Mushers Are Tough
How tough? When is the last time you met anyone who broke their opponent’s humerus [upper arm bone] while arm wrestling.
It was a spiral break, which means the bone was twisted until it broke. Normally the elbow or shoulder would dislocate before that happened.
It helps to know that for a long time during the off season Aliy worked as a carpenter, swinging a hammer all day, and like she said, she keeps in shape.
As an aside, when someone asks “heads or tails” in an Alaskan bar, it isn’t about flipping a coin. They are betting on the way someone is going to fall when they pass out. They are a fun-loving people.
8 comments
??? I read your post about 1:00 pm last night, but just didn’t know what to say! I feel bad for both people, and I know Aliy had to be horrified.
However, I do wonder what possessed a patent lawyer from California to attempt to arm wrestle a musher. She had to be smart enough to know that this was not going to end well for her even if it didn’t occur to her that she’d end up with a broken arm. What was she smoking/drinking for her to think this would be a fun idea?
I expect Aliy will never arm wrestle anyone again. But I bet people walk a wide berth around her from now on whenever she gets her dander up.
Actually the lawyer was in pretty good shape from the picture, and she was drinking something 100 proof because they don’t do wine coolers in Alaskan bars north of Anchorage. She made a mistake by shifting her body and losing the flexibility of the two joints. She had already won several matches, but Aliy had been slinging 50 to 75 pound bags of dog food and hay bales for the last two weeks. Arm strength is really important to mushing.
Aliy doesn’t get her dander up. She is smiling whenever you see her. Everyone says she is a genuinely nice person who happens to be tougher than rawhide and harder than the nails she used when framing.
Yes, she really did look like she was in pretty good shape, and she seemed to have handled the situation with a lot of grace, actually. I was having a little fun at the expense of the California stereotype (which of course is no more true than some of the southern stereotypes I hear every day). I expect this story will go down in Iditarod folklore.
If Aliy is this strong after going through a grueling 1000 mile race after which she has to be exhausted, wonder what she could get up to after a really decent rest.
Rest? Dogs, like cows, don’t take vacations and want caring every day, whether or not they are pulling a sled or just running around the yard. During the 36-hour rest in Dawson on the Quest, the dogs would have to be exercised at least once or they got edgy. When was the last time your dogs gave you a day off?
Aliy probably hasn’t had a day off in the last 10 years.
The lawyer became part of the Iditarod lore, and the bar will probably put up a plaque to memorialize the event. If she had a cast on it would probably be signed by most of the finishers. They might even rename the bar to the Broken Bone.
” When was the last time your dogs gave you a day off?”
You know, I was asking myself the same question yesterday. I really didn’t feel like exercising the dogs at all. Still, I pulled out my trusty bicycle and hauled them over to the neighbor’s 200 for a ride. I really can’t give them a run/walk for their money on two legs. They’re just way too active, and to their surprise I can outrun them with the bike. You should have seen the look on their faces the first time THAT happened. I think respect went up two notches that day.
That would have cemented your alpha standing, and been a bit disturbing, as they now knew they couldn’t just outrun you to avoid the consequences of bad behavior. The more they exercise, the more they sleep, the more you can relax.
Just found a video interview of the two women on YouTube. They are both class acts. https://youtu.be/CdfxX9wf8rA
That is one nasty break that is probably going to require pins and a long-term cast.
Thanks for the video.