24 hour layovers and the Rabbit

Okay, so just about everyone is sitting on their 24 hr layover right now.  Except the back of the pack which is still moving- some trying to get through the Burn still and others on their way to McGrath.

The only real news is that Martin Buser took off from McGrath and ran to Ophir, clocking the fastest time to Takotna along the way- once again he is consistently running fast.

He has yet to take his 24 but has been sitting back in the mid 30's most the race taking a lot of rest and running fast. I suspect his plan is to now take a normal rest in Ophir then run to Iditarod for his 24.

I am sure most of the lead pack would have prefered to do this except they had been running harder from the begining of the race and breaking trail all the way.  Trail reports had heavy snow blanketing the trail out of Takotna and so they decided they needed to pull over in order to preserve their teams.

Buser, with all his rest must have felt he still had a strong team and could power through and take his 24 a 100+ further down the trail.  This means that going up the Yukon and even further along on the coast he should be able to keep running faster.  To me this seems like a great idea and I am looking forward to how it plays out.

Off course the one thing that could throw a kink in the whole thing is if he gets out ahead and lays down a good hard trail for the others to skim along behind him on. 

For that to happen a couple things need to occur; First the snow needs to stop, Second the it needs to get cold- both those things will create a good trail for the Neff, Burmiester, Sab, Mackey, King, Seavey crew to catch up to Buser as they come flying off their 24.

On the other hand, that is not really in the weather forecast.  I have heard there is a thin wind crust on top of deep powder all the way to the Yukon.  If this is true- with the recent snow, to boot- the trail just might get slower after more teams cross it along with all the snowmachines that will be moving up the trail with the leaders, their big paddle tracks tearing things up as well. 

Also, if any wind blows with the recent snowfalls the trail could drift in heavily. 

All in all this could work out great for Martin Buser... or it could totally backfire on him.  Only time will tell!

But I am pulling for it to work out!  I love the style of race Buser is running and feel that dogs prefer to run faster and rest longer than pull long slogs with less rest like the leaders were doing.  I think it is an attitude issue and is probably different for every musher and every team.  The down side is that dogs can get hurt more often when running faster so... it's up in the air which is "better" for the dogs.  Really they just love to run! No matter how!