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Many of your moves to stay on (and in control of) your gig come naturally with experience.

Keep your knees and elbows bent and flexible to absorb bumps. Counter instability by lowering your centre
of gravity, bending over the handle bars or crouching on the foot bars.

You affect how hard your dogs must pull:
1. Even subtly shifting your weight on a rough trail can decrease the drag.
2. Pedaling decreases the weight that the dogs must pull.
3. When you are traveling fast, each kick must be a smooth, hard action, with your foot swinging far
backward and upward to prevent a jerk against the dogs.
4. At slower speeds, just getting some weight smoothly off the gig decreases drag.
5. A steady rate helps more than an uneven, jerky pattern of kicks that can throw the dogs off balance.
6. You can run up hills to lighten the load. Obviously you must be in good condition to do this…! Running up a
short, steep bank can prevent a midway halt, which usually calls for a shouting and pushing on your part,
affecting the morale of all.
7. Keep the gig tracking smoothly on sharp turns to lessen the strain on your team, especially on the wheel
dogs who lever the load around the corner.
Running around corners helps too, if you can maintain control of the gig.

Passing
When overtaking another musher, you have the right to decide when and if you wish to pass. Avoid passing
on narrow or twisty stretches of trail.
When you are about 20 metres behind the other team, call “Trail” and make certain that the other musher
hears you. The lead team should slow or stop. Keep your dogs moving, encouraging them strongly with your
voice, but be ready to brake if a tangle occurs. Some well-trained teams pass with just a whistle…!

After being passed by an overtaking team, maintain an interval of at least one team length, and do not
repass the team if it has a problem.