William Kleedehn

Hannover 96 wins again...!!

Mon, 2 Feb 2009 08:20:36 -0800

I don’t know if my visit had anything to do with it... but Hannover 96 could win their first game at the 2009 season. Anyway, 45 000 fans where there to watch it and it was a super afternoon. I had tickets given to me by Hannover’s president, Herr Martin Kind, thank you very much for that.
I had a few interesting days in Germany. Two things that I liked other than the Fussball game where all the wind-generators I saw that are producing green electricity.... and friendly people everywhere I went. Germans seem to be more polite and happy since my last visit almost 20 years ago.
I’m now on my way back to the Yukon and can’t wait to run my dogs tomorrow. Next week the Yukon Quest starts, there is not much time left to prepare for it.
Bye 4 now,
William

Hello Germany, Moin Hamburg!

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:20:56 -0800

Ufff... , finally I made it to Hamburg in Germany today. After a long trip via Calgary, Alberta and Frankfurt am Main. I was stranded for a while after my flight to Hamburg was canceled due to a strike but later arrived in Hamburg by train. Actually the train trip on an ICE or Inter-City train was a new experience for me. This futuristic looking train is very modern, fast and very quiet. I rode right through the entire area where I grew up. I enjoyed this train much more than just another flight to another airport. I will post more pictures about this trip soon. I will be here for just one more day and then it is off to Hannover...
Bye for now,
William

Food-drop time

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 04:27:55 -0800

It’s time to get the supplies for the Quest ready and shipped out. I hate this time! I just don’t enjoy packing things and deadlines... worst of all it was cold weather again which makes for more uncomfortable working conditions.
We can’t do this indoors because much of the dog-food is frozen meat and fish (Arctic Char). Anyway, this is the time where friends can really make a difference. Robin & Miriam from Dawson City worked all weekend to get the job done. Of course my handler Mike was there as well, he will drive all this to Whitehorse next Saturday ‘cause I’m not around the Yukon that day.
I want to go to a Fussball game Hannover 96 - Schalke 04 in Germany. I was invited to help promote a TV production about the Yukon Quest this year. I figured that I should at least see a game of soccer of my favorite team while over there. I have not been in Germany for almost 20 years and was a teenager last time I saw Hannover 96, this could be interesting. I have to admit that I follow the games via internet radio or videos all along. I’ll be back a few days later to run my dogs.
For my friends in Germany, I will be one of the guests at a talkshow on Friday night at 10 at the NDR studio in Hannover.
Cheers,
William

It can get cold in the land of the midnight sun....

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 18:35:47 -0800

I just got back to the “Banana belt” of the Yukon, meaning my home near Carcross, from a visit of the famed Gold Rush town of Dawson City.
Like the rest of the North we had a 4 week long cold weather period. If you really want to talk about cold weather or want to know how it looks like, you have to go to Dawson City. There is no half-way measure of cold weather there.
As I got close to town I had to stop my fully wrapped in tarp engine of my car and add pre-warmed motor oil. Yes, you better bring some along.... because at 50 to 60 below strange things happen in the land of the midnight sun... the Positive Crankcase Ventilation Valve, or PCV valve, froze up while driving and this creates pressure... as a result a zeal pops or the dipstick rises...and your motor oil leaves the engine. This happens very fast... and now you are parked somewhere along the deserted road (deserted.... because few people take a chance on their vehicle and drive anywhere in that kind of hostile weather).
I knew all this and had lots of oil on board, near my heater of course, if you leave it freezing in the trunk you better make a fire quick to heat it up so it turns liquid again and you can poor it into your engine (unless you can stick it into yours, lol). If you take too long with this it’s over for that vehicle until spring comes. As it is, your brakes, clutch, steering, tires etc. are practically frozen all along, no cool down period needed anymore. Yes, if you get a rubber tired vehicle going at all you will start with ‘square tires’ for a while bouncing down the road until they ‘warm up’ and actually roll. You can not turn off an engine in that weather and think to start it later unless it is inside a heated garage! Even if you have a block heater, battery blanket, oil pan heater etc. The belts for the alternator etc. are frozen and just shatter like glass as soon as your engine turns over, yes, never mind your timing belt... that could be the end of your engine altogether.
I could go on and on about stuff like that but anyway... in Dawson City... you either stay home or walk (to the Pit, the local water hole).
Cheers,
William

Time to get things ready for the races

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 22:41:47 -0800

I have to admit that I hate to prepare food-drops (pre-packing everything you need for long distance races). But there is no way around it ... so I do what I can right now because it’s a bit cold outside now and I don’t train long runs in -40 below weather.... next week it should warm up again anyway.
I will run one 300 mile race in January (maybe the Klondike 300) before the Yukon Quest in February. I need to prepare a few things for those races and right now with the cold weather we have it is a good idea to get things ready. I still run my dogs as well, but only shorter distances until it warms up. I’m too old to ruin things in cold weather if I have other things to do anyway (too old to ruin things?? what the heck does that guy mean? well, very cold weather is ‘hard’ on everything like humans, animals, equipment.... even ice cream gets too hard. Things break easy, freeze easy.... and it is easy to do more harm than good!).
The good thing is that I have the hated food drops out of the way soon and can concentrate on the dogs even more as race-time closes in. There have been some races in Alaska already, but since my budget does not allow me to go to all of them I will have to be patient for a few more weeks. Remember, I live in Canada’s Yukon, it’s always 1000 km or more to travel to any distance race in Alaska. Later on there are also a few races in the Yukon and I hope to do some of them as well.
Cheers,
William