With Bridgett — Allen’s daughter — and her husband Scotty coming down from Nome for the Thanksgiving weekend, Aliy and Allen decided to take advantage of their combined mushing abilities to head out on the first long — over 100 miles — two day training run of the season. Running four teams of ten dogs each would mean that almost all of the “main” dogs would get a really good workout.
In preparation, Allen spent some time in the kennel shop, making sure that four sleds were “good to go.” I’ve been trying to get Allen on video, so I decided to put him on the spot and ask him “Watcha doin’?” with the camera running.
The result is this little video of Allen talking about sled maintenance — plus a few other general observations — and sharing his knowledge and wit on camera for the first time:
(Note: If you’d like to see more videos of Allen, please leave a comment and let him know. He thinks people only want to see Aliy because, as he puts it, “She’s the pretty one!”)
Don’t be shy, Allen! We’d love to see more of you, too!
YES dad…we’d love to see more of you!!!:) jacob likes listening to (and seeing) his “pops”:):)!!!!
Thank you Allen for talking about replacing worn sled runners. That’s something I will have to do soon. Please continue to contribute your knowledge and experience of dog sledding with the SP Kennel Dog Log fans and readers!
“Pops”??????
Oh, this is going to be too much fun.
What goes into stocking a sled for race…the amount of dog food needed between check points and do you have emergency reserve? If so, on what is it based. Is there food between checkpoints (other than junk food) for musher to heat and eat? What do you pack for emergency repairs to sled?
Yes, we’d like to see both Allen and Aliy on the videos. Thanks again for providing these, we LOVE watching them!!
YES! More Allen please. Aliy may be prettier, but Allen's got the great accent! Where's Allen from? Somewhere Southern–and probably a long way from snow! I read the Q & A for Aliy, as in how she ended up in AK and got into sled dog racing. Would love the same type of story about Allen.