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Jay Gruden was on the afternoon drive show on 106.7 The Fan in DC and Tuten was the first running back he rattled off amongst several that he thought the Commanders would take a close look at.
Take pictures. But also drop the camera and take it all in quite a bit. Enjoy the beauty. And if you can, give each of your kids a camera so they can make their own memories of the experience.
Those dogs want the win
Hokies win game 2 by run rule after 7 innings, 15-5
A few other housekeeping items.
Was asked earlier, can the mushers see where others are with the GPS and from what I found the answer is no.
On the even year course that follows the northern route, the first to get to Rudy would win the First to the Yukon Award. From the Iditarod site discussing Ruby:
"The winning musher will receive a gourmet dinner prepared by Top Chefs from Locally Grown Restaurants, which owns the popular Anchorage eateries Spenard Roadhouse, Snow City Cafe, Crush Wine Bistro and South Restaurant and Coffeehouse."
However, this year the First to the Yukon will go to the first musher to reach Galena, the next checkpoint after Ruby. They actually started onto the Yukon back at Tanana and I have no idea why the award was moved to Galena.
In a normal year's course, you have to take a mandatory 8 hour layover on one of the Yukon River checkpoints. This year with the Fairbanks-to-Nome route, that 8 hour layover has to be taken from Kaltag to Kaltag. On the map at the top, you see they get to Kaltag and continue down the Yukon to Eagle Island, Grayling, Anvik, an overland loop to Shageluk and then back up through Grayling, Eagle Island and Kaltag again. Apparently you have to take your 8 hour layover somewhere in that stretch. As usual, 24 hour layover can be where you want it to be and you have the final 8 hour layover at White Mountain before the last 77 miles to Nome.
Wednesday evening March 5 a bit after 7 PM east cost. Paige had a long rest on the trail, looked like about 4.5 hours, and that allowed some to catch up and pass her. She is back up to 2nd as the leaders make their way towards Ruby. We have:
1. Matt Hall resting on the trail with 15 dogs 280 miles in/848 to Nome
2. Paige Drobny running with 15 dogs 276 miles in/852 to Nome
3. Jessie Holmes resting on the trail with 16 dogs 274 miles in/854 to Nome
4. Michelle Phillips resting on the trail with 16 dogs 272 miles in/856 to Nome
5. Millie Porsild resting on the trail with 16 dogs 266 miles in/862 to Nome
6. Bailey Vitello running with 14 dogs 265 miles in/863 to Nome
7. Ryan Redington resting on the trail with 13 dogs 261 miles in/867 to Nome
8. Travis Beals resting on the trail with 16 dogs 260 miles in/868 to Nome
9. Gabe Dunham resting on the trail with 15 dogs 260 miles in/868 to Nome
10. Mitch Seavey running with 14 dogs 258 miles in/870 to Nome
In the red lantern position is Quince Mountain running with 14 dogs 186 miles in/942 to Nome.
They're good dogs, brent Bruce
As for the discussion about Paige, which lasted several minutes ...
They were not sure if Paige has ever been in the lead this far into the race. She likes to hold back and does not go out this fast. They wish they could call Cody (honorary Hokie by marriage) and ask him if this was something Paige had planned to do.
Bruce watched her team and said (as best I could copy it) "Right now, I'd say she's in the driver's seat from what I saw of that team." It is not just that she was out in front at the time they were doing the video, but that he felt she would have run the exact same way if there were 12 teams in front of her. The dogs looked really smooth and were eating well. She has had no bad luck and in races like this no bad luck = good luck. He is confident that she is not racing. Too smart and experienced to be racing this early. Rather, he believes she is doing what she normally does, letting the dogs take her where she ends up. And right now, that is faster than anyone else.
Hate to admit it. But we probably did not have anyone who deserved recognition. If we hadn't dropped a couple of games to bad teams, Coach Duffy may have gotten a few votes. Many of our players had a few good games; but no one was consistently good. Next year our young players will have matured and hopefully we can develop or buy a center.
Next analyst video talked a lot about Paige and her runs so far.
Lead analyst Bruce Lee noted that a lot of the people he spoke with were reassessing things. There was a belief that they needed to go out slow given the longer race, but several went out faster than they wanted to and now are saying they really want to slow down. Seeing signs in their team that they normally see later in the race. Jeff Deeter actually pulled out of a checkpoint, turned around and came back as he did not like what he was seeing and wanted to give the dogs another meal and more rest. They discussed how 4x winner Jeff King noted that you cannot win the Iditarod in the first few hundred miles but you can lose it. 2 exceptions noted were Millie Porsild and Paige who have been going fast and not slowing down.
Discussed the importance of judging the dogs before starting the long run from Tanana to Ruby. If you think a dog will do well, but they struggle and you have to carry them in the sled to keep them from slowing the team down (you are only as fast as your slowest dog) you can lose a lot of time as you are so far away from a checkpoint. Bruce talked about how someone who mentored him on the Iditarod when he was racing told him you win races by the dogs you leave behind. Important to drop a dog not running well with the team and it does not matter anywhere near as much if you have fewer dogs than if they are running well as a team.
They also talked about the sugar snow and how most teams are not likely to have trained on it. But they did note that Paige and Jessie Holmes, who both live well off any road, are likely to be more used to this type of snow conditions.
12-5 in the 7th. Took a run off after review.
Quick interview with Paige from earlier today when she was in Tanana was posted.
She said she camped about 15 miles from Manley on the way to Tanana and the trail was good up to there. After starting up again, it was a mixture of hard packed trail and areas of deep trenches of sugar snow (soft, crystallize snow that the dogs will sink into). Noted that the dogs were trying to kill her with how hard they were pulling. She may have misjudged the longer race distance as when the interviewer noted they were basically the same distance from Nome as you would be from the early checkpoint of Yentna on the regular courses, she was surprised as you are over 200 miles in at Tanana vs. 50-something at Yentna, but then they mentioned the extra distance this year, that is what it worked out to. And she was like, oh yes, you are right.
There was also a big dust storm when the wind suddenly picked up and was blowing dirt and sand from the river edge. She said she missed it. Teams behind her were caught. Anna Barrington was covered in it when she came into Tanana and Samantha LaLonde said she was lost for a bit and unable to see. Thought she saw a snow machine and tried to follow it but then it disappeared. A lot of the markers were blown over by the wind as well. She did find 2 markers eventually and followed them but said she honestly could not tell if she was going forwards or backwards for a while. Thankfully, it was forwards and she got in.
Bottom of 5th and now 12-3 Hokies
Yes that is definitely the case sometimes. Even from my limited times mushing in northern Minnesota, you will alternate breaking trail. If there is recent snowfall, the first team to go through will have to flatten that out.
What they would do at Wintergreen Dogsled Lodge is a guide would cross country ski in front and mark the path to follow. If the snow was well compressed or you were on ice, then there was no extra work for the first group. If there was new snow, the guides would sometimes try and pack it down. One of my favorite times on the 3 trips I did was when they had me just get up way early and walk out in front while the rest of the people broke camp and set up. 1 guy on snow shoes going in 1 direction can pack down the trail better than 2 or 3 people going back-and-forth multiple times on skis can. The guide skied out the night before to mark it and I was just crunching it down. It was so peaceful and calm walking out across the lakes and forest portages. Was actually sorry when the teams eventually caught up with me and I had to go back onto a sled or start cross country skiing myself.
If you are able to watch the time lapse of the GPS (have to pay for that with an Insider subscription like I get) you see that if there is a group of mushers clustered close together at the front, who is in first will switch around regularly. Likely they are following the gentleman's rule that you trade off who has to break trail if it needs breaking. If the snow is well packed by the snow mobiles that marked the trail, then it does not matter. But of there is significant new snow or blown snow, it is harder to be the very first person than the 2nd or 3rd.
Going to Ireland this summer and would love any recs. Traveling with wife and three kids 8-12. Basic itinerary as of now is to spend most of our time in south and west Ireland including Rock of Cashel, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, Cliffs of Moher, Galway, etc. Then making our way to Northern Ireland - will be staying with extended family there so less exploring but likely will do a day trip or two. Flying in/out of Dublin but probably only staying one night there on the back end before flying back out.
Advanced metrics are situation agnostic. Thus we lose 2 fucking games due to special teams gaffs and it doesn't show. I also don't know what advanced stat tracks 6 people on the team issued the number 0...
F+ has us 17th and 5th
In an earlier post, you'd said something about some riders trying to stay near the front to avoid mush on the trail further back in the group. Is there also a disadvantage to being first, like by having to break a trail through the untouched snow? Could some of the top teams be trying to hold around the 2nd to 5th spots, in order to avoid both trailbreaking and trail mush? (I'm sure there are technical terms there, I just don't know them.)
Hokies up 8-3 in game 2 against Norfolk St but in a rain delay
They probably also know when they pass somebody or get passed. It's not like there are multiple paths to take.
Everyone remembers the gaffs (and rightfully so) but overall our special teams have been good under Stu. We were 35th in SP+ this year after being 14th in 2023.
Even with those mishaps we still had good special teams by advanced metrics. So understand removing the TE responsibility so he can do his job better
As far as I can tell she didn't receive a single vote
Maybe we'll at least see some growth from the TE's
That's not what I want, but what I see happening.