Matt "The Musher" Paveglio | Past Iditarod Racer & Race Insider

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You can find Primal Kitchen at Target, Walmart, or any of your local grocery stores, or you can save 20% off your entire online order with Code Podcast at checkout on primalkitchen.com. If you don't know, a veteran musher by the name of Dallas Seavey, who's a former winner of this race more than once, he has been assessed a penalty because he did not properly gut the moose that he shot along the first, I guess the first day, the first leg of the Iditarod. And so we're going to need some clarification and explanation. And Matt, the musher is joining us now from Alaska. Matt, we're so anxious to hear what you have to say. I take it you're into all of these events that are unfolding right now.

Absolutely. You know, just kind of fact checking and kind of getting all accounts and the whole story about what Dallas went through on the trail. Well, before we get into that, how do you prepare for that part of the race? What are you told when it comes to getting in a sled and you've got your dogs and you're out in the wilderness and there is a chance for wildlife encounters? How are you prepared for that? You know, it's just all the more reason.

You got to be aware, you know, take the earbuds out, you know, really prepare yourself for the sleep deprivation that's coming in and just stay aware. And it's really it's real hard to prepare for that because as technical as the courses and that stretch, you can it's it's hard enough to drive the sled and it's every bit of hand-eye coordination and strength and reserve you have just to kind of make sure you and your dogs are fine, let alone, you know, a beast that weighs, you know, 2000 pounds or not 2000 pounds, but 1500 pounds. And this year, the Iditarod in Anchorage has a record amount of snow. I think I have an anchorage proper.

We have one hundred and thirty inches. So you get up into the mountains where they are. The snow is deep and the best way for these animals to survive is to come to the trail.

So you know that this is inevitable. And then it just seems like the young males are starting to group up right now. Mothers are about a month and a half from dropping babies. These animals are in survival mode.

They've just survived, almost gotten through an Alaskan winter. And they're nothing to be massless. You know, you don't I mean, a pregnant mother getting ready to drop calves or a big male in the in the middle of the trail. There's not a whole bunch you can do besides be proficient with a pistol, because there's not if they come into your team.

The only way to defend yourself is unfortunately is to go that route. Not all mushers carry guns. All mushers are going to encounter a moose in their in their career. As best you can tell what happened with Dallas on the trail. The there's always this story of a cantankerous moose on the trail. First couple of teams kind of spook it. And what will happen is you push these the first couple of teams caught up with this moose.

And these were the leaders in the race. And the moose got into Jesse Holmes team and Jesse Holmes punched it in the nose. And then it swang through another team. And then it came into Dallas's team.

It was in his dogs and it was spinning around and stomping. And then Dallas pulled out his pistol and dispatched it, you know, right there and the dog in the most fell into his dog team. And then he, you know, you have to kind of clear your dog team. If you can imagine, you have one of the most powerful dog teams on the planet that is just a short ways into a race. Dallas has to control 16 dogs and disembowel a moose. And then on top of that, one of Dallas's dogs was stomped. He knew it was injured, but didn't know how, you know, it didn't look life threatening to him.

We've got to assume because Dallas took, you know, 10 or 15 minutes. And what I, what I guess he did is he slit his knife down its belly, slightly disemboweled it, but didn't pull everything out. And in the state of Alaska, we're real particular about wanton waste. And if you put a game animal down, you have to do everything you can to preserve the meat.

And so, um, that's, that's kind of the, the, the bones of what might've happened. Um, but, uh, you, you gotta get the guts out of the animal. And that means like all intestinal organs. And I don't know if you've seen star Wars where Luke climbs inside of that beast. That's the size of this animal.

So let's say it's negative 20 degrees and you've split a Tonton out or open and you've got to reach inside there just to disembowel it, you get wet. Like this is something that's something we don't prepare for. You know, I mean, it's so it's a, it is a real tough situation all, all the way around. But on top of that, you have a, a sicker, an injured, an injured dog. Um, and, uh, Dallas CV is one of these guys that practices spelling his dog. So his, he might have 16 dogs on the team, but one or two are always riding in his sled. The theory is that those dogs run less miles than anybody else's teams to finish the idea to ride.

So it's one of his tricks. So he's, he's a, he's always ready to carry a dog, but he takes this injured dog and puts it in a sled and runs another hour and a half camps for three hours. So he can kind of stay on schedule and he knows he's in a tight race and then he runs three hours into a checkpoint. And by the time he gets into the checkpoint, the dog's condition has deteriorated and it had to be kind of life flighted with a small Cessna back to Anchorage.

The dog's back out of urgent care now or the hospital and is back at Dallas's, um, Dallas's cabin. And, you know, I mean, just from my experience as a nurse, we, I understand that these injuries can develop and get worse with time. Um, shock takes time to set in and, uh, uh, we, um, it's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a big dramatic situation with the sports. Um, you know, most of the winning, uh, musher of all time, he's going for his sixth.

I did her at win. Um, he's in a huge race, so, um, I imagine he's going to be scrutinized harder than anybody else. So, um, it's a, it's kind of a tough position for everyone. Um, but you know, wishing Dallas the best and especially the dog, I forget the dog's name now. Um, but, uh, we're, we're glad he's doing all right. Matt, the musher is with us from Alaska, helping us understand what happened with Dallas CV, who encountered a moose, had to put the moose down and has since received a two hour penalty because he didn't properly dispose of the moose.

Just out of curiosity, could you even imagine Matt being in that situation where you've got dogs who are probably hyped up one who's injured? I don't know if it was dark or light out. Uh, not sure, but the cold and the snow and you have to stop and gut a moose. Yeah, it's, uh, it is, it's crazy.

We've like, um, I've been in my very first race, Amy, we were, I was coming back in and this was, uh, late January near, um, Chinese new year. Um, and it was, we were coming down these power lines and these, um, we're just getting back into civilization. And these power lines had these steep ups and steep down. So, you know, 50 feet up and 50 feet down going down the power lines. And so your team would kind of disappear over the crest of the apex of the Hill and start going down and my sled would come over and then we would kind of zoom down a Hill and then we go up the next one.

Well, I went up one of these, my team crested and when I came over the top, a moose was right in the front of my team spinning around. And so I had, um, I had a borrowed revolver, a single action result revolver. So with a single action, you have to cock a hammer back and then you pull the trigger. It's not just pull the trigger and it goes. Um, and I'd never shot this weapon.

I had 14 dogs on the line. I'm looking down a Hill that's semi icy because people are hitting their brakes going over it and it just grinds it down. And this, this moose is spinning around kicking animals or kicking the dogs. And, uh, first time I wanted to fire a warning shot and the hammer only went halfway down and the gun didn't go off and I cocked it again.

And I'm like, I don't even know if this gun is even loaded right now, you know, at this point. And, um, the moose goes into the woods, not very far from me and I couldn't see it was in the dark, but the, the snow was covering trees and your light goes in there and reflects. And you have to go down the Hill, retrieve the dog. And diesel was this dog, a little black dog that was stomped.

And I thought he was dead, absolutely dead. Um, and I got down there and diesel popped up and he had a pretty good like hope market, like she's the fur down where you could see muscle into his leg and he wasn't bleeding really bad, but he was definitely injured. So I had to straighten this team out, um, and get them oriented on the trail and pick this sweet little dog up and bring them back up this Hill, put them in the sled and then take off again. All the while, uh, a moose is just like snorting in the woods and it's just, um, and my daughter had, we were training last year and my daughter had a, uh, uh, moose spinning around in front of her team and the team started coming backwards. And I was teaching my daughter and another junior musher how to run with their headlamps off because I think at night, sometimes you can see further into the woods without light, just the moon. And so we were doing that and it's just kind of a neat spiritual kind of zooming experience. And, uh, and my daughter's team was coming back towards us and it was very close to, you know, her being in trouble.

But, um, so it's good lessons all around on the trail this year and then just in the past, but it's just, it's one of those, Alaska is always trying to get you. How does the dogs react in this kind of stress? Um, I know one of them was injured, but are, do they stay calm?

Did they freak out? I mean, what's happening as whether it's your dog team or even just thinking about Dallas's team as he's trying to deal with the moose and the moose is all crazy. What are the dogs end up doing? I think, I think they get over it pretty quick if you get over it pretty quick. I think, um, so a guy like Dallas, that is, I mean, he was almost an Olympian, Olympian wrestler and just, he's a champion dog musher. The guy's got, um, a pretty good mental game. So I think, um, like anything dogs kind of, I think they, um, they know how to react to their owner, you know, whether, you know, whether to be scared of their owner or to be, you know, happy with their owner, they know if their owner said they, and these dogs are really, uh, in tuned with what you're doing back there. So, um, you know, with our experience, my experience that I've had the dogs orient themselves, you, um, you give them a couple of good commands and they keep going and my dogs did great after the incident and they, they slowed down a little bit towards the end.

I don't know if that's kind of the adrenaline wearing off, but just coming around the corner to the kennel at the finish of the race that I had my moose incident, um, the lake started shooting off fireworks because it was Chinese new year's and that gave them just a little extra shot of adrenaline to get in because we all know, uh, dogs love fireworks. Um, but a team of them together, they, they really got some power, but, um, my guess is Dallas, uh, went around it. I mean, he stuck to his game plan and he, he took care of business and, um, you know, where he was in the course, him taking off from that moose quick makes it a lot of sense because. If you're there with your team on a blind corner, going down the hill with a big moose and another team comes into you, it could become a chaotic mess. Dog teams, um, intertwined means, you know, fighting and mating and just, just all the things that could happen. So he, I think he made ultimately, I think he made the right decision.

I think that I did her odds ruling was also, uh, was correct. I don't know if it's consistent with what they've done in the past, but we have a new race Marshall this year. That's particular. You know, he is, he's a same guy has been kind of the race Marshall for the last 20 years. And Warren Pelphrey lake, uh, he stepped in and he, he's gonna run a tight ship. How possible is it to make up a two hour penalty? Uh, Dallas CV can do it. I mean, he can absolutely do it. You know, this is like, uh, Tom Brady being down what three touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Uh, this can happen.

I mean, very, very easily, um, poor Matt Ryan. So all these other guys chasing him, um, they, they he's Dallas is game planning right now. He's got two extra hours to sit there and figure out how to, um, massage and rest and feed and, uh, get his dogs in shape. And then there's reports of weather up above, uh, ahead of him, like the next checkpoint.

So all of this, there's, there's a lot of factors. This race has just begun. Um, everyone on the course right now with the exception of one guy is in their 24 hour rest. So at the end of your 24 hours, you're assessed your, um, start differential. So the person that started first, um, you know, gets, um, a little bit more time than the guy that starts 31st, uh, you know, uh, has to stay a little bit longer.

So everybody kind of equals out. We kind of see where people truly are, um, after this, these 24 hours, uh, shake out. So, um, in a day or two, we'll really know what the story is. Matt, the musher is with us from Alaska, helping us break down the early stages of the Iditarod. I understand you've got a big YouTube live appearance where you're going to be an analyst.

How can we watch you? Um, so the, uh, it's the mushing, the Alaskan mushing podcast. Um, maybe I can, I'll send you a link to it, but it's kind of fun because there's a lot of, a lot of the Iditarod types are kind of doing, um, cameos and, um, you know, I wanted to start my own podcast, but I'm pretty heavy into training.

You know, I helped Sean Williams, who's sitting in eighth place this year in the race, train his team. And, um, you know, there's just not enough time to do everything. I think, uh, there'll, there'll be a, there'll be a day when I can sit down and do it.

But, uh, um, yeah, I'm good. This, this, uh, Monday, um, I'll, I think it's 9.00 AM Alaskan standard. So 1.00 AM or 1.00 PM Eastern standard. Um, it'll be kind of, I think day eight of the race.

So usually they start finishing in day nine. So we'll either have some real tight races at the end for the winter, or it'll be, you know, Dallas or one of those guys will be way the heck out front. So it'll be an interesting show, but it's like, uh, it'll be coming down to it. Um, so that'll be kind of fun to kind of get on the camera and goof around with one of my buddies. So, well, considering the headwear that I usually see you in, uh, in some of these videos, and then sometimes there's icicles on your face. Uh, and I know that I know that you have fun with it. I'm seeing a lot of your videos from not just your own experience, but also your daughter's, which we'll talk about, uh, definitely send us a link.

Cause I know there's a lot of people that would love to see you in addition to hear you. So you mentioned all the extra snow, what type of hazards or what type of challenges does that pose in a race where you've had that kind of snow? Um, well, where Dallas is right now into Ruby, um, you kind of above the tree line. So the snow, not only does it accumulate, but it starts blowing and it like when we went through there and I heard that's the case this year too. Um, there's a 90 mile stretch between, um, the gold, uh, the abandoned gold town of cripple to Ruby Alaska. And it is, it, there will be a point where it'll be 10 miles of these like 10 foot with steep drop off, um, uh, snow drifts and you're kind of on a old logging road kind of, so to speak. Um, and then you kind of cut through some rivers and some swamps as well, but it's, um, you, it can get low visibility. Um, you can crash your sled, you can just get pinned down and be very slow. Um, it's not the scariest point that's yet to come on the trail, but it is, um, this snow right here or the snow can be deep and it can really slow and hinder travel. Um, the hardest parts though, where the snow and the accumulation can hit in the wind or, uh, the Yukon river, which it's 200 miles of racing and it's, um, you know, at times five miles wide, so that can be really scary whiteout conditions. And then of course the, when you're going across the sea ice and the coast, not the Bering sea, that's those are the scariest of conditions, but you know, I had a guardian angel. I just was, I had a, I had easy weather the whole time. That's one of the reasons I'm scared to do the race again. The snow and the weather can really, can really slow things down.

Um, I think that dogs do well in it. It's just overall, not a good racing scenario. It's more, it's more survival at that point. So, um, I think guys will hunker down at checkpoints and that can jam the race up. So you think you have a lead and all of a sudden it evaporates because you have to sit in a village for two days.

Matt raced as a rookie two years ago. I know that people ask me all the time, Matt, whether or not you will do it again. I've asked you before.

I'll ask you again. Is it possible that another, I did a ride could be in your future? Oh yeah. Yeah. It's just a matter of planning.

I, I spread my mom's ashes out on the trail. I do intend to get it back out there and, uh, you know, that little visit and then, um, yeah, I mean, and then races, I think the first time you do it, it's kind of an experience. You don't know, um, very few people probably come in and race it real hard their first year. Um, but it would be nice to have what I mean, put together the pieces to, to train and, um, and then execute and, you know, uh, an hour, every checkpoint, just an hour, every checkpoint off of the time.

Um, and I would be, I would have been just under 10 days and that would have, uh, you know, that puts me in the easily in the top 20 and then, you know, you just make a little, you fiddle here and there, you get some things all in your way. Um, yeah, but there's a lot that goes into it. I'm a dog jockey.

I'm not a, you know, I don't own a kennel. So, um, yeah, it's the answer is yes. Like I would love to again.

So we'll, we'll see how we can make that happen. I don't think people realize how physically demanding this process is. You talk about 24 hour checkpoints, but it's not like you get there, you sleep and then you're good to go.

Right. So what type of a physical toll do these 10 days take on mushers? Um, you know, I think on average, I mean, you, you, without a doubt, you lose, um, you lose weight. Um, I mean, it's just, you cannot keep the calories in. I mean, dogs have to get 10,000 calories. I think humans got to get about 4,000 calories in.

And if you're constantly driving a sled or it's frozen outside, it's really hard to get that type of calorie. And then you get to a certain point of exhaustion where you'd have to have like a life coach right there saying, Matt, eat that, you know, granola bar. You know, I was, I was drinking gravy, I craved fats and I craved protein.

So I had biscuits and gravy and I threw the biscuits out and I was just drinking gravy. But yeah, you, you physically, you kinda, you just, you start deteriorating. I think people can start getting sick. I mean, there's, I mean, there's just all sorts of gruesome injuries that have happened on the, um, you know, people cracking shoulders on jumble ice and knees and, um, pretty bad head injuries. Um, Mark Selland, one of the cardiologists that I worked with and he was a mentor of mine in the sport, he came in and he had like flail chest. So that's like multiple broken ribs.

And after you go over four or five ribs, the chances of mortality go way up. You know, they, and he had, he got back to Anchorage after finishing the Iditarod and then hit the ladies in his office as cardiology practice. So you got to get an x-ray and he had hemothorax. We had blood in his chest cavity and this guy had raced for like five days after the initial injury. And he said that the pain is kind of what kept him going. It was that like kept you awake and you just feel that jolt. So, um, it's, it's just important to know, like in Dallas, the situation or anyone else's, nobody's coming for you real quick.

You are, you are a thousand miles or, you know, at any one point you are hundreds and hundreds of miles. And the only person that people that could potentially get there are like the PJs, the, the air forces special, you know, special ops guys, the guys that go into, you know, they, they come in with Blackhawks and C one thirties and they, they, they come into the worst storms and they, you know, parachute or they, you know, repellent or whatever. Those are the only guys that could come and get you.

And, and Blackhawks have been used in several different extractions on the Iditarod. Um, but, uh, yeah, you don't, you just don't want to have to hit that button. The transponder, but the safety button.

Oh, oh, you have one. We, everyone is tracked. So if you go to Iditarod.com and you do the insider, which is our tracking coverage of the sport, um, they, you, you can see the GPS trackers going down. Um, and it's, it's buttoned to your sled. Um, so it doesn't help if you fall off your dogs, letting your dogs run off because these dogs do not stop on command for the most part. Um, you should always carry one on you. Um, you know, keep your pistol, keep your GPS, keep your, um, you know, your in reacher or something like that on you. But, uh, it, that's all in a perfect world.

You know, it's really hard to operate with all that weight. So, um, yeah, it's so many factors go into making this like a, a pretty, um, it's, it's a neat sport, you know, depth defying in some ways. And I think that's what, um, attracts us all to it is you are not in the comforts of modern world anymore when you get out there and nobody's coming for you.

No, and it's not just a race, but it's also about survival and there's some real world encounters and dangers that you'll face along the way. Matt Paveglio, we call him Matt, the musher. We connected with him two years ago when he was preparing for his, actually two and a half years ago when he's preparing for his first Iditarod. I don't think it'll be the last it's after hours with Amy Lawrence on CBS 4tradio. Your daughter is now a three time finisher of the junior Iditarod. I know you were training her, working with her. She just finished, uh, not that long ago, saw the videos, the photos. How did she do?

Um, she did wonderful. She was, she was running Sean's team. Um, and we had to bring in dogs from two other kennels, so three total kennels, um, because, um, her, the teams, the teams at that time of year, I mean, this was just a week ago, a little over 10 days ago or something. Um, or the a team dogs are getting reserved. So she had some teams, uh, dogs that were not specifically like a team dogs. And I think she crushed it. You know, she was running in fifth or sixth or seventh place kind of back and forth.

And the top teams are really, really good. Like one of them, um, there was a girl named Emily Robinson, whose dad's running the Iditarod this year, but Emily has won three junior Iditarods in a row and she's pretty well untouchable. Um, just an absolute phenom, so good with her dogs.

They've bred and raised all their dogs. Um, TG wasn't going to catch her. Um, and then there was another kid from Minnesota, Morgan Martins, who's, um, just been on Emily's tail. Um, those guys were kind of like, they were pretty well on touch on and Morgan was just so sweet, like cried at the end, just gave absolutely everything came in, run, ran up every hill.

The kids like a stellar cross country athlete in Minnesota. Um, just really gave it his all. And then after that, there was just, it was anybody's race and TG kept sneaking up and just kind of keeping her pace. And, uh, so she ended up ninth out of 21 teams.

Um, and, and she just ran a solid race. She had all of her dogs at the end, all of her dogs look wonderful at the end. Um, she says she would have made a few changes, but she's smiling when she does this. Um, and it's a very, very hard thing.

I think for a kid to kind of give up their, a lot of their, you know, their high school stuff. I mean, there's a lot of weekends where it's like, you know, TG I'm, I'm working this week and you have to help Sean with the, with the dogs. And she would say, yes. You know, I mean, sometimes begrudgingly, she wouldn't get up real early in the morning, you know, she's a teenager, but like we, you know, she worked through that. She knew it was the right thing to do. I think she, she's honest with her dog.

So it was, that was fun. Um, but I mean, she wants to compete in Amy. Like I didn't know how to get this competition out of her. My wife was a college basketball player.

I've ran cross country and wrestled and did all the things and I'm super competitive in this sport or wannabe anyways. And, um, she was just this kind of. You know, peaceful creature, this girl, and now she's got a little bit of competitive center and it's something I didn't, I just, I put her in a spot like, you know, you can't teach that, I guess. And, um, she's, she's definitely a little more hungry for it now. Knowing the dangers.

Well, sorry, sorry. Um, it's awesome to see the photos and if you check out Matt's Facebook page, uh, and videos, they're, they're so cool. He's definitely a helicopter parent when it comes to this though, you can't be out there with her, but I know you're guiding her every step of the way, but knowing the dangers and some of the challenges, how is it for you as a parent?

I mean, you did it yourself, right? So what's it like to have to wait for updates or wait and track her while she's out there? Um, I'm pretty, I'm pretty comfortable with her winter survival skills and then, uh, mitigating the dangers because I've seen her in the situations I've been right there with her. You know, um, what I'm not super comfortable with in life is her driving her car down the expressway, you know, or not that we even have an expressway in Alaska.

Let's, let's, let's be honest right there. There's, we have about 20 miles of road that mimics an expressway, but nobody knows how to drive it, but putting her in her Subaru and sending her down the road is far more dangerous than anything, you know? And I mean, youth football's probably statistically more dangerous for these kids, you know, uh, to a certain extent, you know? Um, but yeah, I mean, then again, she's, we have snow machines that have like Dallas CVs dogs got hit, three of them were killed, um, during training by a guy that was going way too fast and he was intoxicated and he just came around some blind corners in weather.

Um, and he hit the front of their dog team. So that's, that's the type of thing that I worry about. So we do things like she's got a neon light up vest and her lead dogs have blinking collars now. And we're trying to be better as a sport and protecting our kid, but you know, like, yeah, I mean, of course I'm, you know, it's, I just want to be out there with her.

I'm not really nervous about her. You know, that's not true. That's a lie. But it's fun to watch, you know, it's just super exciting and I love it. Oh, that's amazing. Well, make sure you send us the link so we can share it with our people when you'll be broadcasting live on YouTube and kind of doing your own analysis of the Iditarod. It's coming up on, what did you say, Friday? Uh, well, Monday is Monday. That'll be day eight of the Iditarod. Gotcha.

Monday. So we're getting close to the end and maybe by that time, Dallas Seavey will have gotten through all of this extra drama that he's had to deal with. Man, love the insight. And of course, we'd love to talk to you again when it's over, if you have an opportunity. I know you have another job and all, but thank you for making time for us. I hate it. I hate it.

I would love to just go play dogs all day long. Amy, congratulations, you know, on getting married and, you know, condolences to you and not for the marriage, I'm saying forever. Of course, you know, but, you know, our hearts are with you in a lot of different ways. And I just appreciate these conversations. It's kind of, it's validating.

What we do is, you know, it's validating to why we do the sport. And I just appreciate sharing it. So thank you. And James and everybody, thank you guys. And I will start Chubby Bunny training now.

Yes, that's it. We need you to return and be one of our ringers on Chubby Bunny. All right, Matt, we'll connect with you again. Thank you so much for the time.

Gosh, always, we keep you for such long stretches, but this has been fun. You're the best. Thank you, Amy. Appreciate it, guys.

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