Sunday was the longest stage with 56 miles: gentle rolling hills up a valley from Alpine to Box Y ranch, and return. The challenge of the run, as in many, was to have “gas in the tank” so that the last 10 miles of downhill didn’t feel like an uphill. The warm midday sun did her part to slow down teams on the way back. The trail was on a firm base and would have been fast if it wouldn’t have been for snowmachine traffic chewing up to top 3-4 inches. We had an OK run going out, taking it very — maybe too — conservative the first 10 miles. Hippo, at 7 years the old geezer on the team, had trouble with the speed the last 10 miles, but our future star Tundra took over his spot in lead as if to tell me I should have put him there in the first place. We placed fifth, three minutes behind third, for an overall third position. We are now in Lander for a day off and will return to the race trail on Tuesday.
Scenes from the Alpine start:
Along the trail:
Gerry Willomitzer 