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California Dirt Dogs - Chico, CA
November 18-19, 2006
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Rancy's Report of Day 1 - November 18, 2006 |
Thought I'd give you guys a brief report
on today's races now that I finally had lunch and am sitting here at
Appleby's in Chico sipping scotch on the rocks....
First off, all races were run on the same lollipop course, which turned out
to be 2.2 miles long. We originally signed up to run the 5K (3.1 miles) but
part of the trail got washed out during the recent rains so we had to make
do with what was available.
Niko and Lyka started out like gangbusters but once we got to the turnaround
point, they just pooped out, primarily because of the heat. Oh yeah, by the
time we ran, it was probably at least 70F and it just was too much for their
husky coats. I think our time was 16 and change, which was decent but we had
a better pace during the not-so-Great Serum run 3 weeks ago and also last
Wed when I recorded our running time over 3 miles at about 18.5 minutes.
Don't know how we did compared to the other dog scooter racers but I know we
got our butts kicked by Mike Callahan with his short haired dogs Otto and
Tempo, and by Robert Stradley, a musher from Wrightwood (yup, a hard core
sled dog driver right in our neck of the woods --- more about him later on)
with his Alaskan Huskies.
Still, I am proud of my two brats, after all, we are just recreational urban
mushers. And it's been great meeting up with others I had previously met at
the mushing clinic as well making new friends. As usual, I was able to bore
interested parties and give them some dogscootering basics while the PITAs
had fun just being around so many other dogs and being petted by onlookers
(Chico residents love dogs, specially when they look like the actors from
Eight Below). If only we had much cooler weather (btw, I have a sunburned
face and you guys know that I don't exactly. Have pale skin).
We will hopefully be able to race earlier tomorrow and have cooler temps.
But regardless, it has so far been a fun time, even though it took us 9.5
hours to get here (yeah, and people look at me with a puzzled expression on
their faces when they find out I drove all the way from OC --- I'm either
nuts or just love this sport so much --- probably a little of both).
Rancy |
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Rancy's Report of Day 2 - November 19, 2006 |
Sheryl...looks like we both made in back in one piece! I didn't get home
until 11:30 last night and that was a nerve-wracking drive as we went
through that thick fog before going up through the grapevine.
Anyway, I will post a more detailed report later on as I am way too tired
and also need to get into work mode. I will likewise post pics
but in the meantime, here are a couple:
Niko and Lyka off to a flying start:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/rancy/2dogstart.jpg
Sheryl with Kayla heading home to the canicross finish:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/rancy/100_2011.jpg
Two of the 4-dog cart competitors at an almost neck-a-neck finish:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/rancy/100_2151.jpg
Robert Stradley of Wrightwood heading down the homestretch with his team of
8 alaskan huskies:
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d27/rancy/100_1916.jpg
John from Lemoore was also there and he did great with his two Belgian
Malinois. We ended up scratching on Sunday as Lyka just refused to run so I
ran Niko in the 1-dog scooter class. And just like Sheryl observed, we are
soooo lucky to have the wonderful and interesting trails around Fairview
Park to run in --- the brats and I can't wait to go back there for a scooter
run! (Anyone interested in a Thanksgiving morning turkey run?)Eileen did
a great job, specially considering it was the inaugural California Dirt Dogs
event. The people of Chico were wonderful and were very interested in what
we did.
Click Here to view the article regarding the event that appeared on the front page
of the local Chico paper - the Enterprise Record.
Rancy
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Sheryl's Report |
I just wanted to give you my impressions of this weekend and I'm sure Rancy
will have more to say as well.
First of all, it was lots of fun. We saw people we knew from SNDD and their
mushing clinic, and met lots of new people. One person has a kennel of
Alaskan Huskies in Wrightwood and is very interested in some activities with
us. Everyone was very friendly and had lots of advice (which I was in need
of).
There were lots of race classes from 8 dogs pulling carts down to 1 dog
scooter. The course ended up being a up and back stretch that was 2.2 miles
long. The original longer course had been washed out in some recent storm.
So it wasn't as interesting as our wonderful Fairview trails but it was
fine. Saturday was hot much to everyone's surprise so the dogs were a bit
slow. Sunday was cooler and we started earlier and it went better. There was
a lot of community interest and we were on the evening local news and the
front page of the Sunday paper. And many people came by to see the races and
the dogs. I spent a lot of time talking to people about the dogs and
scootering. Rancy took some people out for their first rides!
I entered the canicross which went once each day, running with one of my
older dogs in that. Then I did the 2-dog scooter event which I ended up
scratching from both days as Zack and Lilo (mostly Lilo) wouldn't go. Well,
they wouldn't go forward; once I turned them around they zoomed back to the
finish. Lilo is very shy and I think that all the unfamiliar dogs with an
unfamiliar track just scared her. One of the more experienced racers there
tried to hop the fence with another dog for me but I had turned around by
the time he could get there. I tried Zack on Sunday in the 1 dog scooter and
he did ok, though he spent a fair amount of time looking around for Lilo,
his constant companion.
So clearly more training is in order. Mike Callahan of SNDD gave me some
advice on approaching training. He suggested that it be the dogs' primary
activity - forget about taking walks. Try to have them do some pulling
activity almost every day whether it is running or scootering. Use the same
kind of routine each time so they come to understand that they are now
expected to pull. If they lose focus or resist, end the lesson. Make sure
they are trained in the basics - like lining out and staying. So, we have
some work to do, but the good thing is its all fun.
So that's it. Maybe we can have something like this down here sometime.
Sheryl, Kayla, Zack, Lilo, and Kody
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