[RC] BEHIND THE GREEN GATE (better known as New Cuyama Oaks XP 2004) - Part One - TypeF \(Jackie Floyd\)
Traveling down the road for seven hours on Friday gave me lots
of time to think about what was to be my first 155-mile multi-day ride
experience. Could I do it? Better yet, could my horse do it? Tank and I had
already done three 50?s this year, two of them at Death Valley on Days 1 and 4
and the third at Fire Mountain, already two months past. Since then we?d spent
our time in between, running up and down the hills of Mt. Diablo and Black
Diamond Mines in the Bay Area of California, continually getting stronger. It
was my hope that the wind sprints and continual 10-12 miles a couple of times a
week would get us there. I?m happy to say it did. We went at it nice and easy
with the only intention being to finish each day under time. Actually, there was
one other intention ? take lots of pictures! And boy, were there lots of
pictures to take.
Saying that parking was at a premium is an understatement. Lucky
for me, I got there early enough so that I could turn in the gate and pretty
much stop. Trying to manuever my rig around would have been more of a learning
experience than I was up for. Let?s just say, we got to know our neighbors
REALLY well! The Suhrs and the Whites were my immediate neighbors, along with
Elisha from Santa Cruz whose last name I promptly forgot. I showed Julie a photo
album of my dad?s ride photos from the 70?s to see if she remembered him. She
remembered his name but not his face. My dad didn?t go out of his way to
socialize too much. She got a kick out of showing the "youngsters" in the bunch
how everyone used to ride in cowboy hats and jeans and McClellan saddles. I?m
sure the look on their faces was pure horror.
The first night?s ride meeting found us hearing The Duck say
there would be no numbers on our horses and ride management and vets would be
trying hard to remember our first names. What? Am I in the right place? Since we
would be riding through the Sierra Madres I guess he could have said, "Numbers?
We don?t need no stinking numbers!"
I have to say this ride was just some of the most beautiful
panoramic views I?ve ever seen. We?d climb and climb and climb and just when I
thought we could climb no more, around the corner was another climb. Tank
handled it so well that my GPS said 4.6 mph walking uphill. Then to my complete
and utter surprise, he went even faster downhill, topping out at 5.1 mph. Now,
some of you are going to say, so what?s the big deal? The big deal is Tank is
notorious for not wanting to go downhill. Period. And when he does, it?s with
protest and "Will you please get OFF?" He has always dragged his rear hooves and
broken over, sometimes even coming down on his fetlocks if I don?t get off. Now,
I DO get off on a frequent basis but after two miles down that first-day steep
hill, I thought better of it and got back on. Where Tank is notorious for
not wanting to go downhill, I am notorious for slipping and falling on my face.
Thinking ahead to trying to survive three days, I decided that I?d chanced my
luck enough and Tank was going to have to carry me a good portion of the
downhill sections, so I only got off on the really, really steep
parts.
