatory six hour layover to make it all even between the racers in the end. As learned from SP Kennel, picking an early starting number has two advantages:

  1. "An early starting position means that you have little, if any, traffic ahead of you. For speedy teams, that means very little passing needs to be done. This can be significant because passing is not as fast as free running. It takes a little time to pull up on a team ahead, signal your intentions, make the pass then move along. Think about what it’s like to pass a slower vehicle on a two-lane road. It takes time to accomplish before you can step on the gas again. Top teams which pick early starting numbers will be much happier with their luck than those who pick later starting numbers and have to work their way through the crowd."
  2. "Second, the earlier your start, the more “start differential” time you have to give back at your longest checkpoint rest. This is also an advantage for early starting teams because instead of getting only the 6-hour mandatory rest, they can get as much as an extra hour-plus of rest. That extra rest is all to the good for a dog team. So, again, early starters will be happier with their luck of the draw. These are slight, subtle advantages, but every little bit helps in a highly competitive race like the CB300."

The stars were aligned for Ryne, #4,  and Liz, #6, last night.

 

If you want to follow the race:

  • Copper Basin 300 website can be found at www.cb300.com
  • To follow the trackers on the CB300 website: http://www.cb300.com/racecentral.aspx
  • And, for the tech savvy, KCAM Radio in Glennallen will be announcing from the start and their website is http://www.kcam.org/

 

Side note: I am Ryne's mom, Katy, and will be trying to keep up the Ryno Kennel blog from my home in Durango, Colorado, while the rest of the team is all at the race. As Ryne mentioned, on site, Derek, Thomas, and Jeff will be trying to update me as the WiFi lines permit, otherwise I will be anxiously following the tracker on the CB300 website as I hope you will. 

 

Good luck and Happy Trails to the Ryno Kennel teams!

To Glennallen We Roll!

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This morning we left at 6:30 AM on our way to Glennallen for the Copper Basin 300! We are BEYOND EXCITED!!

So who's part of the Ryno Team this year?

HANDLING CREW: Tom Olson (my little brother) and Derek Patton (my main guy). Tom will be handling for Liz and Derek will be handling for me.

MEDIA CREW: Katy Olson (my mother), Tom Olson (he's a man of many talents), and Jeff Schell (Liz's dad; he doesn't know he's on the media crew yet, but hopefully he'll be game). The media crew will be actively updating the blog and social media pages (Facebook and Instagram- give us a like!) with commentary, photos, and videos.

RACE TEAMS:

My team will consist of......drum roll......... Boone, Cartel, Drummer, Goblin, Jana, Katy, Lefty, Perm, Supai, Uno, Wingman, and Wombat. This team has a few different players compared to years past, but I can't wait to see how youngsters Uno, Wingman, and Wombat perform in their first 300-mile race! I anticipate main leaders to be Cartel, Katy,  and Goblin. Back up leaders are Lefty (he's a great leader but not particularly fast), Boone (she's coming into heat, and all the boys think she's super duper cute right now), and Jana (she's coming off a little soreness, so at the first sign of stiffness, she'll be dropped. I want her to stay active but not at the risk that she'll miss Quest). Our goal for this race is to do our absolute best and have a FANTASTIC TIME. We're not a 13 mph team, but if the trail is challenging or slow, we'll be right in the mix.

Liz's team will be comprised of Belle, Blitz, Coot, Drake, Fish, Gringa, Ham, Niagra, Yuker, and Ruby (an awesome little leader from Smokin' Ace Kennels- Thanks Matt and Amanda!). Her team is a mixture of trail hardened veterans and rookie two-year-olds. This will be Blitz, Fish, Gringa, and Yuker's first 300-mile race, so we're very excited for their mid-distance racing debut! Drake, Coot, and Belle have thousands of trail miles under their belt, so this will be just a nice long training run for them. Ham, Niagra, and Ruby will be her main leaders, with possible substitutions of Coot, Belle, and Gringa at the helm. Their goal will be to enjoy every second of the race at a leisurely pace. This is Liz's first mid-distance dog sled race as well!

We decided not to enter any yearlings in the Copper Basin and instead gear them up for the Two Rivers 100 on January 20th with Tyler!

Running Dogs and Building Cabins

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With less than one week to go before Copper Basin, we've been staying busy by running dogs, building our cabin, and starting drop bags! Here are some photos from our recent dog runs and cabin building sessions.

What's on the agenda for the next week? Over the next few days, we'll be finishing up Copper Basin drop bags and completing a large portion of the Yukon Quest drop bags, which are due a week from Saturday. Liz has been busy cutting hundreds of pounds of beef, liver, BLT (beef, liver and tripe), fish, and beef fat into convenient snack sizes. She's also packaged over 75 kibble meals including supplements and probiotics. So a big high five and thank you to Liz!!! I'll do a more complete post about drop bags in the near future.

My little brother, Tom, will be arriving tomorrow night to handle for Liz during the Copper Basin. Not only are we SUPER excited for him to join us, but he'll also be bringing our new canine family member: a Griff pup! On Wednesday and Thursday, we'll pack the truck, go on our final training runs, then leave early Friday morning for the COPPER BASIN!!!!!

There will be lots of ways to follow along during the Copper Basin. My wonderful mother, Katy, will be updating this blog. We'll also have Facebook updates on the Ryno Kennel Facebook page, and Copper Basin will have updates on the Copper Basin 300 Facebook page. The Copper Basin will also be providing GPS trackers, so follow along on the Copper Basin website (www.cb300.com) for tracker information.

ARE YOU READY FOR THE RACES?!!!!!

Welcome 2018

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We started off 2018 with a beautiful dog run! This video was taken at about 1:00 PM near the peak of the sun's trip across the sky. It's been over a week since the winter solstice, and we've gained 20 extra minutes of daylight. Can't you tell? Just kidding. The sun still barely clears the horizon; however, that makes for spectacular colors throughout the day. During January, the length of day will exponentially increase until we're gaining about 6:45 per day, at which it will stay throughout February and March. Tour guests always ask how we can handle the darkness, and I reply, Alaska is the land of extremes. Just when you start to grow weary of the dark (or total light during the summer), the world rapidly changes. You just have to get outside regardless of the sun or temperature, and try to experience all Alaska has to offer because before you know it, the seasons have changed!

Thanks to everyone for being a part of the Ryno Team in 2017, and we can't wait to share our adventures with you in 2018! We wish you a Happy New Year filled with friends and family, both human and canine. 

The Last Frontier Mushing Co-op

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The crew relaxing inside after a long campout.

During the holidays, we've had a big rush of new adventure seekers going for rides with us at the Mushing Co-op! We do a few different types of tours ranging from 2-Hr Chena River rides to 4-Hr Aurora Tours to expeditions (in the spring). For the dogs, this a great opportunity for them to get a little extra attention, meet lots of new people, and practice camping (especially on the 4-Hr Aurora tour when we mush out to our campsite and stay for a couple hours waiting for the aurora). Typically I bring the yearlings on these tours; however, the rides are also great stretch out runs for the adults after we do a long training run. At night after the tours, the adults and I head out for longer runs in preparation for the Copper Basin in just a couple weeks!!

Success!

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We had a fantastic time yesterday competing in the Solstice 50! We finished in 6th place with a happy dog team who were still slamming their harnesses at the finish line! I call that a big success. Liz had a fantastic race as well. She stopped for 1 hour 15 minutes at a camp about 30 miles into the race. Since the yearlings did not have much experience running longer distances, this was a courtesy stop for them, but they thought it was just a waste of time! Crunch ( a two-year-old) led the entire way with Niagra and did very well. Overall, it was a blast!   

Ryne and Team- Photo Credit Scott Chesney

Liz  and Team- Photo Credit Scott Chesney!

Here are a couple videos from the trail.