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Hi there,
my name is Katja and apart from some crewing experience at the Diabolo 100
for my friend Jazon Wonders and some crewing at the Tevis for my e-mail
friend Karen Chaton with her wonderful horse Dream Weaver (I doubt there is
anyone out there, who does not know her!!?), I just did one 25 mile
training ride after 16 years of dressage and jumping.....
Last weekend I faced the great challenge to do my first 50 mile REAL
endurance ride (Tahoe Rim Ride) and here is the outcome:
On this ride I was told to take one of Jazon's younger horses, Gandhi, who
really needs some more experience in camping! At the vet-in he nearly
kicked Diane, the vet (I hope I recall her name correctly), sorry for that
Diane!
The rest of Friday night was quite and peaceful and so was I....
Saturday morning my friend Kim (& Mystery, the Morab) and I got up very
early, it was a very nice, clear morning and things looked good so far...
BTW, congratulations to Kim and Mystery for the successful 25 miler!! Good
job!
At 6.20am Jazon, his two very nice teenage-riders Eillidh and Lila, and I
headed towards the start, it promised to be a nice, clear day...
The first 19 miles of the ride were very nice, Gandhi was not too bad at
the start and I rode along with Eillidh and Lila for a while. The HR
monitor (VERY nice loan of my friend Linda Romander) gave me readings
between 120 and 140 trotting along the fairly level parts of the trail and
160 at the hills, when Gandhi came over 170 I started to pull him back and
slowed down, of course the girls were gone.....
At mile 19 we had our first vet-check, it was just a trot-by and Gandhi
still had too much energy.... we stopped for some water, I got down and
walked a little, because my legs started to die from trotting along at
least 18 miles non-stop!
Fortunately I did not hit any of those trees that were in Karen's way while
Rocky cruised along on the single file trail! I hope, your knee is better
Karen!
Same to you, Dorothy!
When I got on again, the miserable part of the ride started! I was on the
road down to camp when I saw a right turn flagged with ribbons all over the
place.... they had the wrong color, but from the ride-meeting I had in my
head that the road (pavement) should turn into a dirt road leading down to
camp....well, I thought, they might have used those black/red ribbons to
attract the riders attention, and off we take along the dirt road to the
right......
Not long after the turn I saw blue ribbons again, my next mistake, because
the REAL ribbons had to be blue/ spotted ! Of course I didn't remember that
and here I am, riding by myself for the last couple of miles, seeing the
"right" ribbons all over the place (who knows what kind of trail they
marked), of course I continue on this trail...
A few miles later I wonder why no one is following me, but I realized at
the trot-by that there was no rider visible behind me, so I keep on
believing that they stopped at the water for a while, who ever passed the
vet after me (big mistake, of course).....
Next thing I know.....white arrows on the trail, same arrows as the ones
having marked the trail all the way before....well, I thought, seems to be
not too wrong where I go, off we trot... passing the water reservoir, very
pretty out there, still no one behind me! I was worried already, but every
time I thought about turning around and following the trail back from where
I came, I found some marks showing the way quite clearly. I was pretty sure
at this point that I got lost, but I thought I might find at least another
part of the right trail back and then continue in the right direction even
though I might be disqualified, I just wanted to find camp and get
something to eat for my poor little horse and his stupid rider....
I finally hit a paved road and no trail marks anymore, hmm?! There was some
shade and I decided to stop and wait for a car or a truck to come and tell
me, where the hack I was! Gandhi was convinced we have to go downhill on
this road, so I got down and walked him a while to see around the next two
corners.....hmmm, it looked like civilisation was quite far away... I could
see a valley down there, but I was sure that camp must be at some
elevation, so I decided Gandhi was wrong. We turned around and walked the
way back we came when a truck approached us. Never in my life have I been
so reliefed to see a truck!
The two guys driving stopped when they saw me waving my arms and after
explaining the situation they tried hard to identify the hand-drawn map I
carried with me, of course they had NO clue where Robbie Park is located so
they sent me to their head-quarter, 2 miles uphill....
Before I and poor Gandhi made it there, they had been driving around
already and found a guy from the Northstar trail lift with a bike map to
help me! Thank you all for your support!!
It took a while to get the maps and Gandhi to cooperate, the wind was
blowing and the horse didn't like the ski lift, of course, but finally we
localized camp on the map and found the shortest way to get there....
Once on the road again-----thanks again to this employee of Northstar, who
drove part of the way to the intersection where I needed to turn to make
sure I don't miss it----- I ended up asking every biker for the name of the
road I was on, not to miss the right way again! Believe it or not, bikers
can be helpful one day!
After 2-3 hours I finally found back to the first vet check, the trot-by,
and looked into VERY surprised faces,me coming from the opposite direction
even without being missed!
At this point I would like to thank the volunteers of the Tahoe Rim Ride,
they all have been very friendly and helpful and until the point, where I
got lost due to my own fault, the trail was marked clearly....of course I
can't tell anything about the rest of the 50 mile loop, but I'm sure it was
clearly marked...
Gandhi drank some water at this "first" vet-check and trotted out for the
vet again, he was okay, on my way I had found him a creek, where he was
able to get as much water as he needed, our only ploblem was-----we both
were starving!
>From the vet-check I had 6 miles to ride and my personal pride in
combination with a strong horse didn't allow me to accept a ride in the
trailer....so finally on the right way we continued our way into camp and I
think these were the longest 6 miles I have ever ridden, but it was a great
feeling to see the first trailers coming around the last corner down the
last hill......
After all I must say it was an experience and a lesson and I met so many
riders afterwards telling me that they all get lost some time, that I came
over it quickly and enjoyed the dinner without feeling too bad! Gandhi was
fine and I survived, what more can I ask for?!
Charmaine (I hope I got her name correctly) decided to give my horse and me
an award for being brave in the wilderness, we got a gift certificate for
EZ boots....Thank you for that!
Today Gandhi is back in his pasture and has time off, I apologized for my
stupidity and he accepted my carrots......
Happy End
Katja (who lives in an apartment with covered mirrors)
--MimeMultipartBoundary--
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