4/6/2007 RYAN’S IDITAROD TALE:
It was a very nice day leaving the restart in Willow. I got great sleep the night before and I was anxious to get on the trail. My leaders leaving Willow were Sugar and Angel. We left in 38th position. On the way to Yentna, it was great to see all the spectators watching the race. My team was performing awesome. We went through Yentna and went to Skwentna to take our first rest, which made it about a 72 mile run. The dogs rested and ate very well. In Skwentna, they served the mushers great food, and I remember I had mash potatoes, one of my favorite foods. After a little over six hour rest, we took off on and were on our way to Finger Lake. It was a nice run over to Finger Lake where we only stayed a couple of minutes. I loaded a bale of straw on my sled and about 14 cans of heat. Going through Happy River steps was pretty good for us. I only tipped the sled over once. Fin Bear lake was our next stop, and I was glad we rested there. Ingra and her husband had hot water for the dogs and a little food inside their cabin for the mushers and I also got to sleep in a cabin. It was windy out on the lake and after 5 ½ hours rest we were on our way to Rainy Pass. There are some challenging spots on the trail to Rainy Pass, we had a few problems but we made it. We went on through Rainy Pass and on to Rohn. On top of Rainy Pass it was getting very windy. I took a wrong turn as many mushers did towards Ptarmigan pass but after a few minutes I turned the team around and found the right trail. It wasn’t long and I saw a team behind me. It was Rick Swenson, he passed me, and we both stopped to snack our dogs after about 10 minutes. It was so windy out that we both were having problems seeing through our eye glasses. We both put our contacts in and I don’t know how we did it. I froze the tips of many of my fingers. “I don’t know how cold it is but it is darn cold,” is what Rick said to me up there. I followed him for a few more miles, but my leaders kept going off the trail and down many icy creeks. I would have to turn the team around find the trail. My sled broke when I was down one of those icy creeks and it was very tough to make it to Rohn. I was happy to finally get to Rohn and fix the sled. With my ax, I cut my ski pole in three pieces and hose clamped them around my broken stanchions. It worked good enough to get us to McGrath where I had a second sled to replace the broken one. It did take some time to switch out the sleds, about half an hour but it felt good to be on a sled that was functioning 100 percent. We had an ok run to Takotna and we took our 24 hour mandatory layover there. The dogs enjoyed their rest there and so did the musher. We all had great food and slept well. After leaving Takotna, our next stop was Don’s cabin, about a 75 mile run and the dogs performed great. We stayed six hours and we were on our way to Iditarod, the halfway point in the race. I was very happy to reach Iditarod, the trail getting there was very rough and bumpy with not so much snow at all. On our way to Shageluk it was hilly, more than what I am used to, and the rolling hills seemed endless. We finally reached the Yukon River and took our eight hour mandatory layover at Shageluk. Then we were off to Anvik and then to Grayling. We had a good run to Anvik and then it got super windy till we got to Grayling. I was excited when we got to Grayling because we got to get out of the wind for a while. We were in 23rd place leaving Grayling. My brother and I had a good run to Eagle Island where it got very cold again. Leaving Eagle Island, Hugh Neff, my brother, and I were running together. At some checkpoints they referred us as the ‘gang of three’ because we had traveled together so much. I led into Kaltag and I was so happy to get off the very windy Yukon River. In Kaltag, I enjoyed two hamburgers with fries at the local restaurant. We rested eight hours and were on our way to Unalakleet, the first checkpoint on the coast. Hugh left first, about 20 minutes in front of us. My brother seemed to pick up the pace and we ended up running most of the way to Unalakleet without seeing any other teams. Getting into Unalakleet, Hugh and my brother were about 8 to 10 minutes in front of me. We moved a little up in the standings and I tried to make a move leaving Unalakleet with five hours rest. Our speed was not very fast on the way to Shaktoolik, but we still had an all right run. We were in 18th place pulling into Shaktoolik. Our run to Koyuk was good, and I was back running with my brother and Hugh again. The three of us left Koyuk together and I think we again had pretty good runs into Elim. Once arriving there, we rested a little over three hours and the race was on to White Mountain. I had a great last few miles going into White Mountain and we pulled in a just 3 minutes from Sigrid Ekran. I did however put some time between my brother and Hugh, only twenty minutes though and I knew that I would see those guys before we got to Nome. After leaving White Mountain, the wind picked up strong. It was tough battling the winds but it was good to be with other teams. My brother caught Sigrid and me about 3 hours into the run. Hugh Neff was not far behind us, as once in a while we could see him on the straight stretches. All four of us had major problems trying to find the trail before Safety. We all lost some time, but got on the trail and got moving again. I was very tired going into Saftey but wanted to make a push to the finish. We pulled in right behind Hugh and my brother was 13 minutes in front of me. The dogs were doing a wonderful job, so we started to pick up the pace a little. We passed Hugh and pulled into Nome in 18th place and only two minutes and fifty seconds from my brother who finished. Hugh was five minutes behind me and came in 19th place. It was great to run with both of those guys and to stay together all the way to Nome. I was also very excited to get to be in the top 20 for the first time, which was the goal for this year!
Congratulations to Lance Mackey, the 2007 Iditarod and Yukon Quest Champion!
I would like to thank everyone who supported me in any way this season. We definitely had a great racing season and couldn’t have done it with out you. Thanks for being a part of our team and we hope to have you with us again next year as we hope to improve our team again and shoot for a top 10 Iditarod finish!!!!
Monday 3/19/2007
Ryan and the team finished the Iditarod in 18th place! We'll post more information and details later. We are very proud of his top twenty finish!
Monday 3/12/2007
Talked to Ryan again last night from Kaltag. He sounded really good. He liked the way the dogs were moving down the trail and said that they have been eating great most of the way up the trail so far. In Eagle Island he dropped Kindling and Flip, didn't catch a reason why. Then leaving Kaltag he dropped Kevin, he just couldn't keep up with the pace of the team. He was excited to be running with his brother Ray. Hopefully they continue doing well and having fun!
Saturday 3/10/2007
Ryan and team are doing very well. They are moving along at a good pace and keep getting ever closer to Nome. Pop was dropped in Ophir for sore wrists but by the time we picked him up, about a day after he was dropped, he was bouncing around like nothing ever happened! The latest dog to get dropped was Sugar. Ryan was bummed to have to drop her but he still thinks the team is looking good. The trail has been rough and mogul filled most of the way so far but it should smooth out a little while they make the run up the Yukon River.
Thursday 3/8/2007
Ryan called a couple of times during his 24 hour rest at Takotna. He sounded in very good spirits and other than being a little sore, said he was feeling good. The dogs were doing fine, just a little soreness which is to be expected at this point. Coal is the second dog to be dropped in the race so far and that was for a minor injury to a back leg. When we picked him up he was looking peppy and happy to see us. Ryan should leave Takotna at about 10:45 this morning and head on down the trail. He will probably jump Ophir and run about half way to Iditarod to camp for awhile, and then head on into Iditarod.
Tuesday night 3/6/2007
Ryan called from Nikolai. He said that he broke two stanchions on his sled on the way into Rhon, the plastic was ripped from the runners, and that he also lost the metal brake (he still has the drag pad to slow and stop the team though). He was able to patch the sled together and keep going. He has a replacement sled in McGrath and will take that one when he gets there. In addition he said that he banged up his elbow and knee pretty good and is quite sore from the last couple days on the trail. Despite all that, he seemed in high spirits and said that the dogs were running well and he was proud of them. He plans to take a good rest and then head on down the trail, stopping just briefly in McGrath, then on to Takotna to camp again.
Tuesday 3/6/2007
Ryan is moving right along, and pretty much according to plan. At least he seems to have made through the Happy River Steps (between Finger Lake and Rainey Pass) in one piece, a section of trail that has been taking its toll on both mushers and sleds. He has dropped just one dog so far in the race and that was Sha. She seemed a little sore to him and she is a very good little dog that he didn't want to ruin for future races. He and the team checked into Nikolai this afternoon and after a rest they will be on their way to McGrath.
3/4/2007 (later)
A big thank you to everyone, present and not, that helped to make this weekend run smoothly for us! We all had a very good time and it was fun to finally get the race underway.
The banquet Thursday night was a nice celebration of the race. It is interesting to see all of our mushing friends not wearing parkas and snow pants! It is almost hard to recognize each other with out the proper winter wear. At the banquet the mushers were able to pick their starting position based on when they signed up for the race. The first to sign up for the race got to pick from all of the possible starting positions. The next musher on the starting list could then pick any number not already chosen and so on until everyone had their bib number. Ryan picked number 38; his brother Ray is number 18; and Erin’s dad, Matt Rossi, is number 52. It will be fun to have so many different musher to watch throughout the race.
The ceremonial start on Saturday went with out a hitch. It had been a windy few days before that, but the weather cooperated nicely and we had bright sunny skies, no wind, and temperatures in the lower teens - perfect for both dogs and spectators. On this day the teams travel 11 miles across Anchorage in order to celebrate the race where many people can join in. Each musher has two sleds attached to their team, the musher in the front sled with an “Idita-Rider” (passenger) and then a second or tag sled behind in case the musher needs the extra help on the trail.
The official start on Sunday couldn’t have gone much better. Again the weather was perfect and everything just went right. Ryan had all his necessary gear packed into the sled the night before so he was all set to go, just needed to harness and bootie the team. The dogs were all excited and seemed ready to get down to business. Go to www.iditarod.com for all the latest updates. We will try to update our site with details from Ryan as soon as we get it!
3/4/2007
Hello everyone! The teams are off and on their way to Nome. We have had one very busy weekend but it was a ton of fun and everything went well. Ryan went out number 38 of 83 mushers and was looking good. I will get a more detailed update ready to go tomorrow after a good nights rest!
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