best.season.ever

Tanick-I've got a giant crush on her! She has been amazing for me this season.

What a way to end it! First place in 5dog and second place in 3dog! I seriously love that trail so much.
Saturday's excitement:
I left the chute #13 in 5dog. One turn that is typically blocked off was left open...so Petunia and I had a small fight over that. Wiskee and Tanick ended up telling us both to shut up and lunged forward, breaking the sled free and pretty much braking it in the process. I grabbed it no problem, but had to let them drag me for a few yards before they rolled their eyes and stopped to let me on. During this commotion, between trying to turn, the yelling, the eventual on-by, the diving for the sled, and the dragging, Heini slipped her collar. She's a damn squirrel anyway, so without being able to solidly stop my sled, I couldn't do anything about it. I didn't train with necklines for the majority of the season, so her being free didn't bother either of us, but necklines are mandatory for sprint racing, and I didn't want to risk a DQ. I knew that at the top corner of the trail, there was ALWAYS trail help, so I just let her collar dangle for that half mile or so. The problem? I came up on the intersection where I expected the trail help to be just in time to see Kurt, the trail help, place a log across the trail and speed off on the snow machine. For a second, I honestly thought I was in 7dog, but then I counted my dogs and realized I wasn't crazy. I called Tune and Freddie to the left and we jumped the logs. I was able to flag Kurt down and explain to him, not quite hysterically, that the class wasn't over and there were still five teams behind me. He held my break while I put Heini's collar on and then sped off to fix the blockades. After that, Saturday's run was fast and uneventful. Sunday was clean and I caught number 1 early, so we were going pretty fast. 3dog was painfully slooooooow both days, but better on Sunday.
For next season, I need to work on being more competitive in pro classes. I have no problem with the rec races, but with the caliber of dog I'm running, I should be in bigger races. I'll chew on it all summer...and update about the new additions I've planned!