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Tomorrow I guess I'm going to have to make the trip down to Iditarod Headquarters I've been trying to put off all winter. Things have finally reached the point where I have no choice but to pull out of this year's Iditarod. I knew it was a long shot, but I thought I might be able to pull it off. Unfortunately, despite assistance from friends, including the generous help from Alice and Lara Baker, who paid my entry fee and then some, it's just not going to happen this time around.

The reasons are several, but they center around not having enough money. It's not a matter of a few hundred dollars--I'm several thousand short of even having a chance to put a team on the trail to Nome in March. I had several unexpected expenses that wiped out my Iditarod reserve fund, and the chronic shortage of money over the winter has seriously hampered my training as well. Without a handler, I haven't been able to train the dogs nearly as much as I'd have liked. When better-bankrolled mushers were trucking to train when there was no snow, or when there was too much snow, I just had to shut things down or do short runs to avoid a complete meltdown. For those of us who have to work and don't have major sponsors, it can quickly get to be a choice between working and not training, or training and not being able to feed the dogs or pay the heat and electricity. There's no question that the Iditarod has become a spendy endeavor in recent years.

A handler would have helped by allowing me to work more, but Barrie isn't a handler--she's got 32 of her own dogs to worry about and train. She could do short runs on some of mine earlier in the season, but now every run for my guys is three hours or more on the trail, not to mention another hour or so hooking up and unhooking and feeding and cleaning up around the lot. I've been trying to run on weekends and at night after I got home from teaching, but I've turned myself into a zombie. Most nights I haven't been able to get to sleep before 2 or 3 in the morning. I just can't keep this up, and I've got to get my entry fee back just to keep feeding the dogs for the rest of the winter, and to make sure Barrie's dogs have food if she can't come up with enough to cover them in a pinch. Frankly, I never figured on having 32 extra mouths to feed, but that's the way it's worked out.

Another problem is that we've sold out the first printing of my book and the publisher needs bucks so we can get the second printing underway (we basically split the cost so I can get decent royalties, which then go to help support the dogs). This is another sizable investment that I'm having to negotiate with some people on a business basis. It all takes time, which means something else has to give. At least I'll be able to update some parts of the book for the second printing.

So, for those of you who have helped (and I've tried to contact you individually), thanks more than you can know, and everything will roll over into the 2001 Iditarod, which I will definitely run, and with a competitive team for a change. I'm shifting as best I can into the long-range mode now, and I'm going to start training my team for 2001. I've got a full-time handler lined up for next winter, and possibly two, plus maybe even someone to help during the summer. I plan to hit the ground running for the 2001 season with some good dogs, properly trained. And all of my flying this summer will be focused on earning enough money to support a rigorous training program next winter.

I'm still hoping to go on the Serum Run with Colonel Vaughan, mainly since there's a chance most of the expenses will be picked up by the run sponsors. If that's the case, I'll be able to take 12 of my most promising dogs to Nome on the world's finest training run. This will let me develop my up-and-coming leaders on some of the same trails they'll be running in the 2001 race, and particularly on the Yukon and the coast, where your dogs can never have too much experience. If the Serum Run doesn't work out, I'll run some shorter races around here and work even harder on training my younger dogs for next year, so they can run with the veterans when fall training starts (and I've got some Really Good youngsters now).

Even though I'm not going to be in the Iditarod this year, I'm still going to keep the diary going, and I'll definitely finish posting the 2000 Trail Notes. This is taking several hours every other day or so, but I think it's worthwhile to get the information out to everyone who wants to follow the race (or just learn about Alaska). I hope the Iditarod will keep the link to my web site even though I'm not officially in the race any more. I'd like to think the information is valid whether or not I'm actually wearing an Iditarod bib.

My immediate worry is getting the Willow-Su Valley 300 race to the starting line in a week and a half. I had to skip running the dogs today because I was running around meeting people and trying to organize everything from trail markers to trail breakers to ham radio operators. My poor cell phone in the truck was starting to get hot because of the constant use and I raced from meeting to meeting. Tomorrow I've got to take a full day off from teaching to run into Anchorage to get the materials for the trail markers (which I'm going to have to buy myself and hope I can get reimbursed from the entry fees). Then a bunch of us are going to sit down and make more than a thousand Iditarod-style trail stakes so people won't get lost as we steer them all over the upper Susitna Valley.

We don't have any sponsors to speak of for the race, but we've got lots of volunteers and we're going to make it happen regardless. I consider this race as another important and worthwhile effort because a number of mushers--and friends--are counting on it to qualify for the Iditarod. I don't intend to let them down, but it means my dogs aren't going to do much running for the next couple of weeks and I'm going to go through more late nights in the process. This is also a good learning experience, and I'm getting to work with some good people, such as former Iditarod champion Joe May. And if we can pull the race off this year, next year should be a walk in the park (he said, laughing).

I guess I could say I'm not worried about getting bored up here for the next couple of months. I doubt I'll have time to regret not being on the Iditarod with my friends, but there's a good chance I'll meet some of them in Nome anyway. In the meantime, I've got to sign off and work on another leg of the Trail Notes….

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