"tell them i'm not crazy, tell them i'm not mad, twas only six pints of that cider i had"

An update to end all updates.

This season hasn't been a season at all. We've raced once. It was Atlanta, and we won it, but that's the only time we've left home. I like running dogs just to run dogs, sure, but I always run with racing on my mind; with no races to train for, I haven't been pushing them. I've only had them out twice since Atlanta. It's hard to train a race team when the trails are garbage. Run them on junk and they learn to run like junk. If you're not simulating a race situation (speed-wise, etc) then you're not training. That's just how I see it. If I can get my hands on a bike, I'm not opposed to running one or two at once to keep them moving, BUT I done trying to put 4, 5 or 6 of them on the rig when I don't even have a trail surface safe enough to let 'em open up. If I have to go out there and ride the brake for five miles, what good is that? Wouldn't hurt 'em any if it were October, but late January into February? I can't ask them to hold a race trail after that.

That being said, shitty weather happens. Hasn't happened this fully in years, but such is life. Kalkaska IS the first weekend of March though, and I absolutely HAVE to field a team for that, no question. They've had a few weeks off, but if it's looking good up there, I can get the main group out a few times and just enter them as a sport team.

What's really disappointing is that I wanted to use this season as an experience builder for Bren in front and for London in general so that I would have Bren as a main dog next year with Heini and London started by now. It's still possible. For those to two alone I need to at least get back on track for training....races be damned.

There's talk of Belding this weekend if LL doesn't go. That's not a bad drive and we might swing it. Maybe I could squeeze in a Wednesday/Thursday/Saturday this week and BAZINGA, we'd be back on track. I could keep them at two-day-a-weeks until early May. (for real). Usually by late February it has been a long, cold, strict winter (doing nothing but training and racing), but this year just feels fake....I could use my leftover conviction to finish polishing up Bren and London. AND, if Atlanta was any indication, Roman was(IS)on his way to maturing into one helluva sled dog.

Here's to running mutts in spite of everything.