Blogs from Anchorage, Alaska, United States, North America - page 2

We could not get breakfast as we had to leave around 8 am from the hotel to the train station. The day started off cloudy and cold. Hotel shuttle bus took us to the train terminal. One can easily notice the temperature and wind impact in Denali compared to Anchorage. That 300 miles north brings the temperature down about 15 degrees. We had seats in the first row of the train car. All the arrangements were very similar to the train we took up to Denali. Dylan and Kiki were the conductor and bartender for this car. Dylan’s commentary was really good. We debated about having breakfast in the train, but decided to go for lunch instead. We had variety of snacks at hand and that came in handy as breakfast. Soon clouds started to give ... read more

A second red eye flight from awaii landed me in Achorage Alaska at 7am. Groggy as hell I made my way to my extremely modest hotel down near the local soup kitchen where I checked in and crashed for a few hours of real sleep. I woke, wandered around the snowy, 'spring' time town, picking up a restorative grilled cheese ruben and found the bike shop that would really make Anchorage special for me. It was run by a great guy called Pete who told me all the local points of interest (ok I mean bars) and rented me a bike. Not just any old thing but a bike with studded tires and fat wheels specially designed to ride on snow and ice. I was skeptical but headed off on the Tony Knowles Coastal trail - ... read more

The Comms Room is starting to feel like home. The photo here is of the wall showing of the checkpoints and their status, open or closed, and how to communicate with them (sat phone, internet, etc.). We are notified as soon as a checkpoint is open and staffed, and waiting for competitors, and later when all personnel have left and the checkpoint is closed. As the back of the pack straggles out behind the leaders of the field, the entire race can be strung across several hundred miles. Occasionally teams very far back would be "encouraged" to move along or scratch, especially if they are the only team still there, and have been resting for quite some time. I guess that's the informal dog sled racing version of sailing's "time limit expired," which disqualifies racers who ... read more

Another day at the office! It's interesting to watch the teams progress along the trail, and we each have favorite teams that we're rooting for. The clock never stops on the race; it's a round-the-clock race after the start. The standings change often, as teams take required and optional rest stops. Each teams must take one 24-hour rest and two 8-hour stops along the way; the 2-minute start differential is made up at the 24-hour mandatory stop, meaning that the last team to start must take at least 24 hour rest, the second-last team to start takes a minimum 24-hour plus 2 minute rest, and so on. Thus after the 24-hour rest, the teams could be essentially even. Perhaps obviously, the mandatory rest stops must be taken at checkpoints, where the time can be verified, but ... read more

Four days into the race, I will hang around, do laundry, and catch up on a few things. With no real exciting activities today, here are some ramblings... Speaking of laundry, when I was passing the laundry area, a couple of guests were trying to do their laundry, and another guest's clothes were in the washer, completed, but not yet moved to the dryer. In moving them from washer to dryer, they removed, among other things, a pair of high top-leather boots...Not what I would have expected to find there! ;-) You can follow the race, no matter where you live! Subscribe to the "Insider" feeds on Iditarod.com to view team progress on the tracker application and/or videos and interview (there's a GPS tracker attached to each sled.) We watch the race progress in the COMMS ... read more