Hurry Up and Wait

It's been a couple of boring days. Tuesday I had my annual physical and I was assigned a mid morning time which meant time to kill. I went and checked out the new Hobby Lobby store that opened down in Clay. They have very nice stuff - hopefully they'll have very nice sales too. I found lots of things I'd like for the garden and some pretty fabrics. I showed up for my physical right on time and the four ahead of me were still there. So I waited........

We've had several days of heavy rain that have washed away some of the snow. The temperature is supposed to drop until the weekend and we may get some fresh flakes so I'm still waiting for the snow to be gone.




I've enjoyed following the Iditarod but we're at the 24 hour layover, the first of three mandatory rests at a checkpoint. Everyone seems to be stopping at either Takotna or McGrath so more waiting. *Except for Martin Buser! Buser blew through Takotna about three hours ago. Bold move!? Time will tell. During this layover the times will be adjusted to make everyone even from the staggered start, so all but the last musher will spend more than 24 hours.

All at Takotna

• 6th - Jeff King

• 12th - Aliy Zirkle

• 22nd - Ryan Redington

• 23rd - Robert Bundtzen

• 27th - Allen Moore

Mush!

The Iditarod begins right about now, with the ceremonial start in Anchorage, Alaska. The mushers and their teams will cruise through the city with an Iditarider in the sled, rather than supplies. Tomorrow the real race begins from Willow.

I will of course be cheering for my cousin's husband, Robert Bundtzen. He is wearing bib # 51.

The economy has affected even the great race so the field is a lot smaller than last year's. I was hoping this year would be the year for Zack Steer but he is sitting this one out. Hopefully the economy will recover and Alaskan tourism will thrive this summer (especially at Sheep Mountain Lodge!) so that we'll see Zack back on the trail next year.

Marianne, at Northview Diary, is a Jeff King fan. Jeff is one of the top mushers but she follows him because of his local connection. Jeff has his own homepage, blog and Youtube channel. He will be wearing bib # 41.

Mike followed Ryan Redington last year as part of a school project and we'll be following him together again this year. He had to scratch last year so we're hoping he has better luck this year. He is wearing bib #13.

I'll also be watching husband - wife team, Allen Moore, bib #6, and Aliy Zirkle, bib #24 because I discovered their kennel's blog, The SP Kennel Dog Log, awhile ago. They have someone that will be updating for them during the race and I'm looking forward to coverage from their perspective. They have some interesting videos and great information on all the work that goes into race preparation.

I'll most likely be updating through out the week but here are some links to check throughout the race.

• Iditarod.com
• Iditablog
• Iditablog Twitter feed
  
• Anchorage Daily News
• flickr - iditarod
• Eye on the Trail
• Picasa - iditarod

If you have any other links please share them!

So who are you cheering for?

Iditarod Update

UPDATE 9:23 PM: Zack Steer has jumped from 18th to 5th! He didn't stop in Kaltag so he must be planning to camp on the trail. There's a good chance that he'll get passed on the trail but it's made for a fun day checking for updates.

The weather has been warmer in Alaska the past week than it has been here! The warm weather is making the Iditarod trail soft and slow. Zack Steer's dog team hasn't seemed to coalesce like last year. After being one of the front runners he has dropped back to 18th.

From the Anchorage Daily News today:

"This is a neat race from a spectator standpoint," Steer said. "There's a lot of different things happening this year."

Steer pointed out that his kennel partner, Robert Buntzen, could crack the top 30 with their puppy team. Steer expects the 57-year-old doctor to pass him in the next couple of days.

"He's no spring chicken either," Steer said.

Steer, 34, is running with dogs from three different kennels. He admitted Saturday in Galena that he doesn't have the chemistry of last year, when he finished a career-best third. He carried Antelope for 30 miles on the Farewell Burn and Dori for 50 miles out of McGrath.

He's right when he says it has been a neat race for the fans! Early in the race it was very hard to keep track of who was leading. Now it seems that it is a race between Lance Mackey and Jeff King but anything could happen down the trail!



Robert Bundzten is currently at Galena, on the Yukon River, in 37th place and has only dropped one dog. Right behind him is Clint Warnke of Ridgeline Kennel and I've been following his race at their blog. Into Galena after Clint was rookie Molly Yazwinski who will be moving to Ithaca after the race to attend Cornell Veterinary School. Sue Allen is still on the long stretch between Ophir and Cripple. Mike had to pick a musher to follow for school. He choose Ryan Redington and unfortunately Ryan scratched yesterday. I don't know how that will affect Mike's school project.

I have had fun learning a little about many of the different mushers. There were 96 at the start of the race and there are still 87 racing so I haven't been able to read up on everybody but the ones I have are all interesting with different backgrounds and strategies. The leaders are closing on Nome but there should still be some interesting racing left!

North to Alaska!

A record 96 teams completed the ceremonial start of the Iditarod was yesterday in Anchorage. Today the real race begins from Willow. The race alternates routes every year and this year they will be following the northern route.

I will be following three teams in particular this year.

My cousin by marriage, Robert Bundtzen, wearing #97, will be the last musher out onto the trail. Robert finished 43rd last year and I'm guessing that he will have a young team again this year.

The Anchorage Daily News has a great slide show featuring Robert and tons of other race news here. (Scroll down to "Prepping for Iditarod." I haven't discovered how to link directly to the individual media presentations on their site.)

From the ACP Observer:

Internist Robert Bundtzen, FACP, an infectious disease specialist from Anchorage, has had a different experience with the Iditarod. He's run the race 10 times since 1995, and has yet to use his medical skills for anything serious.

"Once in a while someone will get hurt and they will come up to me, usually with an orthopedic injury," said Dr. Bundtzen. "A couple times I've been asked to examine fellow mushers on the trail for shortness of breath, wheezing or frostbite. Nothing major."

Zack Steer, wearing #26 finished 3rd last year! Will he be near the front of the pack again this year? Will dogs from several different kennels work well together again?

From KTUU.com:

Steer remains the torch bearer for underdogs -- the mushers who take on the Iditarod's elite and beat them.

"In my kennel, if you've got four legs and you're healthy, you're on my team," he said. "I'm constantly getting small kennel mushers saying, 'thanks, you're giving us hope, a chance.' I don't have sponsors, I don't have a big budget."

He does have friends.

To stay competitive, Steer, who owns 20 dogs pools resources with Robert Bundtzen of Anchorage, Kasilof's Jon Little and Bill Steyer of Homer.

Steer trains this all-star team exclusively for only about a month but insists he'll turn out a cohesive unit.

"Within my team itself, I'll have little zones," Steer said. "I have my eight dogs, Jon's four, Bill's four, Robert's four, that way the dogs have a comfort level."

Go here to find the video of the interview.


Sue Allen is from Upstate NY. Born in Binghamton, she graduated from SUNY Cortland. She's been in Alaska since 1986 and currently is a Phys-Ed teacher. This year she will be racing Martin Buser's puppy team.

She'll be starting out just behind Zack with #27. It will be fun to follow a woman and ex New Yorker and I hope she gets her team safely to Nome.

The Ithaca Journal has a nice piece:

Beginning Sunday, she will embark on a trail over treacherous mountain ranges, across frozen rivers, through dense forests and the like on a sled charged by inexperienced, 19-month-old dogs “green as green can be,” as she described them.

Those dogs are not even her own. They belong to Iditarod legend Martin Buser, four-time champion and race record-holder who has entrusted his meticulously bred puppies to Allen in order to gain them requisite experience in hopes that one day, some of them will be members of his team for the Iditarod.

I know ThreeCollie will be following the race too and she has some good links.

Who will you be cheering for?

Zach Steer 3rd into Nome!!!!

I was on pins and needles all morning waiting to see how the race for 3rd and 4th place had played out and of course I had a meeting. They all thought I'd gone quite mad I was so excited about it! Congratulations to Zach on a great race!

From the Anchorage Daily News. Check out the whole article here.

Hard-charging Zach Steer passed four-time champion Martin Buser just outside of Safety, the final checkpoint 22 miles from Nome, and cruised to the finish line before dawn Wednesday to finish third in the 35th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. Steer, the 33-year-old owner of Sheep Mountain Lodge, crossed the finish line on Front Street at 3:46 a.m., completing a run of 9 days, 12 hours and 46 minutes.

Having a connection to a couple of the mushers, no matter how tenuous, has made the race fun to follow! There are still many teams still on the trail, including Robert Bundtzen, so I'll continue to follow their progress until they all get to Nome.

Iditarod Update

Many thanks to seanexmachina on flickr for use of this picture of Robert Bundtzen's team at the Ceremonial Start of the race.

I've been checking in on the race updates frequently and was getting very frustrated try to find out what was going on with Robert Bundtzen's team. This morning the official standings show him stopped at McGrath in 46th place, having dropped two dogs in Nikolai.

I then went to Cabella's site and found this:

Clint Warnke was in there about the same time and said the trail markers were there but the head wind was so strong that he couldn't lift his head to look. "It's total head-on and it's cold," he said. He wound up relying on a nine-year-old leader named Merlin who dragged him from marker to marker and down safely to Rohn.

At one point, he came upon Robert Bundtzen, whose team of young dogs had had enough, and pulled over to quit. Warnke said he wasn't about to leave Bundtzen there, so he helped grab hold of the stranded musher's leaders and pulled them back onto the trail behind his team. The trick often works, and Bundtzen's dogs were willing to follow close on Warnke's heels.

So now I know that he's driving the puppy team and having a tough go of it and yet is still in a good position. Several racers have already scratched.

One of his sponsors is Zach Steer who is out with the leaders in Ophir. So I will be watching closely for more stories on how he is doing.

Iditarod!

I missed the start of the Iditarod! The race started yesterday so I'm not too far behind. The link has lots of great info on the race. 1049 miles across Alaska and this year the trails are hard and fast. Will this be the fastest race ever?




My cousin's husband, Robert Bundtzen, is wearing #64 and is currently 30th. He's been racing since the mid 90's. I've never met him (or my cousin!) but I watch his progress in the race with interest every year.

I thoughtBryan Bearss was racing the puppy team this year but his website is down and he's not listed in the standings. The link makes it seem that he is racing so I'm very confused!

Another musher that I'll be watching is Zach Steer. He is wearing #7 is currently 2nd.