Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

F Hall asked: 

> From a purely inspiring standpoint, would anyone be willing to volunteer
ages or possibly even major or even minor medical issues having had to deal
with as part of their Tevis experience? Not out of morbid curiosity by any
means, but for those of us facing the near seeming impossible odds of
completing the goal of Tevis with a few more than the ordinary obstacles in
our paths. Your stories would mean much to all of us I am sure

	For myself, Tevis was on my "bucket List" long before the movie by that name. I am currently in my second remission from Non Hodgkins Lymphoma. I was first diagnosed in 1992. NON Hodgkins Lymphoma is a far more difficult type of cancer than Hodgkins to overcome. Upon diagnosis, I created my "list of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to see." Riding Tevis was on that list. I had several rounds of chemo and went into remission. But Damn,I was re diagnosed in 1997 at my 5 year check.It was back. In the meantime my "list" had just sat in the drawer. More rounds of chemo and radiation. I got down to 94 pounds. Thankfully I went back into emission again WhooHoo! I have been cancer free since, but have not gone unchallenged by medical and personal issues.I retired from a career I loved, turned 50 and got a divorce all in one year and it was very traumatic. I took out my long dormant "bucket list" and decided that instead of it being the toughest year of my life, it would be my very BEST year ever! Damn if on the top of that list was the Tevis. So I started doing my first endurance rides and getting my required mileage under my belt in order to get my entry in. Alas I only had a Paso Fino, not an Arab, and everyone was saying he was the "wrong breed" to be really SERIOUS about the sport. SO WHAT! It was just another challenge to deal with. While I was getting ready for Tevis, I started checking other things off my list. Climb El Capitan with my son, CHECK. Get my pilots license, CHECK. Horseback safari in Africa, CHECK. Rafting the Grand Canyon, CHECK. Helicopter skiing on Everest, CHECK. Learn to play the guitar, CHECK...(uh actually I SUCK at playing the guitar.) I even went to a three day bullriding school in Georgia for my 50th birthday. The oldest woman to have ever gone to it. This was a "gift" from a "friend" who knew I wanted to make this an exciting year. Bullriding was NOT, I repeat NOT on my list of things to do. Nevertheless, I rode 5 bulls & broke 3 ribs as well as my shoulder)....But the one thing that I wanted most.....was to complete the Tevis. My horse Cabo and I trained hard and we completed it on our first attempt in 2007, 12 years after it went on my to-do list. We came in 80th but we are hooked.The medical issues weren't apparently over though...... 
	In November of last year I had a stroke. It was caused by a domino affect due to an allergic reaction to a drug I was prescribed which caused me to have 6 hours of gran mal seizures till I was found in my house and taken to the emergency room. I had to learn to walk, my words were all jumbled up and believe it or not, the most frightening thing of all was that I have lost all sense of direction. I need a GPS just to get home to a place I have owned since 1987 in an area I grew up in.I thought that endurance riding was going to be completely out of the question ever again.I moved from my beloved home in Telluride down to Colorado Springs in order to do 5 days a week of intense therapy over the winter and spring. My first ride of the year was the Mt. Carmel XP. I was following ribbons that to me are now my life line and I get very frightened if I don't see them for fear of getting hopelessly lost in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately I started to follow ribbons that had been left up from the day before. I WAS LOST and scared. Luckily I came across a highway and asked directions from a passing car and rode down the highway to get back to camp which was next to the highway. The next day I made sure I rode with other riders. My next ride was at Strawberry Fields. I rode with others on day one but on day two I had left the vet check ahead of my ride partner and was in 2nd place. Damn, there were ribbons left up from the day before again and this time I was lost for THREE HOURS before I found Merri Melde and Sue and got back on trail. They too had debated following those wrong ribbons. I had been expected far sooner into the next vet check and they were already out looking for me as the vet already knew about my stroke and "directional dilemma" and heard from other riders about the ribbons still being up. She and Howard figured they knew where to find me if I didn't show up soon. This stroke left me where simple "backtracking" is extremely difficult. 
	After the stroke, should I attempt Tevis again? How could ANYONE get lost on a trail so well marked and with so many riders?! Well you CAN get lost and with the cliffs and canyons, shoot if I DID get lost and come out alive, I might actually find myself coming out in CANADA! Getting back in the saddle and taking on the challenge again was a must though. So in went the entry and that Paso Fino and I completed it again. This time in 38th place. 
	To return to the Over Time concerns, the front runners ("Hot Shoes") in the first pen often go so fast their horses don't pulse down as fast in the vet checks and if you know your horse and ride according to his strong points and weak points and you use your time wisely without EVER dawdling, pass when it's appropriate, and come into the vet checks "low and ready to go", you'll make the cut-offs. We were in pen 2 and there were 75 horses in pen 1. We were passed by some and passed others ourselves, many times that happened in the vet checks.Cabo is a "downhill" horse who can cover ground fast. He also lives at 9,600ft so is good at elevation and rocky terrain.I knew that we needed to kick butt in the first third of the ride where we would be riding terrain that he was best in and slow down for the heat later on where he does poorly. This is counter to how we are told to ride so you don't "squeeze all your horse out at the beginning of the ride and not have enough horse at the end". To ride Tevis, I think you have to "ride your ride" with well thought out strategy and tactics. With so many riders on the trail, getting stuck behind an endless line can put all that planning to waste. Perhaps the best strategy is to build up your ride record enough and top ten most of your rides so you can be put in pen one.It was explained at the pre ride meeting that the way that pen placement is decided, is first, the riders who top tenned the year before, then the international riders, then it is determined by your ride record, times and placement history. Lots of people request to be in pen one on their entry form and are disappointed to find they are in pen 2 or 3.If you have a compelling reason to be in pen 1, they are willing to hear you out but ultimately you will start where they put you.    



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