CB300 start to Tolsana
Greetings race fans. This year’s Copper Basin 300 got off to a great start. The temperatures are unseasonably warm for these parts, as it was around minus 14 when we got up at 6 am to feed this morning, and by the race start at 10 a.m. the temps were up into the single digits. Cole and the team got off great. She left the starting chute with Zoya and Penny in lead. I have Metoo and Shagoo in the truck with me for company, and Metoo went completely wild when she saw the team getting hooked up. After they left she bagn pouting for several hours and destroyed a bag of Doritos I was saving for lunch/dinner. THis is the second time on this trip my rations have been sabatoged. Last night someone in the cab of the trcuk at a packaga of Rolo’s candy. Penny, Zoya, Shaoo and Metoo were all in there, so it’s anybody’s guess who got them.
Anyhoo, back to the race. I drove up the road aways and saw mushers where they move along the side of the road for a few miles. The snow was really soft and a few inches deep. The trail conditions looked to be getting worse and wrose with each passing team. As Cole went by she shouted that everyone was doing well, but she did have one of the bolts to her brake snap off while on a driveway crossing. This puts her down to one brake already, so she said she will likely get with the judges to ask if she can get a time penalty to get a spare bolt off the sled on the truck. She’ll do it when she gets to her first planned stop at Wolverine. If they say no, she can always make it through with one brake, but some of the downhills when she hits the mountains will be a bit fast.
Further up the trail, I met Cole as she came through the first checkpoint at Tolsana (23 miles into the race). The team looked great, and one of the veterinary staff even made it a point to tell me how great the team looked. It was a real honor to hear since we take so much pride in how we care for our dogs. The turnaround at Tolsano was a little wierd, a bit of a buttonhook, where on coming teams get really close to outgoing teams. I was sbapping pictures instead of paying closer attention and Cole leaders jumped off the trail breifly, but she was able to get them back on quickly and keep on trucking. Her speed to Tolsano was fantastic considering the trail conditions. She made it in just aover two hours, so her moving time was around 10.5 mph. HOpefully she can keep some steam on them on the way to Wolvering and then give them a good rest.
Cole wasn’t sure how long she would stay at Wolvering. Her initial plan was to stay for around 4 hours, but the weather reports from the north end of the trail, up at Paxson, are calling for the temperature to drop to around minus 20 degrees with strong winds of 30-35 mph moving in. This will make for some serious windchill, but will also complicate the crossing of large lakes and high hills in this area. Cole wants to stay ahead of weather, rather than getting caught in some of the open areas, so she may cut her rest shorts at Wolverine and Sourdough. TIme will tell, but I should no more by my next update. Stay tuned.
Cole and the team not long after leaving the starting chute. As you can see, there’s no shortage of snow in this regions this year. Th dogs were working hard to keep plowing through it.
A bundled up Cole comes acorss the lake into Tolsana checkpoint. The temperature was hoving in the single digits, but is dropping as she nears Wolverine Lodge. Always one of the coldest places in the race, the temperature at Wolverine now (where I’m writing from) is minus 12, but it will definetly get colder as the sun goes down.