Welcome to the Southern Humboldt County dog mushers blogspot! This blog is devoted to SoHum Mushers, a loosely knit community of dog mushing enthusiasts. Topics of interest revolve around dog powered sports including bikejoring, skijoring, carnicross, scooterjoring, dog carting and dog sledding. These are all extreme sport activities that are performed with one or more dogs.
Showing posts with label mountain biking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mountain biking. Show all posts
TeamHumDog... Representing SoHum Mushers in the G.ville Rodeo Parade 2008. Pepper and Snoopy played the part ofreal mushing pupstied out to their rig. (in this case, a '92 Volvo wagon, in lieu of a properly tricked out Toyota 4x !) The rodeo was a hoot. The day was hot and the crowd was festive. The dogs got to socialize and gain discipline around lots of different people, vehicles, (Harley Run was in town!) horses, other dogs, and even some mini donkeys. The donkeys were the closest to having a run in with the notorious Team HD. Go,Easy, Stop, Leave It, and On By were the main focus of our slow, 4 block adventure. They loved it, and we all hope to return again for the next parade in town. Hopefully a few more mushers will come out of the woods and join us!Pepper...Looking like she's moving, when she's standing still. Below, the still waters of our favorite redwood forest trail. Why I Bikejor: Tired dogs are happy (and good!) dogs. I am stoked to report I am back on the trail and loving it. I am taking it slow and must admit, I AM AFRAID! So I initiated a whole new set of rituals that I've added to the outset of our runs; it includes various prayers, affirmations, and outright bargaining with the Gods! "Please let me return alive." My knee injury sidetracked us but good, and it will be a while before we are up to our usual stunts and stellar mileage. In the meantime, I am loving the runs we have done, and am especially grateful to Humboldt Orthopedics, and specifically Ryan, and Dr. Shishido, who have given me superb care. Right now, the whole of inland Northern California is smothered in smoke. So we sadly, have had to curtail our activities yet again! SIDE NOTE: We did get to explore a great beach trail at Table Bluff. If you've not been out there, check it out! The area reminds me of Honeydew. To get there: Head west at Hookton Road for about 5 miles. It is coastal and beautiful. The beach is semi ridable, and there is also a pretty cool 4x trail that heads south out of the park. There is a picnic area, porta-potties, and lots of barely traveled, flat, paved roads as well. I wonder if it's smoky up north....See you on the trail! Oh, and please don't forget to check out my new YouTube videos.
These folks have it going on, truly. This is not a dog powered activity, but it is a race inspired by the dog teams of Alaska. It is basically a mountain bike, ski or foot race of 350 or 1100 miles. The bike riders have super suped up bikes, and the walkers pull a sled with their gear behind them the whole way. This event, which started yesterday, goes on around the clock. Participants are allowed to prearrange for food drops only; all gear must be carried. The racers pack for daily caloric consumption of over 6000 calories, and will still drop body weight over the course of the race. A good sport for big eaters! THIS BLOG , written by a couple of self professed big eaters, goes into great detail about the intense caloric needs and the importance of fun food groups like chocolate. They intend to get 50% of their calories from fat. Photos above by Whit Richardson, those below are from blogs referenced, and the map is from race site.Here is another fun filled Arctic Athlete BLOG of one of the bikers...and JILL HOMER is racing too. I can't even comprehend attempting to hoof it. Pretty brave and strong souls. Note: This year they will take the northern dark colored route. The Map of the route: Time limit to complete the 1100? 30 days. For the 350 you have just 10 days. To Find ongoing race results Check the LeaderBoard HERE or the latest news HERE. ADDENDUM: as of Thursday the 28th the first bike rider has arrived in McGrath at 4:20 am! ADDENDUM 2: Great coverage of the race and additional commentary featured on the NPR site HERE.
arctic MOUNTAINBIKING goddess You must see it to believe it...I know, not dog powered, but pretty damn thrilling none the less. This girl and her pimped out ride are tough!YukonQuest which is considered the 1000 mile warm-up to the Iditerod, is underway now (started Feb 9) and is proving to be a fascinating race. Lance Mackey who won both the Yukon Quest AND the Iditarod last year, is currently in the lead. His story is very inspiring. Both his brothers have raced and won the Iditerod (victory for both on their 6th race). Last year Lance, after surviving cancer, won the Yukon Quest and with just a one week rest, took virtually the same team out, and ran and won the Iditarod. (his 6th run...cosmic)
The Iditarod starts March 1st. Be sure and browse their site. It features inspiring video clips, great educator links, and of course, amazing Alaska scenery. Photos above are from (deleted - to view visit:) the websites featured.
And now, a Quick BOOK Review:Ski Spot Run: This is an well put together book on skijoring specifically and other dog powered sports generally.
For those of you who have never heard of skijoring, take note: (ski·jor·ingn. [modif. of Norw skikjøring, fr. ski + kjøring driving]: a winter sport in which a person wearing skis is drawn over snow by one or more dogs)
This book was written by Matt Haakenstad and John Thompson w/illustrations by Jack Lunde. It is an entertaining book with comical sections describing certain events on the trail, written from the point of view of the humans, and then the pups! Very insightful, and humorous! Here is a link to an essay by a young lad that also appears in the book, it is titled My First Skijoring Experience. In it, he captures the passion that rises in one that feels the call of nature, and the pull of canine power. One amusing question the authors pose to the reader early on, is "Was Murphy's law originally written with skijoring in mind?" They then illustrate their conviction that indeed it was, by coining various new Murphy's Laws, such as " The probability of falling or crashing, as well as the apparent severity (e.g.,spectator WOW factor) of stated fall or crash, is a function of the number of persons in the immediate vicinity. " The same zany logic is applied to many other areas of skijoring, and aspects of it, like improperly positioned harnesses for instance. The degree of screw-up, is of course, directly related to the dogs wriggling and fussing while you try to remedy it! This book is full of good information, plenty of great pictures and skillful illustrations, with clear descriptions of all the basic gear, commands and important safety tips. There is a thorough description of bikjoring with tips and photos as well. They cover scootering and skating behind your pooch too. I highly recommend this book to those interested in learning more about this fascinating world of dog powered sports. SkiSpotRun is available here ..Of course now I want my own skijor belt and a pair of x-country skis... for the 3 times a year it snows at my place... :) Beautiful pups...i love the two shots below they look like my doggies! All pictures are from SKIJORNOW!
Pepper is naughty sometimes and will try to grab Snoopy by the neck, in a display of dominance, as we run. This was one of those times. Notice at around 36 seconds, after already going after him once or twice, they get so revved on each other they jump off into the ditch to wrestle, or chase each other! ...i don't even know! As always, when we ride, I am gripping the bike for dear life with either a stupid smile plastered on my face, or the fear of death dominating my expression, as we confront the 3 second rule; You have just 3 seconds in most crash situations to avoid disaster. So stay focused. And have fun! P.S. Super Gratitude to Pernell, my computer guru. He taught me in three minutes, the fix to my locked up movies. A glitch I'd blundered an afternoon away trying to remedy. Yea! Thanks PT! Enjoy~
TeamHumDog... Representing SoHum Mushers in the G.ville Rodeo Parade 2008. Pepper and Snoopy played the part of real mushing pups tied out to their rig. (in this case, a '92 Volvo wagon, in lieu of a properly tricked out Toyota 4x !)
The rodeo was a hoot. The day was hot and the crowd was festive. The dogs got to socialize and gain discipline around lots of different people, vehicles, (Harley Run was in town!) horses, other dogs, and even some mini donkeys. The donkeys were the closest to having a run in with the notorious Team HD. Go, Easy, Stop, Leave It, and On By were the main focus of our slow, 4 block adventure. They loved it, and we all hope to return again for the next parade in town. Hopefully a few more mushers will come out of the woods and join us!
Pepper...Looking like she's moving, when she's standing still. Below, the still waters of our favorite redwood forest trail.
Why I Bikejor: Tired dogs are happy (and good!) dogs.
I am stoked to report I am back on the trail and loving it. I am taking it slow and must admit, I AM AFRAID! So I initiated a whole new set of rituals that I've added to the outset of our runs; it includes various prayers, affirmations, and outright bargaining with the Gods! "Please let me return alive." My knee injury sidetracked us but good, and it will be a while before we are up to our usual stunts and stellar mileage. In the meantime, I am loving the runs we have done, and am especially grateful to Humboldt Orthopedics, and specifically Ryan, and Dr. Shishido, who have given me superb care. Right now, the whole of inland Northern California is smothered in smoke. So we sadly, have had to curtail our activities yet again! SIDE NOTE: We did get to explore a great beach trail at Table Bluff. If you've not been out there, check it out! The area reminds me of Honeydew. To get there: Head west at Hookton Road for about 5 miles. It is coastal and beautiful. The beach is semi ridable, and there is also a pretty cool 4x trail that heads south out of the park. There is a picnic area, porta-potties, and lots of barely traveled, flat, paved roads as well. I wonder if it's smoky up north....See you on the trail! Oh, and please don't forget to check out my new YouTube videos.
