Dinner Guests the Old Alaskan Way!

The great thing about living in the Fairbanks area is that there are trails virtually everywhere. We often run the dogs to local bars and other peoples houses for visits. Last night our friends Nita and Josh came by with a 10 dog team for dinner. One of the pups that we raised "Chaos" is now part of their team and looking like she fits right in. It is only about 12 miles or so by dogsled, but at least 45 by car... an hour drive or an hour dogsled ride... dogsled is an easy choice. here is a video of them leaving after dinner.

the aftermath

Sunday was a day for the athletes to relax. The dogs were filtered though the house in groups of 4 -5 at at time to get massages and get the complete checkup for injuries. A few stiff puppies, but everyone seemed happy to roll around togeher in the warm house. I looked worse than the dogs as you can see...

Pictures from the checkpoints

The race went great. thanks to all the volunteers that made this possible. The trail was marked perfectly, the businesses running checkpoints were super helpful and the mushers were happy and fun to compete with. thanks to all involved!

Our race went something like this.... we'll see if I can remember the details.

We started on Friday from the Chatanika Lodge on the Steese Highway at 12:24 pm. From there we wound around the Cleary summit area, home to the Aurora Skiland, "the farthest north ski area". The team had to climb over severeal major hills and domes here in the 2000 eleveation range, with the sun beating down on us, it was a bit slow, but the views were amazing. We ran for about 55 miles which was the halfway point to the first checkpoint and then stopped at sunset for a 4 hour rest. The dogs ate well and got a nap. At this point we were in almost last place as we started back there. at 10 pm I pulled the hook and with the cool night temps approaching -25 F we flew towards angel creek. Along the way passed 7 - 8 teams camping. We pulled into the Pleasant Valley Store Checkpoint around 4 am and I was a little frozen and very tired. The dogs were taken care of and bedded down and I headed into the store stock room for a one hour nap... its amazing that one hour can change a tired grumpy man into one that is ready to race again.

Cody after a one hour nap and getting ready to head out for the next leg. Trying to remember what I need from my drop bags? Any snickers in there?

The next run was also slow in the heat of day, but spectacular views of the Chena River Valley. We rolled into Angel Creek around 3 pm and stayed for our 3 hour layover

Several teams all rolled into Angel Creek within in an hour of each other and we all had either 3 or 4 hours of mandatory time to stay there. It was clear that whomever left first would probably get to the finish in fifth place.... just forgot that one musher had done all her time at the last checkpoint and ran straight through while I was in the bar eating a burger. When it was our time to check out, we pulled the hook and tried our best to catch that musher to get into the last payin position of fifth, instead we came in about a half hour behind at 12:01 am and got sixth.... which was awesome. the dogs did great once again and we are thrilled with their finish. The leaders of the race didn't camp on the first run and were about 6 hours ahead of me in the end. The difference between first and second place turned out to be just seconds. What fun!

Thanks to my devoted fans.. I won't embarass all two of you, you know who you were, for coming out and supporting team squid. I think they got more photos of the dogs actually moving, Paige was busy doing her job of handling and couldn't get any of those, so will post them later as they come in..

And he's home

We'll we did it! We rolled into the finish at 12:01 am this morning and clinched 6th place. The dogs did amazing despite hot day time temps in the sun.. the minus 20 temps at night made them run faster then. Was an amazing trip with some amazing bluebird views from the trail and great company along the way from a great group of mushers. Well I'm delirious and headed back to bed for a nap. Handler Paige has some photos she is going to put up later.. thanks for stopping in.
cody and the team.

And he's off!

Cody left the starting line at 12:26pm will 11 dogs raring to go. They looked great leaving, unfortunately this lame handler forgot the camera:( so you will just have to take my word for it. I will get pictures the rest of the way and will hopefully be able to post while on the trail. GO CODY and TEAM SQUID!

Bib draw Two Rivers 200!

We just got back from the bib draw for the next addition in the Squid Acres racing season. This time Cody is racing and he drew bib number 12. He will be at the starting line with 11 dogs. The line up will be....Windsor, Okie, Bleeker, TJ Maxx, Dundee, Mikey, Dozer, Poncho Ramirez ( we are not really sure how to spell his last name:) he is from mexico)) Berry, Goober and last but not least Lucy. Lucy is still aquestion mark though because she just came into heat today and Cody is a little bit leary of bringing her along. But I think she will be an asset if she does go along. The race starts at 12 noon. The first checkpoint is 105 miles from the start so we don't expect to see Cody until 2-5 am on Saturday. The trail report sounds good, there is some overflow and lots of hills but overall it sounds good. There are 13 mushers signed up for the 200. We are excited to get back out on the trail! I will try to keep you updated along the race. GO CODY and team SQUID!!

Two Rivers 200 Website

The race updates should be posted here at the Two Rivers Mushers Association Home Page. If you can't find them on this page, then click on "Races and Events" and then Click on "Two Rivers 200 & 100" links. Thanks for watching,
Cody and the Dogs

whats happening?

Hi Friends and Family,

Things are still good around here. Paige has gone back to work and now Cody has taken overwith the race team. It has been extremely warm around here, which makes running dogs difficult. We have been getting the dogs out for some good runs in the White Mountains, Minto Flats and around our valley. Some pics from the whites..

Cody will be running the Chatanika 200 race starting March 12th at noon. This race goes from the Chatanika lodge out towards Chena Hot Springs and then back to Pleasant Valley Store in Two Rivers, AK. The dogs look good and Cody is excited. You can follow at http://www.trdma.org/ and click on the events and chatanika 200 links. Paige will be handling and may have access to update blog so check in if you have a chance.

Squid Acres