Brent's Blog

Just a quick update I just finished second in the gin gin 200 behind lance Mackey. It was a great race with warm weather lots of overflow and fog. The dogs were great they all barked and banged the harness at the finishline! Had a proud dad moment!! I'll post more details and videos from the race when I get home tomorrow.

B

Happy Christmas Eve! I thought I would take some time to give an update on how things are going out here at the Wild and free Camp. This season has been very different then the pervious two years out here at camp. Instead of it being just Kyla and I we have had many visitors throughout the past weeks and the addition of Cody, Paige and josh for the whole month of Dec has made Eureka come alive. As you can probably imagine Lance's visit was awesome. it provided some great training on and off the trail for the dogs and I. Having the 4 time Quest Champion and 3 time Iditarod Champ here was a little crazy at first but Lance is an extremely down to earth guy and made it very easy to keep things real. Im not going to lie, I was a bit nervous when he first showed up, Its a big deal when the the guy I have been looking up to the past 5 years shows up at your place and want to train with ya. but like I said lance made it so easy that after the first day it was like we were just a bunch of friends doing what we love to do. I look forward to training with Lance in the future. Kyla and Flo have been training all of the Trail Breaker Kennel dogs and doing a great job. With some Help from Josh, they take three teams a day out on runs ranging from 25-40 miles, with a camping trip mixed in every few days to get them use to camping out. I am feeling very good about the condition of the dogs and feel they are going to be well prepared for the march trip. Kyla has really stepped up to the plate this year, I have basically put her in total control of the tour dogs and all the responsibilities that come along with training and caring for 40+ dogs and she has done well. She has come a long way in the past three seasons, and is a key element to success of Wild and Free, I couldnt do it without her! The puppy training is also in full swing up until today I have been doing most of the training, but stating tomorrow Kyla and Flo are going to be running them on a more regular basis. It has been good for me to run them up until now but it is time to get them out more then my schedule allows. I feel like I have a good grasp on each puppies ability at this point and now can monitor there progress from a distance since there is no way I can do all the training with my race training schedule. The chicken pups are now closing in on 5 weeks old and growing faster then ever. They are highly advanced for their age and showing lots of great potential. When lance as here he was also very impressed and showed some interest in getting a pup. wouldnt that be awesome, Lance Mackey driving a Silver pup, we will see. As for my race team, they are AWESOME. its better then its ever been at this point in the season, I am on a totally different training program then I have been in the past and it seems to be working great, there have have been very few injuries, no major ones at all, and the dogs attitudes are great. Yesterday I got back from a 150 mile training run and they were all still bouncing around and barking while I was putting them away. At the moment I am trying to pick which dogs are going to race in the Gin Gin 200 this coming weekend. Its hard to pick I want to be able to run them all. My friends Cody and Paige are a few dogs short so they are going to take a couple of my steady eddies to fill their teams out, its a great deal for all of us and the dogs. The weather has been amazing the trails are in perfect shape and the outlook is good. I am still trying to recover from the Flu bug that has been lingering in me for the past week, I really hope I am able to kick it before the Gin Gin on the 28th. Kyla and the crew just took off for a 35 mile run on their way to Ed and Willows for Christmas Eve Dinner. I am currently working on dog bios and plan on getting the dog Sponsorship program up and running real soon so if your interested in sponsoring a dog this season, watch the website for that. I hope everyone is having a great holiday season be sure to check back in, race season is about to begin and its going to be very exciting. Enjoy the pics and the video of the crew headed out on their Christmas Eve Run!

Being Wild and Free

B

Its been a rough couple of days for me I got a bad flu bug out on a training run ended up bunkering down at the Redingtons for hours before struggling home. Since then I have been on my back. I am hoping to get back to normal tomorrow but we will see. Lance and his crew left this morning it was an awesome time training with them, especially since all the early season races were canceled. Having them here made it seem like a race every time we went on a run, we also did alot of passing on the trail which is something I dont get alot of practice at up here. It looks like the Gin Gin 200 is going to happen at the end of the month so we will get a chance to prove what weve got this season. I cant wait! heres a video from our last hook up with Lance and Crew. thanks for checking in

B

176 is the number of dogs we have at camp right now. to say the least its been exciting. Cody and Paige are back Mike Elias is here and Lance mackey and his Crew. ya crazy I have been leading Lance , Braxton and Newton all around my trails the last few days and it has been a blast. Its doesnt get any better then to train with the best in the the Business!! I gotta get to sleep but I ll be back on Thursday with pics and videos from all the excitement around here. Thanks for checking in

B

We are putting the Miles on!! and doing it in style!! Training is going well all our new trails are working out great! the dogs always love a new trail and we have been breaking new ground everyday. the Weather has been perfect and it looks like it is going to hold. Its been busy around here we had our friend Linda mush in from Manley and stay the night the other day, Cody and paige are back after beating themselves up on the trails in fairbanks, and it looks like we are going to have a few others out this week as well. I am just back from a 120 mile run which included a great soak in the springs and am getting ready to head back out for a quick 50 miler. . thanks for checking in.
B

Even though we are in the middle of the season we are still working hard at getting new trails in and the last few days has been huge. We opened up the second half of the Baker Creek trail that makes a great connection to Manley and also creates another great 30 mile loop for us. This was one of the main trails that Susan, Rick, Ed, Willow and the rest of the crew used 15 years ago and now we are about to travel down it with our dogs. But the trail had not been used in over 15 years so there was a little work to do after I put in the first tracts with the Alpine. Kyla, Flo, Josh and I went crazy on 15 years of brush yesterday and got it opened up. I am stoked and am getting ready to head out on the trail for the first time today. in fact all of us are going to make the 30 mile run today over our new found trail. Besides trail work, the dogs are doing great we did a 90 miler the other day and the dogs looked amazing! Im headed out on a 30 and a 60 mile run today. The first race of the season, the Sheep Mountain 150 has been canceled do to not enough snow, which is too bad because it was going to be nice to see where I stand amongest my competitors but at the same time I dont have to leave here, which is always a good thing!, and the trails here are some of the best in the state right now. because of this a few friends are coming up to train here as well. so as you can see things are rolling right along here at the Wild and Free Camp. With the addition of Josh we have another great hand to help keep the train moving down the tracks!! thanks for checking in here are a few videos from out recent trail breaking adventures.


Being Wild and Free

Man its been warm here, luckly its not as warm as it is in town but still a little too warm for the dogs. as long as the snow isnt melting we will be ok. Had a busy weekend around here but all of our guests have headed south and we are all back to normal now. But with this crazy weather and lack of snow in town I think we will be getting some more visitors soon, which is a good thing because having a couple other dog teams here will be good for my dogs to be exposed to. I am off for Manley and then headed towards Tanana today to check out the trail, if its all good its a 90 mile run from Eureka to Tanana which would be a great long run for the dogs. of course a stop at the Redingtons is always in the schedule. ill leave ya with a pic of the dogs at the Minook Camp. thanks for checking in

Brent

Made my first run into Manley tonight, and had a great run. The moon is amazing right now, it is extremely bright. I was able to do most of the 75 mile run with no headlight. Made a quick stop in at the Redingtons and let them know I would be by tomorrow to camp the dogs and visit for a few hours. Its always a good time sitting around the table talking dogs with Joee and the crew!! It been busy around here as of late, some friends Cody and Paige came out yesterday with their 34 dogs to get away from town and enjoy the great trail conditions weve got out here. Cody is a Sled builder and built the sleds that I will be driving this year. I just got one a couple weeks ago and am loving it, cant wait to test it out on the race trail. His company name is Dog Paddle Designs. Check out his site he makes alot of great sleds and has one for every need. his link is on my links page. Stay tuned for more on Dog Paddle Design Sleds. Pups are doing great, getting better everyday. I have tried everyone in lead at this point and they have all done well, cant have enough leaders. I gotta get to bed. Heres a look at our newest additions to the kennel these guys are growing like weeds!!

Came back from Town last night to 4 new inches of snow! Crazy! Well I made it back safely from town as always it was an epic adventure but I got my stuff done and got my supplies back out here. Had an amazing run last night under the full Moon. Made the 60 mile run to Rampart for the first time last night and the dogs were great. All told it was a 7 hour run which involved some major trail breaking but now the trail is in and I will be traveling to Rampart and the Yukon River on regular basis. ok gotta run headed back to Rampart with the second team today. We also have a bunch of visitors to get ready for this weekend. thanks for checking in.

B