I've been mushing for over a decade now (whoa), and it feels like each season starts a little bit later and ends a little bit earlier. Moving five hours north from where I started seemed like a safe bet for a longer season, but even the North Country is seeing milder weather in the few short years I've been here.
The past two months have been a rollercoaster of high and low temperatures (on top of surgeries, illness, and other things that delayed our training). It's been really hard to find a consistent groove when it's regularly above 60 degrees, even first thing in the morning.
The thing is, climate change isn't going away, so we'll have to adapt. It's also hunting season, so I'm sticking pretty close to home with the team and avoiding the trails on weekends. And on days it’s too warm, we spend lots of time free running in the play yard.
Luckily, there have been a few events to keep us busy while hunters are out taking care of the love-drunk deer. I managed to attend both the Pennsylvania Sled Dog Club and North Country Mushers' training campouts. These are great opportunities to get the dogs back into the swing of things: sleeping in the dog boxes, hanging out on the picket line, eating on the road, and passing other teams on the trail. Thus, "Campout Octobers" will henceforth be our thing.
Usually, by November, temperatures are well below freezing in the morning and stay cold enough to run throughout the day. Not true so far this year, but I have a plan. Several new (or re-branded) dryland races have popped up, so November through early December will be our dryland race circuit. In previous years, I'd be trying to build our mileage this time of year, but the temperatures haven't been conducive to it. Instead, we'll work on consistency and maintaining decent speeds for shorter distances, with a very conservative goal of only five miles by the first weekend of December.
All our dryland races (Inverhuron—which I scratched due to temps, Paws of Thunder, North East Dryland Challenge, and Jersey Devil Dryland Challenge) fall under the five mile distance mark. The main goal is to have smooth runs and happy experiences, especially since so many of my dogs are new to racing this year.
After the Jersey Devil race in early December, we've got a few weeks off from events. Serendipitously, hunting season ends that same weekend, so we'll regain access to trails any time of day. And hopefully, by then, it will be cold enough to run any time of day. This is when we'll start building miles.
My overall season goal is still modest because shit happens and I’m going in with padded expectations. Ideally, I can get the team running 15 miles. If the snow gods cooperate, we'll ease into sled races with the six mile Frost Mountain race in Maine, followed by Lamoille's 11 mile open class in Vermont. Our snow season should wrap up with the wonderful Tug Hill Challenge, which is expected to have an ~11 mile open class as well. Both Lamoille and Tug Hill have the option for a shorter, 6-dog class, so we should be covered either way.
The wind is blowing fiercely outside and a cold front is coming in. Let’s hope it lasts.
