Denali Doubles Training
Training is underway for the Denali DOubles race next week. This will be a first for us, if not dog racing in general, as the format requires two mushers to drive one team of 20 dogs. We have never ran more than 14 dogs at a time, so running 20, even with two people, is a bit like trying to steer a run-away locomotive.
We hooked up two sleds for our first attempt and the run went great. We banged out 50 miles with minimal problems really. We learned the second sled rider basically eats a face full of snow every time the front sled brake is used. We also saw the line between the sleds needed to have some form of protective sheath. We also saw that for our sizes, combined weight of the two of us is about 350 pounds, that the dogs were moving a little slower than we would like.
As a result, we will be building a new component to an existing sled tonight in the hopes of making it so we both can ride it. Then we could cut weight by only having one sled. We’ll see how the construction goes, and then the pilot run next weekend. We’ll update as learn more. Until then, enjoy these other photos from this past weekends run.
This photo shows that 20 dogs is a whole lot of dog team, especially on the down hills/ A few tmies we notice some of the team would be going up the next hill before the part of the team closest to the sled was done coming down.
Any tangle we got was like running a wind sprint. We would be huffing and puffing by the time we got back to the sled. It was a looooong run to the front.
You don’t want too many tight corners with this many dogs.