Fun run in Hill, NH some clips

Day one:






Day two:

Hill, NH

team SnowRunner came in second at the 12mile race in Hill, NH.
not bad for the puppy team.

the puppies first encounter with a snowmobile

except of Waya the three other pups in the team (Wolk, Lobo and Lund) did very well when the snowmobiles passed.

tough training

we had a nice trainings run today.

the 4th in a row but today we had 8" fresh snow. good for muscle building.

8 dogs

first time out with 8 dogs. it's a bit different than with 4, especially when there are 4 puppies in the team ;-).
That was yesterday at the Devils Den.

some clips from the Purity Spring race

And here the videos from our attempt to do the 4 dog class at the NESDC Purity Springs "Sled dog classic".
Both clips are pretty long and show almost the whole course. I cut only the really boring / slow sections.
But especially the video from Sunday's run gives you a pretty good impression about the trail and the excitement in such a short event. There were a lot of head-on-passings, passing and re- passing, a crowded turnaround and so on, you will see.
Since our focus is on "longer" skijoring/pulka races, the team is used to running on a heavy tobbogan-sled 8-20miles in training. So, the "short" 5miles was something different for us. But since I still have a stiff knee and can't stay on the skies and I wanted to do at least one more race this season Purity Springs was the choice.

As I already wrote, the temperatures were springlike in the 50's F (10-13°C), but a 2+feet hard packed, well groomed trail and a very dedicated crew made it possible to run even at 4:30pm, when our class started. At that time the trail was of course slushy and chewed up but still in good condition besides some water sections .

Here is the run fom Saturday:



Nothing special to say except I was surprised to see how long the switching of two dogs can take .

Sunday's run:



Much more exciting because first we started in reverse order and immediatley right after the 4dog pros. Therefore there is more to see.
You may realize one dog is missing from the start. Chinook was fine until I put the harness on him and I saw that he limped a bit so no question he had to stay at the truck.
You will see that I took Quest of the neckline because he was pulled a couple of times by the two youngsters and he was "neck-lining". Almost immediately he started to fall back and run next to the sled and I had to watch that I did not run in to him. The last mile or so now there were only 2 active pulling dogs, Luc and Kaillou. A lot of running/pushing for me but that's fine.

With 8 years Quest is actually not that old but he had a ton of injuries and surgeries in his life and runs very stiffly. So I have to accept that he slows down now. But again; he is an incredible command leader.

In the end I'm pleased with the performance of the two youngsters. It was the first time for them in"lead" in a race and they handled it well.
And with our new additions, the two Sepp puppies, there will be an all Seppala Siberian 4dog sprint team next year. So watch out folks

liv's ride

befor I post some pictures from last weekends race in Purity Springs, here a very short video from Liv going out with us the Sunday before.



She is a toughy that little girl. First sitting for four miles in the sled and then on our way back she stood on the runners for four miles.









Unfortunately she wasen't allowed to enter the 1 dog junior 100m dash at Purity Springs last weekend because the NESDC requires the kids to be five years old. But she sayd she is rady for next year.

still here!

but much too busy at work and at the new addition.
therefore I will only post some of my favorite pictures from last winter, starting with this one:



Dec. 08 2007;
Nils had some friends over and we went out on the trail behind the house. The dogs and I gave all of them a sled ride.
After 5x 1mile loops with bouncing kids in the sled the dogs had enough - me too I was sweating like a pig.

canicross with 4 dogs and a sled :-)

Yesterday morning we went out again to the Devils Den for a fast 13miler.
We had warm temperatures and a bit of rain the other night so the trail had some icy spots and frozen overflows. Overall it is still a very good trail with a 1foot base or so.
I decided to simulate a race like training. Means I pulled out my "Icebug" sneakers with the studs and wore my running close.
so fare I trained like that the dogs could go their own pace I didn't forced or interrupt when ever they decided to mark or poop on the trail.
Not so yesterday, race means pooping and peeing on the go. No still stand allowed, most of the time I encouraged them to lop, not to trot. Also and especially on the hills. So far I let them pull my self standing on the sled on the hills no help, no pedaling sometimes we hardly moved but I didn’t help.

Yesterday I hopped from the sled every time the pace was slower than 12km/h or so.

All the time on the sled I wear a skijor/bikejor/canicross belt and hook my self up to the sled. That way I maybe get dragged but never loose the team. I wouldn’t do that with an 8 or 10 dog team ;-)

So it looks like canicross with 4 dogs and a sled between us. Of course I can do that only on the hills, otherwise they are to fast. And I assume and hope with a 6 dog team you do not have to run at all. (we plan to have two more dogs next year)

Here some pictures of the conditions from yesterday morning

first longer run on snow

had a 21km run incl. a 5km tiring trailbraking (on purpose to get it in their head) at the Devils Den this morning, after that I took Luc and Kaillou out for another 5km quick skijoring just for fun and to give them the idea of whats to come in the next weeks. thats the plan for the remaining weeks befor the races, 10-20miles all together with the sled and after that 5-8 miles skijoring or pulka with the two Sepps.

This video is from yesterday early morning, we did a 14km run. The light was just enough to take that clip. It finally looks like Christmas, doesn't it?




and here some Pictures how it looked like, when I drove home and passed the Merrymeeting Lake.

almost perfect

are the conditions at the "devils den" trail right now.
they must have groomed last night and when I came early morning today there was a nicely 4m wide hard packed trail. not all of the side trails are groomed yet but it is good enough to do a 8-9 mile fast trainings session. I put new QCR-runners on yesterday and we were just flying.
The dogs and I enjoyed it.

Hardcore Training 12-16-07

meanwhile we received almost as much snow as we had the whole winter last year.

Sunday morning we had another 8-10" fresh, more heavyer snow at -13°C.

Plan is plan so we trained in that stuff. the trails are still ungroomed and our own track from the day before was gone of course so it was a serious 17km training for the dogs. but that should be enough with the muscle build up training. Now we need some long and slow runs to get the distance and time on trail in the head and mind.

the good thing is that kaillou keeps up with the other three even he lacks several weeks of training. And it is not that he floats.

hope the snowmobile club starts grooming in the next days.
However, next run is Wednesday night.

sled training 12-08-07

this footage is from last Saturday morning.
I started right out of the kennel. the first 500m are on the trail I cut last summer, you will see there are still some trees in my way :)
it was a nice, short run, still not perfect.



we had some rain and ice over the week and just now received another 5" snow on top of an 5" packed. the forcast says 10" more on Sunday. that should make nice runs over the weekend at the devels den. hope to finaly get some mileages in. for the coming two weeks it is important to increase the distance on snow to at least 12miles every trainings session, otherwise I can forget all the longer skijoring/ pulka races this season. because of the porcupine story we are 6 weeks behind the trainings schedule.

2007 Bartlett, NH 24 miles

That race was the longest distance our dogs run so far. During the training over the last months we had just two runs with 19miles. But those two runs where exactly on that trail where they put that race on. So I decided – let’s try it. First I thought to bother the race organizers again with the question whether I can race with a pulka or not. But since I was very unsure about the conditions and if it would be ski-able at all I decided not to take the pulka.
There were two other reasons; I liked to have that experience from the Mannsville Quest race two weeks ago sticking in the head of the puppies as a very good one. And second the trail here in Bartlett was an out and back with a big turnaround in the middle. That would mean that we would have to have a head-on-passing with each single other team. And that maybe would be difficult for the two young dogs pulling a pulka.
Ok, so we did it again with a sled and four dogs in a field of 13 others which all raced with 6 dogs, actually over all there were 21 competitors if you count the open class together.

here some scenes from the stake out and some starts



To be out there and race just with four dogs doesn’t matter that much anymore since I’m meanwhile getting used to be the fifth dog and run and push mostly on the hills. But it is really noticeable an those long hills if you run with a third less of the power than of 6 dogs.
I knew it would be difficult for Chinook to keep up with the three racers. He has his limits at a speed of 14mph or 22kmh or so. That’s where the puppies and Quest just start to loop. So, I expected to even put him in the sled bag to be faster on the last downhill. It ended up that I just took him of the neckline and let him run on the tugline. What he did, he actually run beside the sled.

You will see it in the video.



Over all it was again a good experience for the dogs and it turned out as a perfect exercise for passing, being passed and most of all head-on passing. We came in 8th place in 2:38. Which is again as I believe not that bad since Chinook and in the end also Quest “necklined” a lot. The two puppies especially Luc are doing what I expected from them to do (pedigree), focused on the run, getting stronger each run, getting faster each run and leading the small team without distraction. (more or less)

see some more pics here

and here that video from our ride up to Mt. Caverly

I finally put that video together.



That hill is approx. 1200 feet, it is nothing spectacular though it has has some tough parts on the trail especially on the way down.

Again the view from up there is amazing!

Mt. Caverly

I went with the dogs up to Mt. Caverly. last fall I was there with the mountain bike and I never thought we make it with the sled especialy down the hill. But with 1,5 feet of snow all the bumps and holes and washouts are filled and it wasn't as scary as I thought. good to have a mat brake!
All four dogs digged great even Chinook.

What you see in the back is the completely frozen lake Winniepesaukee.
For my friends in Germany: Just for comparison that lake has the sam square-km like the Mueritz in Germany. imagen the Mueritz freezes competely and you can drive on it with a Pickup truck :-)

more pics here

A video of that ride will come soon.

you should always hold on with two hands :-)

2007 stratford nighthawk

Our very first "sled" – race ever.
Saturday 02/03, First day 6” fresh snow, which was very soft but hard to run on for the dogs. And they have beautiful scenic trails up there! What a nice views! The 15miles (which were actually just 11.5 according to my gps) had in the beginning light hills to climb on but nothing bad.
The Sunday was almost perfect with groomed, hard trails. But after 38 teams in front of us it wasn’t so hard anymore :). Crisp cold with -18°C + wind but not to cold to run. I had a lot of fun and for that that we are a team of two puppies, a multiple injured lead dog and a showy stubborn fluffy I'm proud of my guys with the 12th place in the mostly 6dog class. In fact I did a lot of running too so I felt like the fifth dog :) Someone told me it looks like canicross with 4dogs and a sled between us. I always use a skijoring belt and a skijoring-bungee-line to be hooked up to the sled. that way I don't loose the team, they just drag me :)

here some impressions from the stake out and the trail:



and here some more pictures.

Visit from England

Ali, Christa's stepmother from England came to us in the hope to go skiing and have fun in the snow. Instead we went to the beach in York, ME with almost summer like temperatures (68°F).

But the next weekend we went out for a ride in the White Mountains to the Bear Notch. It was fun and the dogs had their workout (me too as I was skijoring and the other day jogging behind the sled :)





and here a short video, the dogs were a bit confused since they normally listen to my voice from their back.