First sled run of the season!

I took 10 of the A team dogs out on our first sled run of the season today. I loaded up the team and sled and went over to Jodi's, just across the road. We both took our main race team out for a 50 mile run. Everything seemed to go well at first. I had Just & Feather in lead, Dusk & China in swing, Booger & Tricky in team, Inu & Rocket just in front of the wheel dogs, and Jake & Taurus in wheel. I was carrying 2 bags of dog food for some weight, to help keep the speed down. We made it out of the driveway in one-piece and the run started off nicely. Then, about 5 miles into the run, I looked down and see the cross bar at the front of my sled that holds the bed up had broken...the plastic snapped in half. That left the front of the bed hanging down. Not cool! I hooked down to a tree and proceeded to tie the bed up. After a good 20-30 minutes, we were back on our way. Due to the broken cross bar, I dropped a bag of kibble off at Bill's house, to lighten the load in my sled a bit. This seemed to help, as I was able to do a full 50 mile run with the sled.

We were going to run up to Stiles Creek cabin, but didn't want to take any chances with my sled; so, we went out to the rifle range instead. The dogs ran nicely, no problems crossing the three sections of overflow (it's wet and flowing...water was above my ankles), though Colorado Creek was surprisingly nice, and then we made the turn around the range to head back. We stopped the dogs to give them a snack break. I checked/cleaned feet and we just took a break. I was trying to convince Inu that he was supposed to rest, but he just kept barking away. Dusk was also barking, so I put him up in lead to give Just a well-deserved break. We took off and I told Jodi to go ahead. Her dogs were already running 40s, while ours have done 20s on the atv for months. The dogs ran slowly for the first 30 minutes...stopping to poop and pee every so often. I was thinking that we'd never get back! Then, it was like someone threw a switch and they just took off! I was just floored; but, very happy! We caught Jodi at the road crossing where she was waiting for us (only 11 minutes...not bad!) and we headed off again. I stopped the dogs just after Jenny M creek to give the dogs a well deserved pat and checked feet. There were a few ice balls here and there. I noticed that Booger had a scrap on his front foot, and Tricky had a tiny scratch and a raspberry up inside his foot (that's where some ice gets up in there and rubs). So, I bootied those gentlemen right up and off we went. The dogs finished the run slow, but all came in looking good.

I'm very proud of these guys! To do a 50 mile run like that, and do it well, is great! We had some good overflow/ice/water to get through, the road crossing to navigate, as well as a nasty drop onto Jenny M creek (not cool with a broken sled!), several head on passes with other teams and they managed to do it all with no trouble. If we can get my sled fixed in time, we're planning another run, but this time we want to go out to Stiles Creek cabin...another good 50 mile run. I think I'll take 2 different dogs and leave 2 home, to continue with a 10 dog team. It's iffy to run them on a sled, but there are plenty of trees to hook to, and hooks are holding in certain places. Still, it's so much better to be on SLEDS!!! Wahoo!

I'll post some pictures of the run up as soon as we get them downloaded. Later all!