February 28, 2025 • 21 mins
What happens when you combine 16 high-energy dogs, a sleep-deprived human, and 1,000 miles of Alaskan wilderness? Hallucinated rock concerts, near-death ice rescues, and a man who lost 45 pounds in 11 days while chasing the ultimate mushing dream. Meet Bailey Vitello, who's been commanding dog teams since age two and now tackles the legendary Iditarod with nothing but determination, his canine family, and—shockingly—zero caffeine.
In this episode, we dive headfirst into the wild world of competitive dog sledding with a musher who:
- Hallucinates Maroon 5 concerts in the Alaskan wilderness (sleep deprivation is a trip!)
- Rolls soaking wet dogs in snow to dry them (it actually works!)
- Shares his chili with his lead dog while sleeping in -10°F temperatures
- Lost a shocking 45 pounds during his rookie Iditarod run
Meet the canine characters in Bailey's 16-dog dream team – from Senator (the teacher's pet) to Wyoming (a loveable wrecking ball) to Tuckerman (the class clown who steals everyone's toys) to YoYa (his sleeping bag heater when needed).
Whether you're a dog lover, adventure seeker, or just curious about what drives someone to race across Alaska in conditions that would make most of us question our life choices, Bailey's story proves that sometimes the craziest dreams are the ones worth freezing for.
Listen now and discover why, as Bailey puts it, "Dogs honestly are just truly the answer to everything."
Links:
- Team Bailey USA: www.teambaileyusa.com
- Sponsor a dog or help pack Bailey's drop bags
- Follow Bailey's 2025 Iditarod journey
- The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Official Site
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:01):
Dogs,
SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
honestly, are just truly the answer to everything.
You know, having a bad day, geton dog sled and we'll fix
everything.
My mom and dad have a picture ofa hundred foot dash when I was
two years old, standing behindmy dog, Bridgie.
on a pair of runners and ahandlebar and this little basket
sled, their little chat Mac.
(00:32):
They had a hundred foot dash.
Me and Bridgie went down thereand then the other parent or
handler would catch us and turnus around and send us back.
Okay.
That's fun.
Yeah.
So that's how I got like, and Iwasn't like where the bug was
really worth thinking.
SPEAKER_00 (00:45):
That's Bailey Vitello who's been dog sledding
since he was a toddler.
And today he's a young manchasing the ultimate mushing
dream.
The Iditarod.
Now, some of you may thinkracing a team of 16 dogs over
1,000 miles through the Alaskanwilderness sounds crazy.
SPEAKER_02 (01:05):
Well, that's the thing.
To be a musher, you've got to bea certain level of crazy to want
to make yourself suffer at thislevel.
SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
Got to be a certain level of crazy.
Welcome, folks.
From hallucinating Maroon 5concerts in the Yukon to losing
45 pounds in 11 days, Bailey isabout to take us on a wild ride
through his world of competitivemushing.
We'll also get to meet his funteam of dogs and learn how we
can track his progress in thisyear's Iditarod.
(01:33):
I'm Truman Pastworthy from theDaystrider Podcast, and today
we're hitting the trail with amusher who's proving that
sometimes the craziest dreamsare the ones worth freezing for.
There's no doubt how much Baileyloves his dogs.
SPEAKER_02 (01:48):
So I actually have never known a life without dogs.
We've always had sled dogs mywhole life growing up.
My dad had dogs before me and,you know, I've always had dogs.
I've never been in a kennelthat's not at least 30 dogs.
Whether it be sprint mushing ormid-distance, for my whole life,
we've always had dogs.
And my dad and mom were so, Imean, we were all dedicated to
(02:10):
this and loved it.
The brothers did it.
Everyone was, it was a familything.
And it was always how we grewup.
And I fell in love with it, thepassion of working with dogs and
the athleticism and just workingas one unit and coming together
to make something awesomehappen.
You know, running races, I wasrunning races at eight years old
with 30 year olds because Ididn't like because there wasn't
any other kids doing it.
(02:30):
So there's only three or fourkid mushers running five mile
races and I wanted to run the30s and 60s.
So I've always liked thedistance.
It's in your blood.
I guess.
I guess it really my dad had thebug and then I got it really.
SPEAKER_00 (02:43):
And Bailey's parents had to be thinking that he was
going to have a specialrelationship with these dogs.
And that was way before theydecided to move to Alaska.
SPEAKER_02 (02:53):
They actually started in Massachusetts and
then moved to Milan, NewHampshire.
And that's where I reallystarted growing the kennel.
And that's where the Iditaroddream actually really started
becoming a feasible thing.
We thought it was going to be inmy late 30s that we were going
to attempt to do our firstIditarod.
And I really realized that, youknow, You're not getting any
(03:13):
younger, so you might as welltake a swing at it and, you
know, start building a team anddoing research and studying it.
It's been a lifelong goal, youknow, ever since I ran Junior
Road, I've wanted to run it.
Wow.
SPEAKER_00 (03:24):
And I asked Bailey if they had a family meeting to
decide this, or if he just wokeup one day and said, let's do
this thing.
And well, like most greatthings, you need a little bit of
luck.
SPEAKER_02 (03:36):
You know, the funny thing is, is actually at a dog
sled trade fair.
My dad came up, and we'd beenrunning the Northern Exposure
Outfitters, and we wereoutfitting and selling gear and
basically just talking dogs,seeing other mushers come down.
And my dad came and said, whatdo you think about running
Iditarod?
I'm like, yeah, maybe in 10years we could do it.
(03:58):
I don't know if it's really afeasible thing in the next game.
And just like that,
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
he has a championship caliber team.
And of course, running theIditarod isn't just about the
musher.
It's about those 16 four-leggedathletes with personalities
bigger than Alaska itself.
Speaking of which, why don't wemeet some of Bailey's best
friends?
SPEAKER_02 (04:33):
You know, everyone, that's the one thing of why I
love dogs so much is they allhave such unique personalities.
Everyone has little, we callcorks, whether they're being
jerks or they're the stud of theyard and everyone loves them or
if they're just flirts.
And then we got our class clown.
I'd call that definitelyTuckerman.
You know, he, comes out and hehas a goofy way about him and
(04:54):
you know he loves everyone malefemale it doesn't matter he's
best friends with everyone andhe runs up he'll steal toys from
him and you know free runninghe's one of those dogs you've
got to watch out for becausethey'll try to take your legs
out because he doesn't reallythink he is until he starts your
first team that's tuckerman okayyep tuckerman and then we have
senator is definitely theteacher's pet, I guess you'd
(05:16):
call him.
He's always right kind of thing.
He's always led me true to thefact that what we're working for
and towards, and he's definitelya big part of that.
You know, as far as goofy, Iwould have to say Wyoming.
Yeah, he's the goof of theclass.
You know, we were sitting at abar.
(05:37):
This guy would probably knockover all the stools and jump
over the counter and tip overeveryone's beer.
he's a goof in that way he's alittle clumsy but he is a
powerhouse And I honestly, Iwould say our up and coming
three-year-old Ryan, you know,he ran with me last year out of
Aaron's kennel.
My 24, I did a rod and then hejust immersed fully into our
(06:00):
kennel.
And now he's one of our primaryleaders with Senator.
And man, he has just blown usout of the water, just showing
off to everyone, running an opentundra and no trails at all.
And that dog just, no questionsasked.
I say it, he goes there.
Nice.
A lot of faith and trust in eachother.
At a three-year-old, that's alot to ask for a three-year-old.
So I guess he is anoverachiever.
But, you know, the dog that'salways right, I would say, is
(06:21):
Senator.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
Yeah.
So he's got a class clown and alovable wrecking ball along with
an up-and-comer.
But, of course, I ask ifSenator, being the lead dog, is
he the one who gets all thesepersonalities pulling in the
same direction?
SPEAKER_02 (06:35):
No, you know, it's a misunderstanding that lead dog
is the most important role.
Okay.
it's not what makes the strengthof this being that one dog it's
the team coming together as onein understanding their strengths
and weaknesses becauseeveryone's strength is actually
a weaknesses in throughout thewhole team if you over balance
it because that you can't leaninto one dog it's like he's my
(06:57):
main man i'd be lying if i saidit wasn't senator he's one of my
top dogs for sure but we noticedthere's this unbelievable
dynamic when they're together inpairs and they have the right
energy with each other and theywork combo so you need A whole
group of dogs.
And apparently...
SPEAKER_00 (07:34):
They are very perceptive.
SPEAKER_02 (07:36):
Keeping a good positive attitude because dogs
read that energy.
I know it always soundshippy-dippy that we read energy.
It's like, but the dogs, theyfeed off how you're feeling.
You walk in, you're sad, yourdog's going to snuggle up to you
and love on you.
They're going to give you alittle extra love that
SPEAKER_00 (07:50):
day.
Aw, who wouldn't want a littleextra love?
So anyway, we moved along to therace itself.
And I asked Bailey about thecheckpoints.
What are they like?
So what happens at a checkpoint?
You just feed the dogs, yousleep, you get checked out.
Then what?
Not
SPEAKER_02 (08:06):
always.
So like this year, I'll beavoiding checkpoints.
Actually, I won't stay incheckpoint.
I'll grab my bag and I'll gocamp on the trail because I have
my coach says I have thisproblem with being very social.
And I like talking about thedogs.
And he says, that's a problem.
You can't be so social andtalking instead of sleeping or
eating or resting.
I always take care of the dogsfirst.
(08:26):
That's one thing my signatureis.
I can take care of my dogs in 15to 20 minutes.
Have them straw, booty stripped,bedded down and fed in 25
minutes if I have to boil snow.
And I pride myself in that.
And then, you know, it's thenit's me sitting there and eating
my meal.
And then I like bringing backSenator with me and sitting with
me while meeting my meal.
(08:47):
We eat together and I usuallyshare my chili with them.
And we usually just share somefood.
And then, you know, if I canfall asleep, I'll usually if
it's anything above minus 10, Idon't pull my sleeping bag out.
I'll actually just lay in thestraw that Senator's in and
we'll share the bed together.
But majority of the time, ifit's real cold, I like to have a
sleeping bag and we snuggletogether or I'll pull Yo-Ya, one
(09:08):
of our small little dogs, andactually put her in the sleeping
bag with me.
And she warms it up real niceand she loves it.
So I usually take at least onedog and throw her in the
sleeping bag.
It's like an extra warmer.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
So let's go back there.
You said when it's not verycold, like minus 10, you sleep
outside?
SPEAKER_02 (09:28):
Well, you know, I say minus 10, but I like 10
above as...
Now there's a lot to
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
unpack right there.
He can't stay at checkpointsbecause he's too social and that
distracts him from hispriorities.
And he shares his chili withSenator, which is cute, right?
If you're a true dog lover,you've shared your food with
your pup, right?
But then it gets really crazywhen he's talking about sleeping
out in the snow, in the straw,with the dogs at negative 10
(10:17):
degrees.
My goodness.
Remember that soundbite aboutmushers needing to be a little
crazy?
Well, hmm.
Okay, so this year is Bailey'sthird time with this ultimate
race.
Let's hear what it was like acouple years ago.
when he was a rookie.
SPEAKER_02 (10:36):
You know, we weren't competitive the first year just
because I wanted to see what itwas like just being on the trail
for that long, 10 days, 11 dayson the trail with the dogs and
just me and them and an awesomevet crew and just unbelievable
support and fan base and have anadventure.
And it truly was an adventure,but it was an addicting
adventure.
(10:56):
Nice.
I lost 45 pounds my first year.
What?
And that was 11 days.
I shed 45 pounds.
And I was, I was not in like, Iwas hurting.
I also only slept, I believelike eight hours for 11 days.
So that was pretty bad.
I was in, I didn't take care ofmyself because I was so obsessed
with it.
I was in love with it.
(11:17):
I was, I wanted to be with thedogs and see every part they
were going through when theywere sleeping.
I was sitting there watchingthem and just seeing who moved
and if they needed to bestretched out and they wanted to
go for a walk before we left.
And I got obsessed and I just, Ididn't take care of myself and
it did show.
And I felt it.
And then last year, I tookbetter care of myself, but not
the skill I was taught andstarting to learn.
(11:39):
But this year, I'm very dialedin and connected with my body.
And I understand things,stretching, hydration, eating
properly.
And when you don't want to eat,which 90% of the time, you
randomly just aren't hungryanymore.
Your brain's going 1,000 miles aminute.
And you're thinking about somuch.
Sometimes you have to stop andsay, I'm here.
(12:01):
Let's take this one step at atime, one mile at a time.
Focus on what's in front of youand don't worry about the rest.
It will all make sense when youget to the end.
SPEAKER_00 (12:09):
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (12:10):
But it takes experience.
And I think that's what'sgrowing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
He lost 45 pounds over 11 days and got so little
sleep.
I can't imagine what that wouldbe like.
And I asked him what happens tohis mind out there all alone.
with that little
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
sleep of some of the things i see out there and be
like is that real did thatreally just happen did we just
see that you know you have thosemoments out there where we're
listening to a concert on theyukon river somehow every musher
out there has heard some kind ofcrazy music out there mine was a
maroon 5 concert and i listenedto them i would have my
headphones on listening toaudiobook and i had one half off
(12:49):
like listen to the dogs and i Iheard Maroon 5, clear as day.
I put my audio book on pause andI look around looking for
lights.
I'm like, oh, maybe one of thevillagers had Maroon 5 come out
here.
Now I haven't slept properly infive days now.
And it's usually right aroundwhen you're going a little
crazy.
And I'm looking around.
And then I just, you know, Iclose my eyes for a minute.
(13:12):
I'm just humming with it.
And I'm like, this is prettygood, actually.
I'll just listen to it.
Yeah, that was wild.
It was pitch black and I waslooking for concert lights.
SPEAKER_00 (13:22):
That's a little scary.
So who knew that Adam Levineenjoys performing in the world's
coldest concert venue?
At least in Bailey'sHallucination, that is.
But you can probably imaginethat sometimes your mind might
play tricks on you out there.
So it's a good thing that dogsare so aware of their
surroundings that theyinstinctively avoid danger.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
I like to brag and say that I make the best
decisions for my dogs becauseI'm always thinking about their
best interests.
But the truth is...
I'll never forget it was like wewere out training on the flats
and Senator almost had to lookto him like his back stood up a
little he looked more cautiouslight foot stepping and his body
language he was basicallyshowing me that he didn't want
(14:06):
to go there but he looked backhe was giving me all the signs
like something's wrong dad andI'll never forget that he made
that decision to go rightinstead of left and the next day
that left channel was completelyopen and there was a slew
flowing water and I was like wewould have been all swimming
that day.
You know, being wet in minus 20or 45, that's horrible when you
(14:27):
have to go another 100 miles.
SPEAKER_00 (14:29):
I can't imagine getting wet and then freezing
for 100 more miles until you canget warm and dry.
And then, of course, I had toask, what happens if the dogs do
fall in the water and get wet?
So pay attention here.
This is really cool.
SPEAKER_02 (14:44):
I get the dogs out and the first thing when your
dogs fall through the water, yougot to roll them in the snow.
The snow actually absorbs thiswater and will dry it out.
Trust me, you wouldn't believeit until you watch it happen.
But dogs come soaking wet out.
You roll in the snow for fiveseconds and rub snow on them and
they're almost spotless drybecause they have such nice oil
in their coats.
How about that?
That does not work for humanclothes.
(15:05):
I am not encouraging this.
Please do not do
SPEAKER_00 (15:07):
this.
I know.
I told you that was pretty neat,right?
Okay, so Bailey is challenginghimself off the race course as
well.
And his fiance, Brianna, ishelping him shake his caffeine
addiction.
That's
SPEAKER_02 (15:19):
hard, you know.
I was just talking to Bri aboutthis, and I just recently quit
coffee about three months ago.
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
Oh, boy.
SPEAKER_02 (15:28):
Yeah, that's an experience of itself.
I found a point where I wasn'tchallenging myself enough, and I
was challenging my dogs, and Isaid, I need to find a new way
to challenge myself physically,mentally, and emotionally.
And coffee seemed to be that onething I'd reach for first.
Every morning, I went fromdrinking six cups to zero for
the past three months.
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
Impressive.
SPEAKER_02 (15:48):
My first race without coffee or any caffeine.
So it's a big step.
SPEAKER_00 (15:52):
A big step with no coffee.
But you can easily tell that ourhero is so into the experience
and he's in tune with the dogsand their emotions and his
emotions.
Here's Bailey's take on emotion.
SPEAKER_02 (16:07):
You know, only real men cry.
I always say that.
I'm like, only real men can crybecause they realize that
they're leaving yourselfvulnerable enough.
But I am definitely a little tooemotional sometimes.
But it's worked on it and we'verecognized it and how to move
forward.
Not a bad thing to be emotional.
It's just when you bringemotions and dog mushing, it's
hard because it makes you a verysoft person.
SPEAKER_00 (16:29):
Yeah.
And in a sport where temps dropto minus 70 and one wrong turn
could be fatal.
Maybe being soft and caringdeeply for your team is just
what's needed.
Of course, the old-timers of thesport probably believe today's
mushers are too soft.
SPEAKER_02 (16:46):
our neighbor bill cotter it was a good example of
this um i've heard so manystories from this guy and he's
kind of another one of thosementors like the guy he comes
over and sits down has coffeeand tells you stories about the
good old days and like youreally don't need that seat
anymore you know you need youneed to lighten your sled up
more and you shouldn't have thisyou know You know, racing's
(17:07):
going downhill.
You've got to change this.
You want to do this?
I'm like, Bill, it's evolutionof dog mushing.
But, you know, I'm going tolisten to you, and I love
hearing your stories.
SPEAKER_00 (17:15):
Yeah.
And I asked Bailey if he couldhave hung with those old-timers
back in the 70s when theIditarod first got started.
SPEAKER_02 (17:22):
Honestly, I wouldn't be very competitive, probably,
because I wouldn't be willing todo what they do.
Just because I'm so used to ourrules and regulations now, I'd
be like, why is your sled 200pounds?
I'm like, required gear?
Things evolved and needed tochange, so this race got better.
Right, right.
And it evolved all for the good,you know.
And there's some things everyoneargues about things, but they
(17:44):
all changed because of onething.
It's because they wanted bettercare for the dogs, and they
didn't want mushers getting hurtas much.
And it was always the thoughtthat comes first that it's
always about the dogs.
SPEAKER_00 (17:56):
And it should be, right?
Always about the dogs.
So how many teams of dogs aregoing to be out there this year?
SPEAKER_02 (18:04):
I don't know, truly, how many we're at right now.
Last time I checked, we were at32, I think.
All right.
So it's gone down drastically.
Every year I've ran, it's beenin the 30s.
It's never been over 40.
Our numbers are down becausemushing is becoming very hard to
do, distance mushing especially.
It's very unaffordable andexpensive.
(18:25):
there's not a lot of interest inwanting to go suffer for a
thousand miles.
I can relate to those people.
You say that, but you know, Imean, I get you on a 200 mile
camera and be like, that's it.
We're not going to keep going.
SPEAKER_00 (18:39):
Yeah.
I suppose I would love to keepgoing, especially if it's as
much fun as Bailey makes itseem.
By the way, hearing about himand Senator and Wyoming, maybe
you'd like to be a sponsor.
It's easy to do.
Just a few clicks would go along way.
SPEAKER_02 (18:57):
Yeah, so we have dog sponsorship.
People can join in the family bysponsoring the dogs.
Okay.
And we have individualpersonalities and basically bios
about that dogs and theup-and-coming puppies, whether
they're making Iditarod or not.
We do all kinds of fun littleintros of the dogs, and you get
little packages about that dogand how they work, and that's
(19:18):
teambaileyusa.com.
And it's really a way to connectwith us, but our best way to
follow along on our adventure isFacebook and Instagram.
Team Bailey, USA.
SPEAKER_00 (19:34):
Well, I'll get those links and make sure that we get
them posted in the show notes.
Awesome.
Yeah, I really appreciate it.
Yeah.
And then people can adopt orsponsor, I guess, a dog.
That's pretty neat.
SPEAKER_02 (19:43):
Yep.
And you can be part of that.
And we're going to beintroducing drop bags next year.
So you can be part of helping uspack our drop bags and all that
gear that goes out there andbasically checkpoints that we're
going through.
You can help us fill those upand kind of push us on and give
us those little extra kicks weneed sometimes.
Like, are we going to buy those?
really nice snakes for the dogsthis time?
Or are they going to be the moregeneric stuff?
(20:06):
And how much is in these bags?
You would be amazed when you seethem.
Each bag weighs around 50pounds.
So it gets a lot of gear getssent out.
It is a thousand miles.
So that's a long way.
It's a skip across the pond.
SPEAKER_00 (20:18):
For anyone inspired by Bailey's journey.
And honestly, how could you notbe?
We'll have links to Team BaileyUSA in the show notes.
where you can meet these amazingdogs and maybe even help fuel
their next adventure.
Now, of course, I have the samequestion that you probably have
right now.
(20:39):
Can Team Bailey finish first
SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
this year?
You know, I never go into a racewithout thinking that we could
possibly win it.
I'll never go to the startinglines without a team I think.
I won't go there with themindset, we're going to get dead
last.
There's a lot of beautiful dogteams out there.
There's a lot of mushers thathave unbelievable strategy.
There's a field of mushers thathave beautiful dogs, gorgeous
(21:02):
teams, and probably, truthfully,probably a little faster than
mine.
But the truth is, if I stay tomy schedule and I push the way I
will push and my team is capableof and run them to their
training capability,
SPEAKER_00 (21:15):
I think we have a real chance.
A real chance.
That's awesome.
And he's clearly doing this forall the right reasons.
SPEAKER_02 (21:24):
But the truth is, if we wanted to make money doing
this, it would turn into a job.
And this isn't just a job.
This isn't something you want tomake money with.
This is something I'm just sopassionate about that I want to
share with the world.
SPEAKER_00 (21:39):
And there you have it.
A musher and his dogs chasingdreams across the Alaskan
wilderness one mile at a time.
Good luck, Team Bailey.
Good luck.
Dogs,
SPEAKER_02 (00:10):
honestly, are just truly the answer to everything.
You know, having a bad day, geton dog sled and we'll fix
everything.
My mom and dad have a picture ofa hundred foot dash when I was
two years old, standing behindmy dog, Bridgie.
on a pair of runners and ahandlebar and this little basket
sled, their little chat Mac.
(00:32):
They had a hundred foot dash.
Me and Bridgie went down thereand then the other parent or
handler would catch us and turnus around and send us back.
Okay.
That's fun.
Yeah.
So that's how I got like, and Iwasn't like where the bug was
really worth thinking.
SPEAKER_00 (00:45):
That's Bailey Vitello who's been dog sledding
since he was a toddler.
And today he's a young manchasing the ultimate mushing
dream.
The Iditarod.
Now, some of you may thinkracing a team of 16 dogs over
1,000 miles through the Alaskanwilderness sounds crazy.
SPEAKER_02 (01:05):
Well, that's the thing.
To be a musher, you've got to bea certain level of crazy to want
to make yourself suffer at thislevel.
SPEAKER_00 (01:10):
Got to be a certain level of crazy.
Welcome, folks.
From hallucinating Maroon 5concerts in the Yukon to losing
45 pounds in 11 days, Bailey isabout to take us on a wild ride
through his world of competitivemushing.
We'll also get to meet his funteam of dogs and learn how we
can track his progress in thisyear's Iditarod.
(01:33):
I'm Truman Pastworthy from theDaystrider Podcast, and today
we're hitting the trail with amusher who's proving that
sometimes the craziest dreamsare the ones worth freezing for.
There's no doubt how much Baileyloves his dogs.
SPEAKER_02 (01:48):
So I actually have never known a life without dogs.
We've always had sled dogs mywhole life growing up.
My dad had dogs before me and,you know, I've always had dogs.
I've never been in a kennelthat's not at least 30 dogs.
Whether it be sprint mushing ormid-distance, for my whole life,
we've always had dogs.
And my dad and mom were so, Imean, we were all dedicated to
(02:10):
this and loved it.
The brothers did it.
Everyone was, it was a familything.
And it was always how we grewup.
And I fell in love with it, thepassion of working with dogs and
the athleticism and just workingas one unit and coming together
to make something awesomehappen.
You know, running races, I wasrunning races at eight years old
with 30 year olds because Ididn't like because there wasn't
any other kids doing it.
(02:30):
So there's only three or fourkid mushers running five mile
races and I wanted to run the30s and 60s.
So I've always liked thedistance.
It's in your blood.
I guess.
I guess it really my dad had thebug and then I got it really.
SPEAKER_00 (02:43):
And Bailey's parents had to be thinking that he was
going to have a specialrelationship with these dogs.
And that was way before theydecided to move to Alaska.
SPEAKER_02 (02:53):
They actually started in Massachusetts and
then moved to Milan, NewHampshire.
And that's where I reallystarted growing the kennel.
And that's where the Iditaroddream actually really started
becoming a feasible thing.
We thought it was going to be inmy late 30s that we were going
to attempt to do our firstIditarod.
And I really realized that, youknow, You're not getting any
(03:13):
younger, so you might as welltake a swing at it and, you
know, start building a team anddoing research and studying it.
It's been a lifelong goal, youknow, ever since I ran Junior
Road, I've wanted to run it.
Wow.
SPEAKER_00 (03:24):
And I asked Bailey if they had a family meeting to
decide this, or if he just wokeup one day and said, let's do
this thing.
And well, like most greatthings, you need a little bit of
luck.
SPEAKER_02 (03:36):
You know, the funny thing is, is actually at a dog
sled trade fair.
My dad came up, and we'd beenrunning the Northern Exposure
Outfitters, and we wereoutfitting and selling gear and
basically just talking dogs,seeing other mushers come down.
And my dad came and said, whatdo you think about running
Iditarod?
I'm like, yeah, maybe in 10years we could do it.
(03:58):
I don't know if it's really afeasible thing in the next game.
And just like that,
SPEAKER_00 (04:14):
he has a championship caliber team.
And of course, running theIditarod isn't just about the
musher.
It's about those 16 four-leggedathletes with personalities
bigger than Alaska itself.
Speaking of which, why don't wemeet some of Bailey's best
friends?
SPEAKER_02 (04:33):
You know, everyone, that's the one thing of why I
love dogs so much is they allhave such unique personalities.
Everyone has little, we callcorks, whether they're being
jerks or they're the stud of theyard and everyone loves them or
if they're just flirts.
And then we got our class clown.
I'd call that definitelyTuckerman.
You know, he, comes out and hehas a goofy way about him and
(04:54):
you know he loves everyone malefemale it doesn't matter he's
best friends with everyone andhe runs up he'll steal toys from
him and you know free runninghe's one of those dogs you've
got to watch out for becausethey'll try to take your legs
out because he doesn't reallythink he is until he starts your
first team that's tuckerman okayyep tuckerman and then we have
senator is definitely theteacher's pet, I guess you'd
(05:16):
call him.
He's always right kind of thing.
He's always led me true to thefact that what we're working for
and towards, and he's definitelya big part of that.
You know, as far as goofy, Iwould have to say Wyoming.
Yeah, he's the goof of theclass.
You know, we were sitting at abar.
(05:37):
This guy would probably knockover all the stools and jump
over the counter and tip overeveryone's beer.
he's a goof in that way he's alittle clumsy but he is a
powerhouse And I honestly, Iwould say our up and coming
three-year-old Ryan, you know,he ran with me last year out of
Aaron's kennel.
My 24, I did a rod and then hejust immersed fully into our
(06:00):
kennel.
And now he's one of our primaryleaders with Senator.
And man, he has just blown usout of the water, just showing
off to everyone, running an opentundra and no trails at all.
And that dog just, no questionsasked.
I say it, he goes there.
Nice.
A lot of faith and trust in eachother.
At a three-year-old, that's alot to ask for a three-year-old.
So I guess he is anoverachiever.
But, you know, the dog that'salways right, I would say, is
(06:21):
Senator.
SPEAKER_00 (06:22):
Yeah.
So he's got a class clown and alovable wrecking ball along with
an up-and-comer.
But, of course, I ask ifSenator, being the lead dog, is
he the one who gets all thesepersonalities pulling in the
same direction?
SPEAKER_02 (06:35):
No, you know, it's a misunderstanding that lead dog
is the most important role.
Okay.
it's not what makes the strengthof this being that one dog it's
the team coming together as onein understanding their strengths
and weaknesses becauseeveryone's strength is actually
a weaknesses in throughout thewhole team if you over balance
it because that you can't leaninto one dog it's like he's my
(06:57):
main man i'd be lying if i saidit wasn't senator he's one of my
top dogs for sure but we noticedthere's this unbelievable
dynamic when they're together inpairs and they have the right
energy with each other and theywork combo so you need A whole
group of dogs.
And apparently...
SPEAKER_00 (07:34):
They are very perceptive.
SPEAKER_02 (07:36):
Keeping a good positive attitude because dogs
read that energy.
I know it always soundshippy-dippy that we read energy.
It's like, but the dogs, theyfeed off how you're feeling.
You walk in, you're sad, yourdog's going to snuggle up to you
and love on you.
They're going to give you alittle extra love that
SPEAKER_00 (07:50):
day.
Aw, who wouldn't want a littleextra love?
So anyway, we moved along to therace itself.
And I asked Bailey about thecheckpoints.
What are they like?
So what happens at a checkpoint?
You just feed the dogs, yousleep, you get checked out.
Then what?
Not
SPEAKER_02 (08:06):
always.
So like this year, I'll beavoiding checkpoints.
Actually, I won't stay incheckpoint.
I'll grab my bag and I'll gocamp on the trail because I have
my coach says I have thisproblem with being very social.
And I like talking about thedogs.
And he says, that's a problem.
You can't be so social andtalking instead of sleeping or
eating or resting.
I always take care of the dogsfirst.
(08:26):
That's one thing my signatureis.
I can take care of my dogs in 15to 20 minutes.
Have them straw, booty stripped,bedded down and fed in 25
minutes if I have to boil snow.
And I pride myself in that.
And then, you know, it's thenit's me sitting there and eating
my meal.
And then I like bringing backSenator with me and sitting with
me while meeting my meal.
(08:47):
We eat together and I usuallyshare my chili with them.
And we usually just share somefood.
And then, you know, if I canfall asleep, I'll usually if
it's anything above minus 10, Idon't pull my sleeping bag out.
I'll actually just lay in thestraw that Senator's in and
we'll share the bed together.
But majority of the time, ifit's real cold, I like to have a
sleeping bag and we snuggletogether or I'll pull Yo-Ya, one
(09:08):
of our small little dogs, andactually put her in the sleeping
bag with me.
And she warms it up real niceand she loves it.
So I usually take at least onedog and throw her in the
sleeping bag.
It's like an extra warmer.
SPEAKER_00 (09:20):
So let's go back there.
You said when it's not verycold, like minus 10, you sleep
outside?
SPEAKER_02 (09:28):
Well, you know, I say minus 10, but I like 10
above as...
Now there's a lot to
SPEAKER_00 (09:54):
unpack right there.
He can't stay at checkpointsbecause he's too social and that
distracts him from hispriorities.
And he shares his chili withSenator, which is cute, right?
If you're a true dog lover,you've shared your food with
your pup, right?
But then it gets really crazywhen he's talking about sleeping
out in the snow, in the straw,with the dogs at negative 10
(10:17):
degrees.
My goodness.
Remember that soundbite aboutmushers needing to be a little
crazy?
Well, hmm.
Okay, so this year is Bailey'sthird time with this ultimate
race.
Let's hear what it was like acouple years ago.
when he was a rookie.
SPEAKER_02 (10:36):
You know, we weren't competitive the first year just
because I wanted to see what itwas like just being on the trail
for that long, 10 days, 11 dayson the trail with the dogs and
just me and them and an awesomevet crew and just unbelievable
support and fan base and have anadventure.
And it truly was an adventure,but it was an addicting
adventure.
(10:56):
Nice.
I lost 45 pounds my first year.
What?
And that was 11 days.
I shed 45 pounds.
And I was, I was not in like, Iwas hurting.
I also only slept, I believelike eight hours for 11 days.
So that was pretty bad.
I was in, I didn't take care ofmyself because I was so obsessed
with it.
I was in love with it.
(11:17):
I was, I wanted to be with thedogs and see every part they
were going through when theywere sleeping.
I was sitting there watchingthem and just seeing who moved
and if they needed to bestretched out and they wanted to
go for a walk before we left.
And I got obsessed and I just, Ididn't take care of myself and
it did show.
And I felt it.
And then last year, I tookbetter care of myself, but not
the skill I was taught andstarting to learn.
(11:39):
But this year, I'm very dialedin and connected with my body.
And I understand things,stretching, hydration, eating
properly.
And when you don't want to eat,which 90% of the time, you
randomly just aren't hungryanymore.
Your brain's going 1,000 miles aminute.
And you're thinking about somuch.
Sometimes you have to stop andsay, I'm here.
(12:01):
Let's take this one step at atime, one mile at a time.
Focus on what's in front of youand don't worry about the rest.
It will all make sense when youget to the end.
SPEAKER_00 (12:09):
That's right.
SPEAKER_02 (12:10):
But it takes experience.
And I think that's what'sgrowing.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
He lost 45 pounds over 11 days and got so little
sleep.
I can't imagine what that wouldbe like.
And I asked him what happens tohis mind out there all alone.
with that little
SPEAKER_02 (12:27):
sleep of some of the things i see out there and be
like is that real did thatreally just happen did we just
see that you know you have thosemoments out there where we're
listening to a concert on theyukon river somehow every musher
out there has heard some kind ofcrazy music out there mine was a
maroon 5 concert and i listenedto them i would have my
headphones on listening toaudiobook and i had one half off
(12:49):
like listen to the dogs and i Iheard Maroon 5, clear as day.
I put my audio book on pause andI look around looking for
lights.
I'm like, oh, maybe one of thevillagers had Maroon 5 come out
here.
Now I haven't slept properly infive days now.
And it's usually right aroundwhen you're going a little
crazy.
And I'm looking around.
And then I just, you know, Iclose my eyes for a minute.
(13:12):
I'm just humming with it.
And I'm like, this is prettygood, actually.
I'll just listen to it.
Yeah, that was wild.
It was pitch black and I waslooking for concert lights.
SPEAKER_00 (13:22):
That's a little scary.
So who knew that Adam Levineenjoys performing in the world's
coldest concert venue?
At least in Bailey'sHallucination, that is.
But you can probably imaginethat sometimes your mind might
play tricks on you out there.
So it's a good thing that dogsare so aware of their
surroundings that theyinstinctively avoid danger.
SPEAKER_02 (13:45):
I like to brag and say that I make the best
decisions for my dogs becauseI'm always thinking about their
best interests.
But the truth is...
I'll never forget it was like wewere out training on the flats
and Senator almost had to lookto him like his back stood up a
little he looked more cautiouslight foot stepping and his body
language he was basicallyshowing me that he didn't want
(14:06):
to go there but he looked backhe was giving me all the signs
like something's wrong dad andI'll never forget that he made
that decision to go rightinstead of left and the next day
that left channel was completelyopen and there was a slew
flowing water and I was like wewould have been all swimming
that day.
You know, being wet in minus 20or 45, that's horrible when you
(14:27):
have to go another 100 miles.
SPEAKER_00 (14:29):
I can't imagine getting wet and then freezing
for 100 more miles until you canget warm and dry.
And then, of course, I had toask, what happens if the dogs do
fall in the water and get wet?
So pay attention here.
This is really cool.
SPEAKER_02 (14:44):
I get the dogs out and the first thing when your
dogs fall through the water, yougot to roll them in the snow.
The snow actually absorbs thiswater and will dry it out.
Trust me, you wouldn't believeit until you watch it happen.
But dogs come soaking wet out.
You roll in the snow for fiveseconds and rub snow on them and
they're almost spotless drybecause they have such nice oil
in their coats.
How about that?
That does not work for humanclothes.
(15:05):
I am not encouraging this.
Please do not do
SPEAKER_00 (15:07):
this.
I know.
I told you that was pretty neat,right?
Okay, so Bailey is challenginghimself off the race course as
well.
And his fiance, Brianna, ishelping him shake his caffeine
addiction.
That's
SPEAKER_02 (15:19):
hard, you know.
I was just talking to Bri aboutthis, and I just recently quit
coffee about three months ago.
SPEAKER_00 (15:28):
Oh, boy.
SPEAKER_02 (15:28):
Yeah, that's an experience of itself.
I found a point where I wasn'tchallenging myself enough, and I
was challenging my dogs, and Isaid, I need to find a new way
to challenge myself physically,mentally, and emotionally.
And coffee seemed to be that onething I'd reach for first.
Every morning, I went fromdrinking six cups to zero for
the past three months.
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
Impressive.
SPEAKER_02 (15:48):
My first race without coffee or any caffeine.
So it's a big step.
SPEAKER_00 (15:52):
A big step with no coffee.
But you can easily tell that ourhero is so into the experience
and he's in tune with the dogsand their emotions and his
emotions.
Here's Bailey's take on emotion.
SPEAKER_02 (16:07):
You know, only real men cry.
I always say that.
I'm like, only real men can crybecause they realize that
they're leaving yourselfvulnerable enough.
But I am definitely a little tooemotional sometimes.
But it's worked on it and we'verecognized it and how to move
forward.
Not a bad thing to be emotional.
It's just when you bringemotions and dog mushing, it's
hard because it makes you a verysoft person.
SPEAKER_00 (16:29):
Yeah.
And in a sport where temps dropto minus 70 and one wrong turn
could be fatal.
Maybe being soft and caringdeeply for your team is just
what's needed.
Of course, the old-timers of thesport probably believe today's
mushers are too soft.
SPEAKER_02 (16:46):
our neighbor bill cotter it was a good example of
this um i've heard so manystories from this guy and he's
kind of another one of thosementors like the guy he comes
over and sits down has coffeeand tells you stories about the
good old days and like youreally don't need that seat
anymore you know you need youneed to lighten your sled up
more and you shouldn't have thisyou know You know, racing's
(17:07):
going downhill.
You've got to change this.
You want to do this?
I'm like, Bill, it's evolutionof dog mushing.
But, you know, I'm going tolisten to you, and I love
hearing your stories.
SPEAKER_00 (17:15):
Yeah.
And I asked Bailey if he couldhave hung with those old-timers
back in the 70s when theIditarod first got started.
SPEAKER_02 (17:22):
Honestly, I wouldn't be very competitive, probably,
because I wouldn't be willing todo what they do.
Just because I'm so used to ourrules and regulations now, I'd
be like, why is your sled 200pounds?
I'm like, required gear?
Things evolved and needed tochange, so this race got better.
Right, right.
And it evolved all for the good,you know.
And there's some things everyoneargues about things, but they
(17:44):
all changed because of onething.
It's because they wanted bettercare for the dogs, and they
didn't want mushers getting hurtas much.
And it was always the thoughtthat comes first that it's
always about the dogs.
SPEAKER_00 (17:56):
And it should be, right?
Always about the dogs.
So how many teams of dogs aregoing to be out there this year?
SPEAKER_02 (18:04):
I don't know, truly, how many we're at right now.
Last time I checked, we were at32, I think.
All right.
So it's gone down drastically.
Every year I've ran, it's beenin the 30s.
It's never been over 40.
Our numbers are down becausemushing is becoming very hard to
do, distance mushing especially.
It's very unaffordable andexpensive.
(18:25):
there's not a lot of interest inwanting to go suffer for a
thousand miles.
I can relate to those people.
You say that, but you know, Imean, I get you on a 200 mile
camera and be like, that's it.
We're not going to keep going.
SPEAKER_00 (18:39):
Yeah.
I suppose I would love to keepgoing, especially if it's as
much fun as Bailey makes itseem.
By the way, hearing about himand Senator and Wyoming, maybe
you'd like to be a sponsor.
It's easy to do.
Just a few clicks would go along way.
SPEAKER_02 (18:57):
Yeah, so we have dog sponsorship.
People can join in the family bysponsoring the dogs.
Okay.
And we have individualpersonalities and basically bios
about that dogs and theup-and-coming puppies, whether
they're making Iditarod or not.
We do all kinds of fun littleintros of the dogs, and you get
little packages about that dogand how they work, and that's
(19:18):
teambaileyusa.com.
And it's really a way to connectwith us, but our best way to
follow along on our adventure isFacebook and Instagram.
Team Bailey, USA.
SPEAKER_00 (19:34):
Well, I'll get those links and make sure that we get
them posted in the show notes.
Awesome.
Yeah, I really appreciate it.
Yeah.
And then people can adopt orsponsor, I guess, a dog.
That's pretty neat.
SPEAKER_02 (19:43):
Yep.
And you can be part of that.
And we're going to beintroducing drop bags next year.
So you can be part of helping uspack our drop bags and all that
gear that goes out there andbasically checkpoints that we're
going through.
You can help us fill those upand kind of push us on and give
us those little extra kicks weneed sometimes.
Like, are we going to buy those?
really nice snakes for the dogsthis time?
Or are they going to be the moregeneric stuff?
(20:06):
And how much is in these bags?
You would be amazed when you seethem.
Each bag weighs around 50pounds.
So it gets a lot of gear getssent out.
It is a thousand miles.
So that's a long way.
It's a skip across the pond.
SPEAKER_00 (20:18):
For anyone inspired by Bailey's journey.
And honestly, how could you notbe?
We'll have links to Team BaileyUSA in the show notes.
where you can meet these amazingdogs and maybe even help fuel
their next adventure.
Now, of course, I have the samequestion that you probably have
right now.
(20:39):
Can Team Bailey finish first
SPEAKER_02 (20:42):
this year?
You know, I never go into a racewithout thinking that we could
possibly win it.
I'll never go to the startinglines without a team I think.
I won't go there with themindset, we're going to get dead
last.
There's a lot of beautiful dogteams out there.
There's a lot of mushers thathave unbelievable strategy.
There's a field of mushers thathave beautiful dogs, gorgeous
(21:02):
teams, and probably, truthfully,probably a little faster than
mine.
But the truth is, if I stay tomy schedule and I push the way I
will push and my team is capableof and run them to their
training capability,
SPEAKER_00 (21:15):
I think we have a real chance.
A real chance.
That's awesome.
And he's clearly doing this forall the right reasons.
SPEAKER_02 (21:24):
But the truth is, if we wanted to make money doing
this, it would turn into a job.
And this isn't just a job.
This isn't something you want tomake money with.
This is something I'm just sopassionate about that I want to
share with the world.
SPEAKER_00 (21:39):
And there you have it.
A musher and his dogs chasingdreams across the Alaskan
wilderness one mile at a time.
Good luck, Team Bailey.
Good luck.
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