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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
1 more FINGERSuccess!!!!
 team streeper kennels- 2010 rondy- five fingers- for five wins-
Rondy 2010 was
a great success!!! First place, all 3 days, our 5th overall win, and 4th in a row!!! Dogs did awesome and were very strong,
with lots of speed and power.
Our B- team, drove by race rookie- JEFF KING - finsihed an impressive 4th, only 6
seconds from 2nd the last day !!! What a performance by our young leader DEE- as she led his team all 3 days.
Perfect
weather all weekend, after Anchorage recieved 6 inches of snow thursday, making the trail perfect for racing. There was a
1 inch loose top, over a rock solid base. All 3 days were below freezing, which is not common for this race. I think all mushers
would agree that the weather and trail could not be better.
Friday was -4c, and overcast, and the excitment was
in the air- lots of spectators lined the streets and cheered us on. I started off smoothly all dogs charging and wanting to
go faster, but I kept them restricted and eased them into the race. I was trailing some hot shot starting teams, but I know
I would be strong at the end. At the 12 mile mark I was gaining on a team and needed to make a pass- I was running 20, and
over-taking a team of 18, i was nearly by, before his team stopped and blocked the trail, my leaders got spun around and I
had to stop- I ran up to the leaders, and untangled them, got back to the sled and got moving- I had 40 seconds of stop time,
but the team was looking good. I was nearly 2 minutes down at the 15 mile mark, but started to out run the competitors and
make time up coming home. Just as I figured the team drove hard inbound, and I closed the gap, 1 mile from the finish
I was 4 seconds off of first, and asked the team to come home hard, the powered up CORDOVA, and won the day time by a few
seconds. The top 3 teams were within 14 seconds!!!
 Lina and I- hold the leaders before Sundays run- Heidi and Oats- half sisters- Oats was used the last 2 days, after
a minor wrist injury prevented my superleader- TROJA, from running saturday
8:31 am pst
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Final runs and RONDY DRAW!!!!!
we have a new computer and I hate it. Ive written 2 lengthy post this week, only to have my browser refresh,
causing me to lose my work, so for the 3rd time I am updating, and hopefully ill be able to save it prior to losing it.....
so if your reading this then it worked.
Yesterday we had our final training runs prior to the race. The track was
very busy with 10 or so trucks, and at least 6 Rondy teams. Jeff King met us their and took his team of 18 dogs for a fun
run of 14 miles. Terry and I give Jeff the instructions and speed limit for which he is to run the team. Basically I tell
him you cant go to slow, and keep the team around 17mph. he set out and like clock work he was back 49 minutes later, he was
happy with the team, and we discussed some options for setting the team up. He was impressed with his front end, all of which
have raced and won this race for me in the past. After checking his GPS I was very happy to see that he averaged 17 mph for
the 14 mile course, perfect, and his team will surprise alot of people this week with HIS and their ability.
Next
I would harness up my 20 best, its a well balanced team of past champions and 2 year old rookies, but the team has 18 dogs
who raced in Wyoming so the are all well conditioned. The team off very hard, and I needed to stand on my mat with both feet
for well over 1 mile. The trail is perfect and should be fast come race day, its flat, smooth and hard, but not icy, perfect
for dogs feet. The team ran smoothly and were charging the entire way, all dogs contributing and holding their side of the
line. I get the most satisfaction watching me teams near race time, you get a preview of whats ahead, b ut also get to see
what their capable of. I strongly believe that you win the titles on race day, but earn the in training.
Last nite
was the draw, and their will be 25 musher's to start on Friday, one of the largest fields in the last 20 years.
The large field adds excitement and possibly some drama, as this trail is not a continuous loop, we run 7 miles of common
trail, then a 12 mile loop, then the 7 miles home. so their will be some head on passes, with some tricky sections
where passing head on will be done blind and in some narrow areas, thus creating the likelihood of tangles and crashes.
So what you want to do , at least the first day is draw in the middle of the field, which will allow you to avoid
these problems. I was the first to sign up so I got my choice of all numbers, I pulled staring number 12. right in the middle,
and a huge relief was already lifted, now I would wait and see where the chips fell, and what positions my competitors would
get. 1 by 1 the spots filled up, some good some bad, and finally the draw was done, fortunately I will have all of my rivals
setting the pace ahead of me so I will be able to monitor their speeds and times, and I have some teams in front of me who
I will likely pass. all in all the draw was good to me.
Today we are relaxing, and will massage dogs, as I have
my ace in my sleeve with my good friend Lin Neumann here, she is a registered dog theiripst and is very good at locating ailmenst
and soreness in dogs, we have spent some timne together and its fun watching the dogs crowd here when shes is around, almost
saying "me me, do me next!!!"
Tomorrow is trail day, and we will check the trail, and do a drivers meeting,
but from here to the race its pretty relaxed, everything that needs done is done, and whats not, its too late.
below
is the draw, and Ill will add a new post before Friday with info on how to follow the coverage, as their will be live streaming
radio results, and this year top teams will carry a gps that connects to the web, for live tracking and speed monitoring fo
their positions. pretty cool!!!!
RONDY TIME!!!!!--
Rondy startorder:
1. Brent Beck 2.
Egil Ellis 3. John Erhart 4. Ed Wood 5. Heather Hardy 6. Ken Chezik 7. Arleigh Reynolds 8. Bill
Kornmuller 9. Jack Berry 10. Shane Goosen 11. Michael Tetzner 12. Buddy Streeper 13. Courtney Moore 14. Jason Dunlap 15. JP Norris 16. Jeff Conn 17. Gary Markley 18. Nils Hahn 19. Eddie Dayton 20. Marvin Kokrine 21. Randi DeKuipers 22. John Hansen 23. Nathan Sterling 24. Jeff King 25. Will
Kornmuller.
10:45 am pst
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Abchorage ALASKA Pic from 2009- this year, im going to hold up 1 more finger/
We are now in Anchorage Alaska-
we left Salt Lake city Utah- last Sunday- and drove 3000 kms north to Fort Nelson , where we spent 3 days, before
departing to Anchorage- another 2000 kms. so we have been on the move.
We are now at the Holiday Inn, and
will be here for the next few weeks.
RECAP-
The stage race was a big success, not only did our teams
and dogs do very well, the whole event was really well run and all mushers and spectators were very happy with the event.
It was a challenge competing in an 8 day race, running different trails every day, then traveling to a new location after
the run.
Lina and I both had good teams, I have to admit, I was a bit surprised/happy to have here do so well,
she was running a young team with young leaders, but managed them well and got them to perform very well.
Actually
both teams were very young- with the starting 32 dogs we ran 19 - 2 year olds, 8 - 3 year olds. 23 males and 9 female-
------------ So we left Utah on Sunday and drove north, we trained a 15 dog team of spares, and Rondy hopefuls
at Don Cousins trail, This is a great trail, smooth and hard, the dogs ran great and went 20 miles. afterwards we had lunch
with Don , then continued north.
We had some time, so we stopped in and seen Sam and the boys, and they are like
weeds, growing evrytime we see them, we couldnt stay long and exchanged hugs and good byes, and pulled out of their yard for
the last 250 miles.
we got home that evening, and were very happy to see how good everything looked, the yard was
level, freshly dragged, and clean, the yard dogs looked very good, healthy and happy. its always a relief to see them and
how well cared for they have been. This season we have been fortunate to have 2 hard workers, Both Ariane and Manuel are doing
a great job!!!! --- Everyone was up when we got in, and mom had the house smelling like always- home made food!!!
we had some food, and exchanged stories. I think we all had a great sleep that evening.-
We trained a few days
at home, very short 8 mile run, trying to get some speed back in the team, the cold weather and hard trail instantly adds
horsepower, but the big power comes when you hook the large open team together, I have been running 1 x20 dog team and 1 x
18 dog team, this will form the main team for rondy, aswell as the team we have that Jeff King will run.
2 runs
at home and the dogs are running very well. the speed is coming back and the uniformity of the large team is moving well. ----
we left home on early Saturday morning, and drove hard all day, covering nearly 800 miles before we stayed
near Klaune. We crossed the border in the morning, an Had to go through Fairbanks to get food, and drop off a sled.
we were able to get to Telketna by 10 pm, and got a room.
Yesterday we got up early and went to Bill Kornmullers,
we had some food for him and visited briefly before we headed to Anchorage, as we got closer to the city, the temps rose,
and we seen it hit +7c. Once in the city we hit the car wash, as our truck was a light brown, I painted it back to green and
gold, and we headed to Tozeir track.
Once their we met with the trail boss, he said everthing was good to go, so
I hooked up a 20 dog team and ran the 14 mile trail. all dogs did great and only a couple of dogs looked up at the tunnels,
but no issues and they ran a smooth strong run.
Next I ran my main team, 18 dogs strong, and again the dogs performed
great, no problems with bridges or tunnels, and all dogs wanted to go faster. Their average speed is coming up and the speed
is coming back. once finished I let all dogs loose and they are not even panting, and it was +5c.
----
We have today off, and will meet with Jeff King tomorrow, he will run his team tomorrow, 14 miles and i will go afterwards.
all looks good, its great to be back on faster trails, and running bigger teams. ---
I keep alot of records,
nearly 50 pages for the stage race, and will use these for future references. I also have records for the last 6 years, nearly
every training run and 1 mile split. I use these to gauge my teams strengths and weakness.
Last year on this day
we ran the same trail at Tozeir, and my times are very similar. I am very happy with how the dogs look and feel, and actually
think we will be better then years past.---
hope this finds you all well.
TTYL.
5:08 pm pst
Friday, February 12, 2010
LEAPLEAP- is a new product we have been using this race season- it aids in recovery, stress and injury- we used it on the main
teams in wyoming and were very happy with the results- 2 ML per dog per day- and it can be added to their food- visit
their site below for further info- www.opn-usa.com/ 
8:39 am pst
Saturday, January 30, 2010
race readyrace ready we are- 23 days in west yellowstone and nearly 6 months prep work has built up to the next 7
days. we are in lander- for tomorrows run of 45 miles- lina will drive 10 dogs and i will run 12-lina starts 2nd and me 4th.
it should be a cold morning, but warming as the day progresses. trail is reportedly good. all dogs and mushers
rae happy and healthy, but eager to get started. please check back often, as i know have a computer to access the web from- visit--- www.wyomingstagestop.org -------------- pics to be updated.  jANUARY 1ST- MONTANA- DAY 3 OF TRIP.  SALLY AND DAD- WATCHING THE ROAD--  LOOSE DROPPING 49 DOGS IN MONTANA-  SMOOTH SLEDDING IN JACKSON WYOMING- HERE WE ARE HEADING INTO THE MOUNTAINS-  LINA ND TEAM DRIVING HARD- THELMA AND HERMAN SETTING THE PACE  RETURING TO THE STAGING AREA- LOTS OF TRUCKS AND TEAMS.  VET CHEACK IN JACKSON- HERE LINA IS ASSISITING AS THGE VETS INSERT MICROCHIPS IN THE RACE TEAM FOR IDINTIFCATION-
ITS PUT UNDER THE SKIN AND WILL BE USABLE FOR EVER.  GRAND TETON MOUNTAINS OUTSIDE JACKSON- VERY NICE DAY TO DRIVE TO LANDER FOR STAGE 1.  INTERVEIW WITH THE TOP ATHLETES.
7:32 pm pst
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