We worked hard to come up with a route online and check to see if it was passable on the ground. We checked, double, and tripled checked the mileage between turns. We enjoyed every minute of it, worried even so that it could all fall apart on the day of the event.
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| Ready to go |
Lining up volunteers was one of the more stressful jobs. We didn't have definite tasks for them, just vague ideas of what needed to be done. There were concerns that we wouldn't have enough to keep things running smoothly and then had plenty of volunteers to sit around and wait while the riders were on the road. We can't thank our friends at the
Iron Range Dog Training Club enough for the assistance they provided. Nor can we thank the wonderful participants enough for their donations to the club.
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| Listening |
Everyone was super friendly, tolerant, and overall awesome! The food was great. The weather was close to perfect. With one notable exception, most of the vehicles encountered were polite, if not friendly. The neighbors didn't seem to mind the traffic. In fact, they didn't seem to notice.
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| Monitoring traffic while reading Fancy Nancy |
The Lonesome Polecat Award was mentioned and I am sure its explanation has been anxiously awaited. As some of you know, Scott and Susan have participated in
Mush for a Cure for the past few years. The pertinent part for the Fiddlin' Fifty is the Dork Award. This award is given each year to the participant who does what could be called the dumbest thing during the course of the event. Even more pertinent to our event: Susan was the 2014 recipient of the Dork Award for finishing with not one, but two bent ski poles! We have decided to adapt this and call it the Lonesome Polecat Award.
We were fortunate enough to have not one, but two riders this year who qualified! Who would sign the waiver, acknowledging the helmet requirement, yet still come without a helmet? Fortunately, Adam's head and Scott's are near enough in size for Adam to be able to borrow one.
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| Navigating Mud Hole |
The other qualifier probably should have checked his equipment a bit better before setting out. We'll let the photo explain what qualified Kip for the award.
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| Oops |
Congratulations to both of you! Next year we'll try to have a polecat available for the winner to be photographed with.
We are already looking forward to doing this again next year. Susan
has been told that we can use the same route as this year but has
different ideas brewing in her head...
