About 9:30 this morning Lance Mackey pulled out something special from his dog sled. It was a piece of gear he carefully stashed 939 miles and more than 8 days ago at the Yentna checkpoint. This is required equipment issued to each musher which they are only required to use on the first and last legs of this 1,100-mile race across a rugged and unpopulated Alaska landscape. However Lance has seemingly leveraged a huge advantage from his issue that has eluded all the other mushers. Lance camped out in a Wasilla parking lot for 10 days back in June to be assured he would receive the right one. It was an enormous amount of pride that Lance had as he pulled that Iditarod racer’s bib over his parka this morning and he readied his dog team to begin this last leg in the Iditarod Sled Dog Race to the famous burled arch and brand new pickup waiting for them in Nome. The number on that bib is 13. This is the same number Lance’s father Dick and brother Rick wore to victory in their 6th attempt at the Iditarod, and now Lance is poised to add an amazing chapter to his family’s legacy with a victory in his 6th attempt at the Iditarod. If you ask him, he’ll tell you that it wouldn’t have happened without the right bib. Lance departed the White Mountain checkpoint at 9:38 this morning with a 2 hour 38 minute advantage over Paul Gebhardt. The projected completion time for Lance in Nome is 5:30 this afternoon.