We are off across the lake with a major burst of energy. It's like a group bike ride, everyone is trying to prove something right away but as the trip moves on the energy level drops to a steady pull. We stop a few times along the trail waiting for sleds to clear into woods trails, up hills and around curves. The temps are in the high teens with a lot more wind than yesterday. Over cast skies and some snow flakes mixed with shots of sun make it a great day to be on the trails. There is a lot of work to do not just relaxing on the back of a sled. Every time we stop, someone needs to go to the lead dogs and control them so they don't turn around and cause chaos. The brake man of course holds the drag brake down as hard as possible to keep the sled in place. The brake by the way is just a metal spring loaded flap with 2 long bolts hanging out the bottom. They dig into the snow and ice and create an effective means of slowing and stopping the sleds, most of the time anyhow.
Eventually we make our way to lunch camp, make a fire and dig out the food. John is busy making pizza tortilas in a big fry pan while we munch on cheese, ramen and other snacks.
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