The Buffalo Suit
This can go under my “gear head” category. From time to time, I plan to tell you about the assorted gear that I have for the race.
The buffalo suit is a two piece brown suit made of fleece. If you happened to be in the armed services and stationed in Alaska, say in the 70’s, you probably owned one as it was standard issue. The top is a normal zip top with great pockets to store liniment, foot ointment, and my lip balm. The bottoms are bibs.
Buffalo Suit in action at Willow 2010 START
A lot of people question my choice of clothing. I figure that if all the teams actually run into a buffalo in the buffalo tunnels on the trail…..that my trusty suit could give me the advantage I need to propel me to the front of the race.
I get quite a few laughs when people see the buffalo suit. I bought it at the local army surplus store for $10. At -40 this year, it was still performing as long as I was running alongside the sled in a full sprint. My students are amused at the strategically located zippers on the bibs so you do not have to de-robe every time that nature calls.
During the race, villagers would come up to me and talk about “their buffalo suit” when they were in the service. They told me that it sure didn’t keep them very warm and wondered how it worked with me. I think you could wear a garbage bag in -40 below and as long as you run, all is well. HEFTY trash bags could be next on the sponsorship agenda.
Hopefully it doesn’t come down to that and my buffalo suit keeps running. I might even attach horns to it next year. When the front of the pack start heading to the burn and their teams start chasing a very swift tatonka in front of them, they are not hallucinating …….Herbst is in front of them heading to the FIRST TO MCGRATH AWARD. (I really want that hanging in my classroom).
In the suit in Ruby in this year’s race with Athabaskan Indian craftsman George Albert and the snowshoe my students made for him
