Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Crysta, CONGRATULATIONS on becoming a 100-miler!  Good job!

 

It really is distressing to hear that management was so elitist about a first-time 100 setting a moderate pace--that sure isn't very conducive to having folks step up to 100s.  Likewise, not being prepared for night riders is not a very welcoming thing for first-timers.  Good for you for persevering.  Heck, I've vetted 100s where I would have been THRILLED if the last horse came in by 1:30 a.m.!  I sure hope management reads your post and vows to be more user-friendly in the future.

 

Here's to your successful completion of many more!  <clink>

 

Heidi

Just a quick note for now since we just got home and we're heading off to the rodeo tonight.  Sinatra and I DID IT!!!  =)  We fninished our first 100 mile ride on Saturday (well Sunday morning) at the Sunriver 100 up near Bend, Oregon.  We came in around 1:30 in the morning making for a ride time of 17:24.  I took off his bridle at 20 miles and rode the rest of the way in his rope halter.  He did GREAT!  Hit a little slump between 45 and 50 miles in the heat of the day, but a 45 min vetcheck near the river with lots of food and water took care of that.  We cantered out of camp at 70 miles and did the next 14 miles in slightly less than 2 hours in order to make the time in the daylight.  I cannot believe how STRONG he was in the cool/dark.  I was having to stand in my stirrups to slow him down, even at 90+ miles.  =)  Management was NOT well prepared to have riders out in the dark, there were hardly ANY glowbars out on the trail the last 30 miles, I would say less than 20 total.  Several intersections were not marked, at least we had lights so had no problems.  Other than that the trail was PERFECT and marked very well.  We just had to stop and look for arrows and ribbons since there were no glowbars.  And it was DARK in the woods with no moon since it didn't come up until we were done.  Managements attitudes were the only downside of the whole ride, a lot of negative comments were made both to us on the trail and in camp where our crew's (mom's) were able to hear them.  We were actually being encouraged to pull and were told several times we needed to "pick up the pace".  Considering we came into camp at 7:30 pm (5 am start) and would have from 8:30 until 5 to ride the last 30 miles, we didn't feel the comments were warranted.  And it wasn't like we were going that slow!  We finished about 30 minutes behind the rider in front of us and she was less than 30 minutes behind two other riders.  We had 3.5 hours LEFT on the clock after we were done.  There was a group of 3 of us that started and rode together all day.  Leslie and I had ridden 3 50's together so we knew the horses were very compatible.

 

Anyways, I'm very proud of my boy (and myself), he did AWESOME!  I felt really good nearly all day.  I did have some dizzyness/vertigo after we had been out several hours in the dark, mainly when we were stopped for water or something.  I'm pretty sure it was because I stopped drinking as well and started to get dehydrated and tired.

 

More details later....

 

~ Crysta and Sinatra - now 100-milers!  =)

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