Today my plan was to take the sled to the mountains. But, the 7 a.m. road-cam showing 36 degrees and pouring at the pass nixed that adventure. It finally stopped pouring here at 4:30. My ankle felt strong enough for a ride so I harnessed the dogs for Trask's maiden run pulling Ferrari. The first thing I noticed (besides not needing to help on the up hill stretches) was that the brake lever was on the same side as my picture taking finger. This is the best of my left hand pictures.
We flew the 1/2 mile to the mailbox. I grabbed the paper. We were almost back across the road when a biker sped by. The excited dogs took off after him. Fortunately my verbal commands got us headed the right direction but the effort to stop the dogs broke the brake cable. Going full speed downhill, the rig nicked a rock wall. I was also unbalanced from trying the stop the rig with the useless-on-pavement, bar brake. Over I went. Happy to have my helmet on, crash-proof camera and nothing obviously broken or bleeding, I was none-the-less stuck with an overturned rig and three very excited dogs wanting to rush down the steep hill. Fortunately the neighbor came out to help me pick up the now wet and scattered Sunday paper and untangle, then free the dogs. Letting them run free was the only safe solution I could think of since I could not figure out how to fix the broken brake cable on my brand new, first run, $200 brakes. There was no way I was going to risk riding brakeless - helmet or not. One crash was enough for my body for one day.
With Cedar by my side, it was dark by the time I rode and pushed the rig home . A deer carcass distracted Koyuk and Trask. A 1/2 hour later, using the flashlight, I finally caught the reflective strips on their harness' as they feasted. AARRRGGG. When I get the brakes fixed, I will also get the handle put on the left side so I can not only slow the dogs down - maybe even stop - and take decent pictures of my adventures.
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