Ron’s Ride — Part 1

We’ve spent a few days looking at “Logistics” preparation for the Iditarod, so let’s turn our attention back to “Training.”

One of the trickiest things I’ve noticed about what Aliy and Allen have to do in training preparation for the Iditarod is getting all the dogs “in-sync.” In other words, they want all 32 dogs — 36 including “alternates” — to be in their top physical condition, all at the same time, right at the beginning of the race. Unfortunately, the dogs don’t all start training for the big day from the same level of fitness.

Some of them, for example, have run many more miles in early season racing while some of their kennel-mates have stayed home and been couch potatoes. As a result, different dogs are at different levels of fitness and need different amounts and kinds of training to get them into top condition. So, in addition to the “big teams” that they take out almost every day, Aliy and Allen have also been taking out some “little teams” on “tune up” runs as needed to help them all get “in sync.”

Aliy was getting ready to head out with one of these “little teams” while my friend Ron was visiting last week, and she invited him to go along for a ride in the sled. He jumped at the chance, of course, and at the last minute I handed him one of my cameras and asked him to try to get me some footage.

Well, not only did Ron get some really great video from a “sled’s eye” view, but he asked Aliy a number of really good fundamental questions to which she — as usual — gave really informative answers. Miraculously, there is very little wind noise in the audio, so you can hear just about every word!

Thanks to Ron, you can now enjoy a special treat, a “virtual” ride in a sled on an absolutely beautiful day, and have many of the questions you might ask thoroughly answered by Aliy. In fact, Ron got so much great footage that I have edited it into a few parts. Now, I am delighted to present “Ron’s Ride — Part 1″… Thanks, Ron!

(Note: Ron is exclusively a still photographer and had never shot video before. As a result, he was unfamiliar with videography being a slave to the horizontal format and his instinct to compose in the viewfinder made him turn the camera vertically at times. In order to keep you from having to tip your head back and forth to look at these videos, I have rotated the clips as necessary. This has worked pretty well except for the slight distortion that results from cramming vertical video back into horizontal format. I don’t think it will detract from your enjoyment of the video, but if you suddenly see the dogs looking a little short and squat, don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with them, your computer or you. It’s just the video distortion.)