Some pics of the team

The Team at the start of the CB 300, 

picture by Theresa Daily

Big Dude

Lady, the best leader ever!

3.....2......1..........

Well.....HERE WE GO! The Cosmic Canines are in their final week of preparation for the 2012 Yukon Quest. Most of the hard work is done, we are just packing and tying up a few loose ends. We cannot wait for the start this Saturday in downtown Fairbanks!

Let me tell you this has been one of the toughest winters in my whole entire life. If I continue to channel that drive and perseverance that got me through this winter during the Yukon Quest, we will have a great race. 

This has been the coldest and snowiest winter Interior Alaska has  had in years. November was the 3rd coldest in history, and January was the 2nd coldest. We had 52 below a few times in November, and in January the temperature never got above 0 except one day. We hit a new record low at my house two mornings straight, 62 below. What does that mean for us? When temps are that cold it takes twice as much food to keep a dog team healthy, that means our food budget was wiped out way before we anticipated. Also its hard on all the equipment.. When we drove to our Vet Check the temp was 60 below. Now my truck is in the shop getting the broken exhaust fixed. The race dogs have been living in the house for a few weeks now. That's 14 sled dogs in a 12 by 20 cabin!

We have endured being flat out broke, totalling my truck, losing two race dogs that were hit by a car the week before the race, a 2 week bout with bronchitis, running a race that was cancelled a third of the way (I was counting on some of that purse money), and a relationship on the rocks. But that didn't stop us! When you dream, you dream BIG. And you never give up!

I cannot honestly claim to have endured all of this by myself. First of all. I have to thank my dogs. This is by far the best dog team I have ever driven. Every time I felt like throwing in the towel, I would think about losing the opportunity to drive this team in the Yukon Quest and I just couldn't give that up.

Then there is my family. My parents taught my brother and I how to dream and how to work hard. Goals will not be just handed to you. If you try and fail, try again. I cannot tell you how many times I called my parents in tears this winter. Their support of me in the hard times, and their pride in the good, helped get me through it all.

I also have the best friends in the world. From loaning me dogs to donations to them cheering me on, they were always there. Two Rivers is a great community that stands behind their own. There is always someone who will bail you out when you're in trouble. Who will listen when you need an ear. And will definitely give you advice, whether you want it or not!

Even though its been a tough go, I would like to thank Jay Cadzow. This is his bloodline I am driving. I have tapped every ounce of 40 years of knowledge about driving dogs that I could from him. He has the best eye for dogs I have ever seen. He also knows how to keep dogs at their prime health even when you have nothing. I have tried to absorb all of this and learn. I feel I have grown as a musher more in the last 2 years than I have in 15 years of mushing. I have learned "old school" techniques and ideas that few in the world still remember. Though our cultural and ethical differences has made this relationship a battle, I cannot claim honestly that I did not gain anything out of it.

Lastly and certainly not least I would like to thank our sponsors. Economically this has been a hard year for us. I am just a bartender. I make good money but I am supporting 2 people, 30 dogs, 2 goats, and a mule on my own. I could get another job but that would take time away from training dogs. I am not alone. Individuals, businesses, and race organizations are all suffering. Gas is expensive, dog food costs twice as much as it did a few years ago. If it were not for my sponsors, this Quest would have been impossible. They believe in me and decided to join our team. I would like to recognize my awesome list of supporters.

Tom Schulz

Wes Madden Real Estate

Heike Feidler-Phelps

Peter West and Susan Hyman-West

Sarah West

Peterson Technologies

Two Rivers Lodge

Dew Claw Kennels

Iron Pearl Kennels

My anonymous sponsor superlady! You know who you are!

Mushaholics

Lyle and Cindy Kirgan

Irish Jane and Paul Namtvedt

Mariska Wright

The Two Rivers Community

And everyone else that donated.

I will try to post again before the start. On the trail I won't be able to update, and though I have amazing handlers. They were chosen for their dog savvy and proficiency for logistics not their technological and social media skills. So maybe an update in Dawson and hopefully a recap at the end!

Hopefully we see you at the start!

More pictures from the Whites

First sled run in the Whites

We took our first sled trip out to the White Mountains last week, which marks our long overdue change in training. No more running in circles, tough pulling on the four wheeler, which I am proud to say I only turned the engine on twice, both times to slow them down on a couple gnarly down hills. Now our training will switch to alternate longer camping trips, and short heavy-loaded wood hauling runs. This is great because that means soon, we can just GO.

The “new” dog truck (Thank you again Bob Hauer) should be out of the shop soon and then it will be “look out Alaska here comes the Cosmic Canines!”






There is only a little bit more snow in the Whites, as there is here in Two Rivers, so it’s still a little bit rough. I am thankful to those low snow years I spent in Homer learning to mush now. Those are the skills I was tapping into to keep even a small team together.






Most of the trails are good there are just a couple tore up hills with alternating deep ruts and overflow that you have to keep on your toes for in between Lee’s Cabin and Moose Creek. Otherwise we broke trail all the way from Wickersham to the junction of the Haystack Trail. Then we traveled in the track of one solitary trapper on a snow machine. Looked as if he just put out his Marten Traps, and on the way back he already had one in a set.






There is not much of a snow hook hold except running for a random tree with your hook. So we focused on them waiting for me. Much as if they would do if we were setting out those traps on the line. I tell you when to stop; I tell you when to go. All of our survival depends on it.






While we taking a break at Moose Creek Cabin, I noticed all of the dogs ears perk at attention, they were focused on the center of the large meadow where the cabin is located. I noticed something silver trot to the path we had just come in on. Before I could register in my head, “Hey! A wolf!” along came a larger black one, and then another large sliver one. They sniffed around our trail and then checked us out pretty good before continuing on through the meadow.






Some say seeing wolves is “good medicine.” In any case, both the dogs and I thought it was pretty cool. Mushing in general is good medicine as far as we're concerned.






All in all I thought it was an awesome run. The dogs look great, nice and steady and tuning in. Jupiter and Black got their turn in lead and Jupiter really shined. He’s a fine big 65lb boy who has powerful speed and the strength and size to keep the whole team moving with him.






Borealis also stood out in this trip. At 14 months he is the youngest in the race team. He’s another big 65lb boy who handled his first camping trip like a pro. He ate up the trail, taking it all in like it was nothing.

It’s nice to be traveling again. All the hard work and routine of our fall training is finally giving fruit to what it’s all about. Getting out there!



The newest Cosmic Addition

Spring is in full swing here a Cosmic Canines Kennels! The snow is melting quickly, geese and cranes are flying over head, and we are busy cleaning up the winter’s gear. The trails are slushy and muddy so that puts us in limbo. Not enough snow for sledding and too much for free running with a four wheeler or a mountain bike.

 I have been hiking with the pups though. This litter has been nicknamed “the tribe” or “the savages.” They are a crazy little bunch of puppies. They are sorting out who’s the boss, which is a difficult position to step up to when there are 8 of them. They have left a path of destruction behind them; unfortunately they are quicker at finding newly exposed things that pop out of the melting snow than we are. Soon, I have to be the bad guy and put them on chains. However, they’ll still be able to “escape” on hiking trips.

Spring also means getting ready for the garden. I have so many starts in the house they seem to be taking over. It still freezes most nights, and we don’t have a wood stove in the greenhouse yet, so I can’t utilize it so far. I did score some nice grow lights at a garage sale last year though, so it’s a pretty nice setup. Everything is taking off nicely. I think I may have a surplus, but Two Rivers is good at swapping.

The most exciting news is the new addition to the Cosmic Caprines! Last year my friend Sarah gave me 2 Toggenburg/Alpine Goats, Pallas and Vesta*. I bred Pallas to a neighbor’s Toggenburg buck. And Voila! A little baby goat came to us yesterday. I can’t wait to start milking. I have to wait because the mother only produces colostrum the first few days, which is super important for the newborn kid. It is a girl, which is good. I wasn’t going to keep a male and I still want to expand our little herd. It is amazing that they can walk almost instantly, and within a couple hours, little one was kicking and bucking around some goat attitude!

Toggenburgs are the oldest breed of goat in the world. They are known for their heartiness and good milk production. They are perfect for our little arctic farm.

* Pallas and Vesta are large asteroids in the belt that orbits through our solar system. So keeping with the theme I will name the new little one Ceres. Ceres is the largest asteroid, and is spherical so it is actually considered a dwarf planet. Hopefully, though she is the smallest now, she will grow to be the largest. Ceres is named after the Roman goddess of growing plants, the harvest, and motherly love. Sounds perfect for this time of year!

Pallas is named after the Greek Goddess, Pallas Athena. Athena accidently kills her childhood friend Pallas, a nymph, daughter of Triton, while practicing the art of war. Pallas was about to strike Athena and Zeus, Athena’s father, intervenes. Athena takes advantage of Pallas while she is stunned by the blow and kills her. In mourning Athena then adopts her friend’s name.

Vesta is named after the Greek Virgin Goddess for hearth, home, and family. Ironically enough, Vesta the goat was supposed to also be bred last winter but circumstances were it didn’t work out. Vesta is the brightest asteroid in the sky and is the largest non-spherical body in our solar system.

Coming into Fort Yukon: Yukon Flats 300

The Morning Ritual: Coffee and Puppies

It's hard to have a bad day when you start it off like this!

Yukon Flats 300 (Part 3)

FORT YUKON TO BIRCH CREEK

Anthony, a local sprint musher, rode on the runners with me down the road to where the trail drops onto the Yukon. Its quite the drop off, and the dogs can’t see where you mean them to go. So the race helped us make the turn being, it’s so hard to stop on the hard-packed road.

“Abbie! You can catch Josh, your dogs look way better. He’s only one hour ahead of you!”

One hour! Ha! Realistically I knew that was a lot of time to make up in two 36 mile runs. The only way that would happen is if some radical, race shaking event happened. But if something like that was to happen, Lord knows THIS would be the year for that. I thought about this year’s Quest, Fur Rondy, and Junior Iditarod. What have we learned this year? It ain’t over until ‘til the fat lady sings. I wasn’t going to roll over, but in all likelihood Josh was the champion.

Right now I had to get Lady out of Fort Yukon with out a snafu. We dropped onto the river and I called the team up. The jumble ice and the windblown sand bar, mixed with the glow of headlamp made it seem like we were crossing the surface of the moon. The dogs got excited and we cruised across the river quickly.

Well, that was easy. Nobody even seemed to care we just left Fort Yukon. Cool. Actually, they seemed to be moving nicely. The Yukon River is few miles across until you round a sharp corner into Eagle Slough. Just before we slipped out of sight I turned and looked back to see if I could see a headlamp heading across the river. All I could see was the glow of the village. I felt better but not confident. Ken could be not very far behind and I know he knows how to keep a dog team together so he can push at the end. It seems he’s always that guy your not really paying attention to and then there he is, top 5 in the Iditarod. I had a lot of experience chasing me down, so I knew I had to keep pushing.

We climbed up the steep bank off of slough. The trail then makes its way through the Birch Forest. The trail has little turns and hills through the trees and then it opens up into meadows or little lakes. Its actually quite beautiful. We follow the same trail in and out of Birch Creek. I thought how nice it would be to see it in the morning light on the way back.

The team really was coming together. You couldn’t tell they were 2/3 of the way through a 100 mile run. Or maybe you could, this team isn’t about the high end speed. We aren’t going to go down and win the Nenana Ice Classic Race. They are trained to move at the speed they can carry FOREVER. This team knows how to travel. There are moments when they rumble like a freight train, and there are moments that they seem to float across the snow. You might not see it, but you can feel it on the sled.

Every time the trail opened up I would turn back to look for Ken. I like to keep my headlamp off often so other mushers can’t see where we are at, but it was too dark. However when I would turn back I would cover my light with my hand so that if Ken was back there I wouldn’t instigate his team to try and catch me.

I had a few scares because the Northern Lights were so spectacular and bright, I thought at first glance it was the glow of his headlamp coming.

There is always that moment in a race that you think back and remember, that was when it all was perfect. This is the moment I will think about for this race. The dogs traveling like a silk ribbon down the trail, being chased down by Ken Anderson and the Northern Lights. Trail marker reflectors streaking by in the night. Dropping into the low lying river cold of Birch Creek. And pulling into the spinning airport light of the tiny village of Birch Creek.

Josh’s team again was well at rest, so I could tell I hadn’t gained any time worthy of being a threat to him. But I never caught a glimpse of Ken either.

The volunteers were very helpful and brought me hot water for dogs and coffee. I had to maximize this short rest. I personally do not like 2 hour rests. I know they help the dogs recover a little, but I’m still not convinced its not wasted time. Someone once said any rest under 4 hours is a waste. But in this race, and usually in other races, they are necessary to be competitive. I incorporate 2 hour rests in training runs often, I just kept reminding myself of this. Also the team was rolling, but I was still holding them back a little. I didn’t want to stove them up before resting them so short.

The dogs were bedded and fed. So I went inside. There really was no point in trying to sleep. Josh was resting but I could tell, not really getting any sleep. It was just as well because there was a lady named Mackey who entertained me by telling lots of stories about Jay and his mother, and all her Aunties, and all her Cousins. Every story began with, “Oh so and so, she is my mother’s uncle’s sister-in-law’s cousin….” or something of the sort. As she told these stories she threw in phrases like “I dig it” or “it was a trip man. ” It made the time go quickly.

Ken pulled into the checkpoint about 35 minutes after me. That made me nervous. I didn’t want 2nd place taken away in the last few miles like on the Two Rivers 200, but with only 35 minutes separating us, that certainly was a possibility. Ken also mentioned that he had turned down the “New Trail” at the overflow, and realized quickly that it was a bad idea so he turned around to that the “Overflow” route. So that meant he had wasted some time. How much? Is that the only reason I am still in front of him? I had my work cut out for me in the last 36 miles.

Birch Creek to Finish

All too quickly, it was time to go. I went out and got the dogs ready. They weren’t as perky as usual, but I could tell we were going to leave well. Jupiter was a little stiff, hopefully he would warm out of it. We took off into the night. There was just a hint of a sunrise on the horizon. It would be day light by the time we reached Fort Yukon.

I had a head on pass with Tom Lesatz, just outside of Birch Creek. He didn’t seem very positive.

“I had a mutiny Abbie. How far to Birch Creek?”

“Its just right there.”

Then on the other side of the spectrum I met Jodi Bailey about 20 minutes later.

“Whoo hoo! How far?” she called as she whizzed by.

I had to call back to her, “About half an hour!”

After the dogs warmed up completely, Jupiter did run out of his stiffness, I decided we better start moving. Who knows if and when Ken was going to pull up behind us. So every open area I would call the dogs up, then I would let them slow down and rest in the trees again.

They really looked great. It was a beautiful sunrise. It was a great morning! Next I had a head on with Hugh Neff and Jessie Holmes.

Hugh said, “He’s about an hour in front of you.”

“I don’t care about him, I’m worried about Ken behind me!”

It seemed a lot quicker going back then heading out. But then it always does. Sooner than expected we dropped onto Eagle Slough and the dogs really started to drive. We made the sharp turn out onto the Yukon and we cruised by our midnight moon landscape which had lost its eeriness in the morning light. Now I could see the water tanks and shacks on the banks of “the Fort” and no Ken in sight behind. The dogs seemed to skip across the river ice and up the bank. They did it!

There was a small crowd gathered, Jay, and of course Earl. I couldn’t believe he was still out there! Cosmic Canines, the 2 time Yukon Flats 300 2nd place winners. Even though Josh declared at the finish banquet that we could all come back and try to beat him, but it would be tough. Maybe 3rd time will be a charm for us.

The Team:

Lady       Grumpy

Sleepy     Sirius

BossMon  Jupiter

Mud        Big Dude

Dopey     Cloud

CONGRATULATIONS TO JOSH AND ALL THE OTHER MUSHERS!!!!

After the race

I want to thank Fort Yukon for being so hospitable. We stayed for the dances and the Sprint Race. I spent time with Jay’s daughter and granddaughter. It was a nice banquet. And although I didn’t want to leave, I had a wonderful run back to Circle. It was sunny and just the PERFECT spring day. And to top it off Circle served us some of the best Moose Stew, biscuits, and Salmon Salad I have ever had when were done. Thanks to you too!

This race has me anxious for the year to come. The up and coming pups combined with this group are going to be fun to drive. They’re solid, they’re happy, and know how to travel. I can’t wait to show ‘em off next year!