So Mush Fun by Niki2

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So Mush Fun

POSTED BY: NIKI2
UPDATED: Monday, October 15, 2012 08:54
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Sunday, October 14, 2012 11:38 AM

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Well, it's totally non-Firefly related, but that's what this forum's for, right?

Yesterday my guys and I participated in something called the annual So Mush Fun. It's a race event to benefit NORSLED (Northern California Sled Dog Rescue) and they raised over $5,000 for rescuing and re-homing huskies, malamutes, etc. Lots of "mushers" have ways to work their dogs on the off-season, like scootering (where dog(s) pull handler on a special scooter built for the sport), bikejoring (where dog(s) pull a bike) and carting/sulkying (dog(s) pull cart or, in my case, a special "sulky" made for the sport). It's not "serious" racing for most of us (except those who have kennels producing racing sled dogs), we just get together to have fun, see each other, meet and admire one another's dogs, etc.

I often run with a local group called BAM (Bay Area Mushers)--tho' my dogs aren't sled-dog trained, it's one of the only ways I can really exercise them, so we get out several times a week with the sulky, alternating with taking them to the dog park or running them free with our bicycles. Originally, since I've hiked every trail on The Mountain, I got a husky as a hiking companion. Almost immediately my body fell apart (I was in a cast for a badly broken wrist when Tashi first arrived (!) and sciatica, degenerative disc disease and more followed right away). So I got a second husky and a sulky, and we have a ball.

We have to start at the break of dawn to do anything active, because in the Bay Area it gets to hot to run northern breeds pretty early. Choey and I got there among the first, when it was still dark, and if you've never been around a bunch of huskies/mals first thing in the morning, waiting to RUN (which is what they love to do best), you wouldn't believe the cacaphony of sound! We had over 40 teams, ranging from a single dog to four, so the sound was multiplied immensely! Walk by any tied-out team and they leap and talk and strain to get to you, wanting to jump all over you, lick you to death, get petted, ANYTHING. I love huskies!

There's only one more sulky in the BAM group, and her team is made up of three BOSTON BULLDOGS, believe it or not...and they really GO! Everyone gets a kick out of them. So we don't have an actual "class", we just race with anyone who feels like starting with us. It's really just an excuse to have some fun.

Anyway, I enjoyed it tons and Choey took a lot of pictures, so I thought on the off chance anyone would get a giggle, I'd put some of them up:

Here's Lori and her team ("Raging Bulldogs")--their combined weight is 65#, and each of my dogs is over 65# individually!! Game little critters; her time ended up being only three minutes longer than mine.

Stuck in the car after all that work? BAH!

Me and my "team"...the lazy lout is Tashi (dark red) and the little girl is Kochak.

The "N.Y. Team"...newbies to So Mush Fun just like us.

http://www.crowdrise.com/media/large/100_1438-505aad301da40.JPG?507b2a
0931495
"Dr. Zhivago's All Male Siberian Husky Dance Review"--they really ZINGED! Didn't get a shot of them yesterday, so this is from their webpage.

"Wheelchair Mushers of Greater Sacramento"...Rodney is an "incomplete parapalegic". The rig is a Tilite ZRc titanium wheelchair with a Freewheel attached (making the rig a 3-wheel vehicle).

Defending champions Sid and Emmy Lou

I didn't get any pix of them at the event, but these are three of my best friends in BAM's dogs...they ran as the "In Memory of Tigger" teams. That's Tigger in front; he was the greatest dog they ever had, and it broke all our hearts when he passed (he was elderly and they didn't run him anymore). They ran two teams, one of which started with us (and promptly disappeared!), the other of which we ended up catching up with on the course. They had SIX huskies (they are serious Winter mushers), in a little home in Fairfax with a postage-stamp back yard! Tigger was their sixth, so now they have a new musher, who's adorable:

"Donner"...he'll be ready for next year's So Mush Fun, but he wasn't too sure about this one. "All those BIG dogs!"--so Andree held him most of the time. He'll have to do some toughening up over the next year! ;o)

Huskies are vocal--VERY--and can't wait to run!

Waiting at the starting gate (orange mesh on the right). A couple of the teams were so "enthused" that when they came to the finish line, they kept right on running...knocking the entire thing over!

This guy's team are part wolf--not unusual, but something that REALLY shouldn't happen. Good dogs, tho' and they enjoyed themselves.

this teams name, tho' we stopped and talked to them a while. The one on your left is a REAL lover...both Choey and I came away wiping our faces!

Huskies love to run, above all things, and they're GOOD at it!

Just some of the other dogs we saw.

Isn't she ADORABLE?

Last few teams had it pretty warm, which slows 'em down some! Not much, tho'...

Okay, so I can't resist...my babies. Ain't they gorgeous?

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Sunday, October 14, 2012 1:14 PM

BYTEMITE

My brother was interested in this when I mentioned it to him, but he thinks his dogs might be too small. Maybe I ought to show him that bulldog team sometime, his dogs are about the same size.

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Sunday, October 14, 2012 6:55 PM

OONJERAH

Can I use Cats for mushers?

They're All beautiful, Niki. Thanks for sharing.

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Monday, October 15, 2012 8:54 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Byte, tell him to think about it. If not the sulky, small dogs can pull the scooters just GREAT! Lori's just graduated, actually, from scooter to sulky because of her back. They've been scootering for ages, and with the scooter or a bike, the rider can HELP, too.

Well, fter a day of rest (they hardly moved a muscle yesterday!), this morning we did one of our regular runs out at the Ponds. TOTALLY socked in, just at dawn, it was gorgeous.

When my husband is with us on his bike, they take off like bats outta hell after him--Kochak canNOT bear to have him lead, so I get a really great ride out of it.

The trails go around the reclamation ponds, and then out onto the marsh itself. Usually I let the BAM people go out there with their scooters/bikes because Kochak just WILL not learn to run on one side of the track and let Tashi run the other so that the wheels of the sulky are on the track, rather than on brush, which is harder for them to pull. So we just run out to that trail then keep on going back around the ponds.

Well, they were so excited this morning that they kept right on going after Jim, out on the marsh trail. I had to turn 'em around before long, because I knew what it would be like going back to the ponds...like this:

Lazy sods! When excited, they'll go on rougher trails, up slight hills, etc. But if we're just cruising, they won't pull me up even the SLIGHTEST incline, they just stop and stand there, making me get out to walk beside the sulky. Or over rougher ground, this is the result!

I let them do their own thing out there most of the time, 'cuz Kochak knows the route so I don't even have to use the reins unless I want to change it up. I also let them stop and sniff stuff, which is one reason they like going out there better than anywhere else...EXCITING sniffs!

We've seen 'coons, skunk (which is how they broke my toes!) and especially the coyote family out there, so even if we don't see 'em, they've been around and left their scents.

It's gorgeous out there at dawn, which is when we run (too warm for huskies to run past about 7am here until Winter sets in). The ponds are full of ducks, geeze and white pellies, and soon all the migratory birds will be here (it's a big place for the birders, they're always out there in the morning, along with runners, walkers, bicyclers and people walking their dogs--but it's never crowded, so we don't tell people about it!).

Just purty...

So neat out there, especially on a foggy morning, it's like there's nothing in the world but us and the birds...

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