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Turning to Dec on my STW calendar and seeing the alpkit ad made me wonder - Iditarod, why?
Not why does the event exist, or why do people do it, but why is it called the Iditarod, what does that mean?
those that do it seem to enjoy it.
The average speeds kind of put me off.
I read a great book called "Winterdance", about doing the original Iditarod with dog sleds, fantastic read. Seesm an awesome challenge. On a bike it seems crazy.
Takes its name from the Iditarod river.I have a rather large malamute and the missusspeaks to a few of the mushers on facebook that do this race. Outstanding people. For the event there are 2 doctors and 40 odd vets on site - shows how much these people care about their dogs. They are an excellant source for any kind of dog information as well and we often ask them stuff before refering to the vet. As for the race - amazing. This is proper endurance stuff and the serious dudes are pretty much self contained. Temperatures are stupid low. Wish I could do it.
If you ever get the chance go hang out with dog teams - a fantastic experience.
[i]The original Iditarod Trail started at Seward (or more properly, about 50 miles north at the end of the under-construction Alaska Central Railroad, which later became the Alaska Railroad.) From the end of track, the trail wound along Turnagain Arm through what is now Girdwood, over Crow Pass, down the uninhabited Eagle River Valley and northward to the tiny trading post of Knik, the largest town on Upper Cook Inlet until the railroad town of Anchorage was found in 1915.
From Knik, the trail arrowed west through the wooded valleys of the Susitna and Yentna Rivers and climbed tortuously over Rainy Pass through the massive Alaska Range. West of the Range, the trail drifted across the vast Kuskokwim Valley to the hills west of McGrath, to the Innoko River mining district and the town of Ophir, another classic boom town ebbing even then from its glory days of 1907.
From Ophir, the trail rolled southwest through the ridge and valley country of the Kuskokwim Mountains to the bustling town of Iditarod. Swinging northwest from Iditarod, the trail pushed to the Yukon River, then due north up its frozen mile-wide expanse to the Koyukon Athabascan village of Kaltag.
At Kaltag, the trail angled back southwest along the 90-mile Kaltag Portage, known for centuries to Eskimos and Indians as a shortcut through the low coastal mountains to Norton Sound and the Bering Sea. The western end of the portage was anchored by the ancient Yup'ik Eskimo village of Unalakleet, whose name means “place where the east wind blows."
From Unalakleet, the trail swept north and then west around the rugged shore of the Seward Peninsula, passing through old Inupiat villages with names like Shaktoolik, Koyuk, and Golovin. Fifty miles before Nome, the trailed dropped down onto the beaches that had caused the rush to Nome a decade before. After more than 1,150 miles, the Iditarod Trail opened onto Front Street in Nome, then the site of North America’s most notorious saloon row, whose proprietors at one time included Wyatt Earp.[/i]