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Updates
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Update, April 14, 2007: First of all I would like to apologize for
being so slow with this update. After withdrawing from the Iditarod it
is hard to face the music. For the last 3 years all my time, effort, and
money has gone towards this race. Then when you have to cancel your
plans it is devastating.
The ups and downs of the season were pretty typical until my 2 main leaders got injured. Cobra and Dexter. Cobra was out for the season and Dexter was sidelined for a month. This left me with one, not so confident, command leader. So to fill the leader spot I bought another lead dog. The only problem was that we didn't have our timing down. We are just now starting to get it together. Then the biggest obstacle of all hit me. I didn't have enough finances to go any further. All the unexpected expenses were starting to surface. So before I hit total bottom I thought for my best interests and the dogs we should withdraw. Withdrawing was hardest thing I've done in my life. It is a set back but I still want to run the race. Now I would like to take this time to thank everyone who has helped me get to this point. Past and Present. Because without you guys this dream will not become reality. Happy Trails, Rodeo and Dogs Update December 21, 2006: Merry Christmas to everyone, or Happy Holidays if you prefer. Training is going well. Rodeo is now doing 40 mile training runs, still with 12 dog teams. Next week he is planning to start on 50 mile runs and camping trips with a 16 dog team. The trails here on Ogden Mountain are not long enough for these runs, so Rodeo will load up the team and drive to the Seeley Lake area to train on the same trails used for the Race to the Sky and the Seeley Lake Races.
Once again, Rodeo's race plans have changed.
He is a couple of weeks behind in training and cannot afford to spend too
much time traveling to the shorter races, and he does not have enough dogs
to risk injuring any of them in the longer races. So, Rodeo has finally
decided to run only the Seeley Lake 200 before heading to the Iditarod. He
won't really be racing this race. Instead he is planning to take along all
of the dogs that have never done a long distance race and put a couple of
good leaders in front of them just to see how everybody does under
pressure. All of the dogs that finish this race will be part of his
Iditarod team. This race will start in Seeley Lake, Montana on January
5th. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.
We've posted some pictures of Pinky's Puppies in the Photo Gallery. Take a look and see how fast they are growing.
Rodeo would like to give a special Thank
You to Joanne Lambkin, owner of Lambkin's Restaurant and Lounge in Lincoln,
Montana. Rodeo was trying to cash a check in Lincoln, but nobody would cash
it, not even the bank. Rodeo finally tried the Lounge at Lambkin's, and
Joanne was kind enough to cash his check so he would have gas money to make
it home. Thanks again Joanne!
Rodeo is still doing 28 mile training runs with a 12 dog team. The first 28 mile run took 3 hours 45 minutes. Yesterday he did the same run in 2 hours 35 minutes. His goal is to do that same run in 2 hours 20 minutes before he starts on 50 miles runs and camping trips.
Rodeo has decided to drop all of
the yearlings from training on the main team and save them for
next year's team. He has started pushing the dogs a little
harder than the yearlings should be pushed. He wants to make
sure he doesn't do any damage to them either mentally or
physically. He has also decided to sell Trouble and Pinky. The
team's speed has really picked up lately and the two ladies just
aren't fast enough to keep up.
November 29, 2006:
Finally, we are running dogsleds on snow. The 4-wheeler held
together just long enough and is now retired for the winter. The
dogs are happy to be on sleds. Their attitudes have really picked up
without a 4-wheeler making lots of noises and always threatening to
run them over. Rodeo did his first 28 mile run today. The dogs were
tired, but they made it home.
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