I’ve referenced the mandatory 24-hour layover at a check point, but the only team that gets to leave after exactly 24 hours is Robert Bundtzen (97), currently in 32^th place. Cim Smyth (2), currently in 12^th place, won’t get to leave for around 27 hours, as this is where the starting advantage is evened out. At two minutes a team, Bundtzen didn’t get to leave Willow for more than three hours after Smyth, so now he gets the three hours back. This means that after everyone has taken their “24-hour” stop, position on the trail is the true position in the race. Up until that point, the apparent leaders may not be the actual leaders.

If you stopped by for Iditarod coverage you can isolate just those posts by dropping down to the bottom of the right-hand column where you will see a box labeled “Category”. If you select “Iditarod” as the category, all of those posts, and only those posts, will be displayed.

Next, welcome and thank you for all of the visitors from just about everywhere except Antarctica for dropping by recently. One of the “options” of the Feedjit widget in the left-hand column is a world map view of visitors and it has been world wide recently.

The only politics you are apt to find here for the foreseeable future will be local, as I no longer have any connection to national politics. This is subject to change if I locate an actual party for progressives or liberals that is viable, something that does not currently exist in the US.

Update: Ah, yes – don’t forget that we mess with our clocks this weekend, with 2AM Sunday morning becoming 3AM. I prefer the Fall, when we get an extra hour of sleep.

Paul Gebhardt (69) had a six-hour lead going to Cripple and everyone assumed he would be there first, but as Bobby Burns wrote: “The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley”. Apparently he became disoriented and wandered off the trail, losing about 6 hours and $3,000.

DeeDee Jonroe (39) was surprised to discover when she arrived at Cripple that she was the first team in and had won the Dorothy Page Halfway Award and $3,000 in gold nuggets.

Not a lot of change in the leader board:

1 Paul Gebhardt (69)
2 Hugh Neff (16)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Silvia Willis (40)
5 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
6 Martin Buser (13)
7 Ed Iten (32)
8 Ken Anderson (9)
9 Aliy Zirkle (17)
10 Rohn Buser (37) [rookie]

The people on the board still have to take their mandatory 24-hour stops, while Kjetil Backen (42) [14^th ], Lance Mackey (6) [18^th], and Jeff King (11) [19^th] just finished theirs. The first 14 teams are beyond Ophir on to the halfway point at Cripple.

[Read more →]

Via August J. Pollak, everyone needs a clean monitor.

Current Standings:

1 Paul Gebhardt (69)
2 Hugh Neff (16)
3 Zack Steer (26)
4 Silvia Willis (40)
5 DeeDee Jonrowe (39)
6 Martin Buser (13)
7 Ed Iten (32)
8 Ken Anderson (9)
9 Mitch Seavey (33)
10 Ramey Smyth (48)

The top 9 have left Ophir for Cripple.

A number of the people you are used to seeing on this are taking their mandatory 24-hour stop and will be back tomorrow. There is still a mandatory 8-hour rest between Ruby and Unalakleet, and the final 8-hour stop in White Mountain.

[Read more →]