Doty 2022 - Dog Races, Hiking, and Cider Making

In recent newsletters, Riley and I (Hannah) talked about our first experiences racing with sled dogs in canicross events. Clearly, canicross is not for us, but it did give me a huge appreciation for the shear power of sled dogs. So in October of 2022, we traveled back to the northwoods of Wisconsin for the annual Doty’s Dusty Dog Dryland Race. But this time, we decided to race on wheels.

Remember our friend Keith from last week’s newsletter about running dogs on a sled? Well, Keith was gracious enough to lend me his Diggler scooter for Doty.

Diggler was once one of the more popular brands of dog scooters, and has recently resurfaced as Sprocket Dog Scooters. The Diggler scooter was a fantastic starting scooter. It was a little heavier than some of the other scooters, which is not a terrible thing if you’re a first-timer and not wanting to go quite as fast. It also had a much bigger area to stand on.

The days leading up to Doty, we knew the weekend was looking warm. Which I personally wouldn’t typically complain about, but we were worried about the dogs overheating. On Friday evening, we were trying to figure out dog pairings for everyone racing BraverMountain dogs. We had backup plans with shorter-coated dogs incase the weather was too warm for the thicker-coated dogs. This was actually the first time I met Pence, and ran her with Boo!

When we arrived at the musher meeting on Saturday morning, the forecast was still warm. Everyone knew it may be an issue. The race marshal and event hosts gathered all the drivers for a vote. We had a couple different options, but ultimately a decision was made to run half of the events on Saturday morning and the other half of the events on Sunday morning during the cooler hours.

Typically, you get to race both Saturday and Sunday and have your times combined, but now we only had one shot. All the 6 dog rig, 4 dog rig, and some of the 2 dog classes ran on Saturday morning, with the remainder of the 2 dog classes, 1 dog classes, and canicross on Sunday.

Of course, it was a bummer to have my first wheeled race events cut in half. BUT, this decision was made solely for the safety and wellbeing of the dogs, so of course it was the right decision!

By mid morning, my 2 dog scooter class was up. Our trail was shortened to 1.4 miles instead of 2.5 miles due to the temperature. I ended up running with Boo and Blizzard. This was my first time meeting Blizzard. He is the sweetest gentleman and an absolute beast on the trail. One of my favorite BraverMountain dogs ever.

We made it to the start cute. Clearly it was warm, because I am always naturally cold and I have short sleeves on lol. I was so nervous.

And we’re off! I was bending down, trying to be more aerodynamic. And clearly setting a fashion statement with my shorts, leggings, tall cabin socks, and hiking boots lol.

About mid-way through the course, there is a pretty good size hill that is also steep. The photo below doesn’t do it justice. You could probably hear my brakes squealing from across the property.

In the home stretch, we emerged from the colorful woods. Look at the pure joy on the dog’s faces!

With a time of 5 minutes and 44 seconds, we crossed the finish line!! You can watch our full race recorded from my GoPro here.

Overall, scooterjoring was much easier for me than running canicross. Because this was my first scooter race every, I didn’t kick a whole lot, except on a couple hills. I was bummed because now that I had the feel for it, I knew I could do better if I had another chance. I took it easy on the turns and hills and could’ve kicked more. Although it is harder to help the dogs out when on a scooter compared to pedaling on a bike. My competitive edge would have to wait a couple more weeks.

We had a fantastic run! It was so much fun! We ended up actually taking first place in the 2 dog scooter sport class, which is an amazing accomplishment for my first wheeled race ever! And let’s just say…I was hooked from there.

After the award ceremony, one of my favorite group sled dog photos ever was taken. Somehow, all five dogs were looking at the camera! I think it looks like an album cover lol.

I would also like to give a HUGE shoutout to our friends Quince Mountain and Blair Braverman. Each year at Doty, they have trusted us more and more with handling their dogs and teaching us how to take care of them before, during, and after races. Everything we know about mushing has come from them.

The first year I attended Doty, they asked me to be a handler. That meant that I could be in the dog yard, helping harness dogs, watering dogs, hooking them up, taking them to the start chute, and catching them at the finish. This is a responsibility I don’t take lightly, or for granted.

Each year since then, they’ve trusted us with more responsibility and challenged us to figure out problems that arise. It got to the point this past year, where Q fully trusted us to take care of “our dogs” that we were each racing over the weekend, even if he wasn’t around at the time. It’s been an absolute pleasure to learn from the best!

I, Riley, also had the opportunity to race in my first wheeled event in 2022, and also with Blizzard. Since the events were split days, Blizzard was able to run both Hannah’s event on Saturday and my event on Sunday.

Blizzard was fired up (as always) to run again while I was a little nervous for my first run on the bike. While on the warmer side, I was thankful for the dry conditions. From previous stories, I heard about how easy it is to slide around and lose control bikejoring on a wet course. But we were in the clear that day.

Let me say that while bikejoring is WAY easier than canicross, it’s still a workout. Could I have let Blizzard do all the work and only lightly pedaled? Sure… but I’m a competitor and want to win. So I was pushing it as hard as I could, within limits. The strategy of when and how much to pedal is tricky on a bike though.

When bikejoring, you do want to pedal to help give you more speed, especially in 1-dog races, but you can’t pedal too much. If you pedal too much, it takes out the tension on the line, which can lead to the dog not feeling like he/she is pulling. And the dogs LOVE pulling, it encourages them to run harder. So you always have to be watching the line during the race.

Like Hannah mentioned, Blizzard is a beast. He has the power of a big dog with a solid mix of top end speed like some of the smaller dogs.

We were flying on the course. I had never felt anything like the speed and adrenaline I got from running that race with Blizzard. Unfortunately, I don’t have as good of memory as Hannah and don’t remember my exact time… but I do know that I placed third in sport class and have the hardware to prove it ;)

After the races were complete, we were invited to a Mountain local’s home to help make homemade apple cider, which is tradition for them. There were probably 20 of us in an assembly line-type process. I (Hannah) only have one photo of it, but at the time, I created a TikTok video showing the full process.

When we weren’t making cider or racing dogs that weekend, we were exploring the beautiful Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest. It was just past peak fall color, but the hikes still lead to breathtaking views.

It was yet another unforgettable trip to northern Wisconsin. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - if you’ve never been, I HIGHLY recommend it!

As for a quick update on Pence, she is still recovering well! The incision is healing up very nicely and she is back to acting like her usual self. Once the incision is fully healed, we will ease back into running! Thanks again for all the well-wishes for her! I’m sure it’s not an easy thing to go through at 10 years old.