Expedition Training

When most people think of dog sledding, they envision a person standing on the sled runners with a team of huskies pulling the sled through the angel white crystalline snow. And nowadays, dog sleds are built with seats, so the dog musher can relax on his cold posterior and sip hot coffee while their dogs are working their posteriors off.

Well, with Arctic expeditions, the only thing correct about that image is the angel white crystalline snow. Rarely will you see me ride on the sled. These guys and gals have enough weight to pull, so why would I ever subject them to pulling me too?

So, the question is: how do you train? This is one of the most common questions I receive; however, the questioner usually inquires about the dogs. But we don't have to be concerned too much about the dogs because they've been pulling sleds across the frozen tundra for thousands of years. Their genes are set.

Come every November; they start muscling up whether they're pulling or not. Nonetheless, I still condition them to some degree, but it's myself that I'm most concerned about. Because if I'm not in shape, those guys and gals will run over the top of me, leaving me with a deep faceplant into the cold snow while they disappear over the white horizon with happy wagging tails.

So here are my tools for the trade.

Here's a selfie after a bike workout. ( I've never been a fan of selfies, but for the sake of this article, this will give you an idea of a typical workout on the bike that is shown here.)

The snowshoes and skis shown below are my other workout "tools." The longest pair of snowshoes are six-feet long! They're a great cardio workout.

Now, envision staying ahead of these guys and gals on snowshoes. This is what my training is about!

"For with God, nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37