Working through the Alaska Range

Good afternoon Race Fans!

Well, the nice cold temperatures this morning were replaced by the spring storm coming in from the West. Pete and the Team are making their way through Rainy Pass as temperatures have risen into the mid 30’s. Weather cam photos at Rohn show light snow which is going to make the trail a bit punchy or soft after the top 10 Teams have passed through.

Pete seems to be on a 4/4 rest/run cycle, as he took about 3 1/2 hrs early this morning at 4 and then after a 4 hour run took another 4 that ended about 2:30pm. He may have “pre-loaded” some rest to make the run through the pass in one stretch. I’d expect him to take a break in Rohn this evening.

Team Kaiser is running in around the 10th position. It’s really hard to say what position is what as run/rest cycles are different at this point in the race and no true leader has been established. Joe Redington’s grandson Ryan seems to be the “Jackrabbit” and has moved out of Rohn towards the Little Egypt area. This is a common strategy each year and mostly just is a musher/Team preference.

Richie Diehl is playing a hand he talked about at the Kuskokwim 300. He related that often he holds back and with this Bogus and K300 championship Team, it is likely he is being a bit more aggressive with his strategy than we have seen before. Mushers look at past performance and dream all year about the strategy for an Iditarod run. I’m sure Richie has been thinking about this for months and I’d bet he is really happy with the Team so far. The gamble is whether a Team can be lasting for the entirety of the Race. Given this year’s race is about 100 miles or so shorter, we’ll see later how the gambles of all these world class musher’s plays out.

Weather for the evening is more of the same. A wet, warm storm has moved into the area and I’d expect warm temperatures for the next couple of days. Bethel temperatures are in the mid-30’s and this same storm appeared a couple of days ago.

Pete and most of the mushers will be less than happy to see warm temperatures as soggy equipment is never fun and requires much work to dry and keep everything going well. The Team won’t mind. They are happy always to be on the trail. Pete will be especially attentive to the dog’s feet and keeping them bootied and dry.

As the weather is warming up, so is the competition and Pete is loving it. This is what he trains all year for. Have a good time Mr. Kaiser!

Go Team Kaiser!

Weather Radar – State of Alaska – Mar. 8. 2021

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