SPK Dog Log

The top teams have all completed their rests at Meiers Lake and are on the trail to Tolsona. With two of four checkpoint rests now in the books, we can make some observations about various musher strategies. We can also see the value of handler/support teams who are diligent about doing clock-math despite being exhausted, cold and hungry!

In this table, you can see that first-half rest strategies have ranged from taking only half the required total of 18 hours in the case of Ryne Olson and Nic Petit, to taking closer to two-thirds by most of the other mushers.

You can also see that Allen and Aliy have, as usual, exactly nailed their rest times to “give back” their start differentials. In both cases, 11 hours of rest plus their start differentials (64 & 14 minutes) leave the Black and Red teams with exactly 7 hours of rest due en route to the finish line.

Getting that right is not only important for purposes of not losing any time, it is a matter of pride for the teams to be on top of their game. Aliy and Allen rely on their handlers to advise them about the clock. Great job team!

Why is this exact timing important? Well, the CB300 rules are explicit that any rest periods will only count in 30-minute increments:

“One (1) mandatory layover of six (6) hours plus start differential at any checkpoint. An additional accumulation of twelve (12) hours at any of the checkpoints, in 30 minute increments.”

If a team rests for, say, 6 hours and 11 minutes, those last 11 minutes do not count against their required time and will simply be lost to the team. Every minute counts, and it is unfortunate to wait in a checkpoint for minutes that do not count toward the requirement.

It’s not obvious in the table, but it looks to me like several other top teams have also “hit their time marks” exactly. For example, Michelle Phillips rested 6:56 in Meiers, exactly her 6-hour mandatory plus 56 minute differential. The same looks to be true for Nic Petit and Paige Drobny who have even 30-minute rests remaining. Ryne hasn’t taken her long rest yet, so she will make up her 16 minutes soon. It looks to me like Matt Hall missed the mark, taking 7:14 in Sourdough instead of the 7:02 that was required (6:00 + 1:02). If that is accurate, those 12 minutes are lost. I’ll let you try to suss out the rest of the times for yourself.

I’ve just gotten an email from Moira with a full update, so I’ll leave this topic and post her story very soon… Go SPK

Lots of action overnight in the CB300! While the top teams are all resting in the Meiers Lake checkpoint, let’s start sorting out the situation in this dynamic race by taking a look at various teams’ rest strategies back in Sourdough.

Allen and Aliy both took 5-hour rests, exactly according to their race plans. Nic Petit blew through Sourdough, taking only 30 minutes there. In sharp contrast, Matt Hall took his full mandatory 6-hour rest plus his start differential.

The 7-hour difference between their rest strategies may have put Nic far ahead on the race course, but not actually ahead in the race.

As I have said many, many times: The only thing that really matters in the CB300 is cumulative run times between checkpoints. Nic’s shorter rest put him into Meiers about 6 hours ahead of Matt, but he’s actually about a half-hour behind. He is also a few minutes behind Allen and only a few minutes ahead of the next top teams. Trust the math, not your eyes!

It is worth noting that Nic’s short rest in Sourdough did not materially slow his pace to Meiers. His run-time of 4:41 is only a few minutes slower than teams which took longer rests. In contrast, Matt’s 7-hour rest may have helped his team run at the fastest pace. Looking at the entire list, there’s a noticeable correlation between rest times and run times: the longer you rest, the faster your dogs run.

Longer rests early result in less rest later in the race. We’ll have to watch how that plays out, especially between Nic and Matt. Allen, Aliy and Ryne are using a middle strategy, taking 5 hours rest at the first checkpoint.

It is still very early in the race, and we all know that anything can happen… Go SPK!

A couple of our eagle-eyed fans have noticed that a few of the start times on my worksheet do not match the start times on the CB300 website. I’m aware of that and it’s because of some problems at the start that I’m not convinced have been fully sorted out on the CB300 time sheet.

If you were listening to the start on the radio, you probably noticed that several teams were not ready to start at their designated times. The CB300 rules are very specific about how this is to be handled:

“Teams will leave the starting line at two-minute intervals. Any musher who cannot leave the starting line in the order drawn will be started after the scheduled departure time of the final team.”

Instead, what actually happened is that teams were slotted into the starting flow as they became available. That explains why the starting order doesn’t match the bib order. The problem I see is that the CB300’s worksheet shows teams starting at steady 2 minute intervals, even though that’s not how it actually happened. Instead, as I heard it happen while watching the clock, it looked to me like several slots were missed altogether and some of the later mushers (including Aliy) were pushed back from their designated times due to others being slotted in.

So, for example, the steady 2-minute start gaps on the CB300 worksheet shows Aliy starting at 10:54, her designated starting position was 11:00 and by my clock-watching at the start, she actually started well after 11:00. Considering how precisely the SPK teams time out their pre-race routine, do you actually think Aliy’s Red Team was standing around at the start six minutes early? The dogs would be going nuts. To the contrary, I believe they approached the line exactly on time and still had to wait.

I pointed out the problem to our handler team at the start, and the response to their query was “We don’t think it will matter for the teams that started late.” Meaning, I think, that they are not competitive teams and their actual times won’t really matter in the final standings. That may be true for the teams that missed their start times, but it isn’t true for Aliy, Ryne and others who were started late. We’ve all seen the CB300 come down to minutes between top teams.

Although starting time discrepancies won’t affect run times, they will affect the amount of time teams should take for start differentials. I think the race officials will need to take another look at this, and I won’t be surprised if we see changes to the actual start times and differentials soon. Meanwhile, I’m going to stick with the scheduled start times according to bib numbers, mostly because that’s how my worksheet is set up and I don’t want to rework the whole thing until the issue is sorted out.

If this has been a useful explanation, I’m happy. If it hasn’t been, just pretend you didn’t read it and enjoy the race… Go SPK!

The first 10 teams have arrived at Sourdough checkpoint. We can already see the drama unfolding!

Looking at the order of arrival, you can see that Allen was hot on the heels of Matt Hall, arriving just two minutes later. You can also see that Aliy made up many places, arriving tenth after her start in thirty-first position. No surprise, the rest of “the usual suspects” also had excellent runs and are clearly “in the hunt.”

Switching our view from arrival time to run time, we can see who is actually leading the race.

Once again, “Quick Nic” Petit showed his speed, running a minute faster than Matt and Allen. Ryne is already giving them a run for their money. In the next group, several mushers had very competitive times despite having to make many passes from their later starting spots. Aliy should be very pleased with her time, especially considering that I’ve been informed she carried Sissy in her sled for 30 miles.

We will give you a more thorough update on the teams — including Sissy’s status — as soon as the handlers get the full story from the teams. Meanwhile, the Black and Red teams are already resting, and Chris’ R&B team is closing in on the checkpoint… Stay tuned!

As you can see, Allen and Matt Hall are slugging it out in the early going of the CB300, followed closely by “the usual suspects.” Meanwhile, Aliy is charging up through the field, hot on the heels of our good friend Ryne Olson. You can bet that “the fur is flying” out there.

The teams are still well over an hour from the first checkpoint at Sourdough. Communications is notoriously bad from that checkpoint, but let’s hope Moira can find a way to bang something through. As soon as arrival times are posted on the CB300 website I will start doing some math for you.

The CB300 is always a nail-biter and this year looks like more of the same… Go SPK!

Success in sled dog racing depends primarily on two factors: The attitude, appetite and ability of the dogs, and the skill, strategy and stamina of the mushers. While “outsiders” tend to focus more on the mushers and “insiders” focus more on the dogs, they’re really quite equal in importance. A strong dog team with a weak musher will do no better than a strong musher with a weak dog team.

Some folks may nit-pick that I’ve over-simplified things, but I’ll stand by my basic assertion. It is the “alliance” between humans and canines that makes sled dog racing so addictive for participants and observers alike. It is the centuries-old survival partnership between them that makes sled dog racing a worthy celebration of shared history and, I believe, calls forth in us an instinctive passion.

Beyond the human-canine alliance as the key to success, honest mushers will admit that luck also plays a part. That luck mostly applies to things beyond control or even anticipation, things that don’t happen if you’re lucky and things that do happen if you’re not: Your dogs can pick up a stomach bug; your sled can hit a stump and break; you can fall off your sled and get a concussion. We’ve all seen these things happen and feel badly for the team, stuff which is arbitrary, random or just the way things go in a race. “Better luck next year” is all we can say.

While almost all of the “luck” happens in the race, one piece happens before it: The luck of the draw.

Allen and Commando will be happy starting #6

The bib/starting number which a musher picks out of a hat is a bit of luck that matters. With 38 mushers starting this year’s CB300 at the rate of one every two minutes, the first musher will start 74 minutes before the last. Each team will “give back” their portion of that lead — the “start differential” — at their mandatory 6-hour checkpoint rest as a way of making it all even in the end. That said, however, picking an early starting number has two subtle advantages.

First, an early starting position means that you have little, if any, traffic ahead of you. For speedy teams, that means very little passing needs to be done. This can be significant because passing is not as fast as free running. It takes a little time to pull up on a team ahead, signal your intentions, make the pass then move along. Think about what it’s like to pass a slower vehicle on a two-lane road. It takes time to accomplish before you can step on the gas again. Top teams which pick early starting numbers will be much happier with their luck than those who pick later starting numbers and have to work their way through the crowd.

Second, the earlier your start, the more “start differential” time you have to give back at your longest checkpoint rest. This is also an advantage for early starting teams because instead of getting only the 6-hour mandatory rest, they can get as much as an extra hour-plus of rest. That extra rest is all to the good for a dog team. So, again, early starters will be happier with their luck of the draw. These are slight, subtle advantages, but every little bit helps in a highly competitive race like the CB300.

I’ve often contemplated whether there are ways to take the luck of the draw out of the racing equation. The only thing I’ve ever come up with is to have a mass start where every team charges from the line at the same time. Having seen first-hand how chaotic a race start can be — and the lack of room to maneuver at most races — I don’t see how that’s a workable solution.

If you’ve got a better idea, have at it in the comments… Go SPK!