White Mountain to Nome

We got into White Mountain at 9:46 PM. I know this is a race, but I’ve already missed the goals I set for myself. Motivation to push to Nome is sorely lacking. This feels like a tough training run. Mike Suprenaut and Trent Herbst feel pretty much the same. As long as we don’t come in last, it is ok. Rather than leave at 5 AM we decide to get some sleep and get up at 5. Trent is efficient and leaves just after 7 AM. Even with all the extra rest we’ve had on the coast I’m just not there.

As I’m getting ready to leave I decide to drop Keiko and Pepper. They could finish, but they were starting to get tired coming into White Mountain. I had to slow the team to accommodate them (you are only as fast as your slowest dog). If I leave them here, they should have better memories of the trip for next year. At 8:47 Tim Hunt, the current red lantern, arrives in White Mountain to start his mandatory 8 hour rest. That finally get’s my attention. I shift into high gear and leave 20 minutes later.

The wind is still blowing, but after the last few days it is more a annoying than a real threat. We come off Fish River and cut across some low country with sparse vegetation. A flock of Ptarmigan flush out of the brush. This is the first time I’ve seen them anywhere besides Rainy Pass. Pretty cool. We cross a low spot where the brush is thick enough to break the wind. I stop for a short break and snack the dogs before going over on. The run over the Topkot is windy, but nothing like my rookie year where we got blown off the trail when I stopped. I don’t even pause at the shelter cabin at the base of the hills where we holed up in 2006.

The blowhole is alive and well, the wind coming strongly from right to left. I’m swapping Platinum and Blaze in lead as first one and then the other gets tired of fighting the wind. Finally Platinum breaks out and the worst is over. We run along the beach and pick up a road with mile markers about 30 miles from Nome. This is the first time I’ve done this part of the trail in the daylight and it’s nice to actually see the country. I’m almost to Safety when a red fox runs across the trail in front of the team. Amazing! This is the first wild mammal I’ve seen on the trail (except for a couple shrews) in four Iditarods. We pull in and out of Safety about 3:30 PM.

We go over Cape Nome about 10 miles out of town, the last climb of the race. I stop just before the crest to talk to the dogs. This has been a tough race, but I have mixed emotions about finishing it. It will be nice to finally get out of the wind, but I’m going to miss the time on the trail with the dogs. With my feet and hands feeling the effects of the cold, I probably will not recover in time to run them again this season. These are good dogs. They worked hard. It might not have been pretty, but we made it! I take some time to tell how much I appreciate what they have done.

WE come down off Cape Nome and shortly pick up the KNOM spotter car. As we get closer they sound the siren to announce our arrival. I remember my first race, telling Bass that siren was for him. This time it was a team effort. I sure missed Bass going into that wind on the Yukon.

It is about 6 PM, school is out and people are off work. There are families walking on the ice, kids sledding down the inclines. Everyone waves and shouts congratulations. This is my first daytime finish and it’s pretty neat. We come up off the ice, onto Front Street and pick up our police escort. I can see the arch in the distance. Platinum and Rosemary drive down the street like the veterans they are. The team looks good – like they are ready to keep going. Then I pass under the arch in 50th place and it’s all over.

Marti is still here, along with my sister Penny and nephew Adam. They were supposed to leave Sunday, but got caught when they cancelled flights for the volcano. This is a real treat. Ten hours later Tim Hunt crosses the finish line and Iditarod 2009 is history.

It is obvious the run from Grayling to Eagle Island was the turning point for my race. It might not be as evident, but it really changed when I spent Sunday night in Grayling because of the weather, rather than pressing on through the storm. Before then I was racing, after making that decision and giving 14 hours to my competitors, I never quite got back into race mode. In hindsight it was the right thing to do. My leaders stalled the next morning. I had to follow Tim and Rachael into Eagle Island. But for me it changed the race into an expedition. I tried to rejoin the race in Kaltag with the long run to Unalakleet, but blew it when I went out to dinner and took a long rest there. The wind going into Shaktoolik was the final straw, dehydrating the dogs and mandating longer rests on the coast to keep going.

The good news is that I learned a lot from this race. We were not that far from moving up into the 30’s. If I had strong storm leaders we would have pushed into Eagle Island Sunday night. That is a training issue. If I had worked harder to get the dogs to eat at the beginning of the race, rather than counting on their appetite to kick in later, they would have had more reserves on the coast and we would not have had to rest as long. I think that is all it would have taken. Next year I’ll find out if I’m right. :-)

Keep ‘em Northbound

Eric