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[RC] Mongol Derby Report:-) - paulOK, We have not heard anything from the Mongol Derby, so I thought I would make up something. Kind of like a Virtual report like you would have for a Virtual ride. Contestants for the first Mongol Derby gathered in Mongolia. Many of the riders had planned to post blogs, tweet, text message and use all the 21st century technology to keep a breathless world up to the second informed as to the rides progress. Much to their chagrin, they belately discovered that the ride was being held in Mongolia. This nation is not noted as a global technology connected society. Their first wake up call probably happened when when they arrived at their first hut on the steppes and asked where they could plug in their cell phone chargers, and where was the broad band hookup. The native herders replied. " Urkk Ugn Hrrrk Bllatthgukk. " Which is Mongolian for, "What? We told you that Teddy with Running Bear wasn't going to be here. Have some more fermented mares milk". Many riders were also saddend to find that while the Mongolian Ponies do have 8 different gaits, those gaits can best be described as: bouncy, rough, rougher, really rough, dental fillings loosening rough, groin pull inducing rough, end of you reproduction chances rough, and finally, please kill me rough. Those riders used to long legged Anglo horses who had dreams of floating across the remote steppes in an easy hand canter have had those dreams, and other vulnerable body parts shattered. This body shattering was assisted by taking bodies used to hand tooled soft english saddles and putting them into hard rough Mongolian saddles. Blood was shed. Now to the race report. Several Riders have dropped out after discovering that riding over 50 miles per day is a lot more tiring than just doing a couple of dressage patterns in an arena. The "docile" ponies have helped several in that decision to quit by biting, kicking, spooking and in general not being very docile. While many in the equine world were concerned about the horses welfare, they seem to be doing fine. They do 25 miles and call it quits for the rest of the ride. While the first horses had to deal with excited riders, by the second day, most riders were too sore to want to go fast. dit ditdit, dot dash dot dash!!! This just in!! I just checked the ride site and they had an update. Seriously. A couple of riders have dropped out early. Richard Dunwoody, the steeplechaser who is the famous name in the race has dropped out. He did two "legs" ( 50 miles), and suddenly remembered that he had urgent business some place else. So he left.. This is true. ( maybe he realized that he forgot to set his Tivo to record the new Jockeys TV show?) Another couple of riders have been thrown off and quit due to injury. The 4 leaders have covered about 150 miles in three days. They are riding 14 hours per day. The other riders are strung out behind them. So they are about 1/4th of the way through. I wonder what the black market price in outer Mongolia is right now for a can of Anti Monkey Butt, or Body Glide? Paul N. Sidio Reporting from the Outer Ozarks of Missouri which is just like Mongolia in that the natives speech can be difficult to understand, the cell phone reception can be spotty, and we love playing jokes on tourists, =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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