With the cooling temperatures held at bay by the Chinook directly from Hawaii, known as the Pineapple Express, fall training in Alaska has been postponed a few weeks. Temperatures are cooling off for real after the 75F+ days, and soon the sounds of ATVs will fill the air as mushers take advantage of the cool temperatures to get their teams started on the busy fall training season.Also gearing up is the Alaska Dog Mushers Association, which is preparing for the 2007 International Sled Dog Symposium. With great deals on clothing and gear from some of the sport’s best manufacturers, mushers will swarm to Fairbanks to view the latest technology and, more importantly, catch up after a long summer hiatus. For more information on the symposium visit http://sleddog.org/symposium/index.html.This summer has been relatively dry, smoke-free and bug-free – one of the best summers in a long time. Perfect for our mushers to tackle their “off-season” pursuits such as Two Rivers Dog Mushers Association unconventional triathlon. Other mushers travel to compete in iron-man events, marathons, triathlons, and our own editor will be traveling, in October, to Moab, Utah to compete in a 100-mile road bike race, and the following weekend she will race in the 24-hours of Moab mountain bike race. Many mushers pursue other sports during the summer months, and this is what makes our sport so unique – we are athletes of many sports.Good luck in your fall training endeavors, and we look forward to seeing you at the Symposium in October, and on the trails around Fairbanks, Anchorage and Willow.
