American River 50 - ride story

[Katja Halfmeyer <halfmeyer@cc.ucsf.edu>]

Hi group:

here we go again.....I might make it a new habit of mine to send stories to
ridecamp every time I did make it though a ride..<GG>

Last weekend the American River Ride was held in the area around Auburn,
some of you might know it even better as "the end of the Tevis trail". The
description of the ride had mentioned something about .."your horses will
be challenged". Well, from my point of view there ARE parts of the trail
that can be considered as challenging! It sure is a pretty ride, beautiful
wild flowers, single track trail through foothills and forest, spectacular
views especially in the morning sun, but don't be mistaken....with the
views come cliffs and rocks....tough parts of the trail! If I was around to
do this ride next year again, I would do so, but go for EZ boots or pad the
horse for sure.

Back to the event: the start for the 70's was at 5.30am, 50's at 6.30am and
30's at 6.45am. I had worried a bit about long lines at the vet-checks
especially in the breezy morning hours, since this is a popular ride with
lots of entries and 30's and 50's started so close together...hey,
surprise, other than at the final check I never had to wait longer than 5
minutes to get to the vet, talking about good ride management!

Soon after a nice, controlled start <bad point: my horse got kicked after
we had accidently bumped into the horse in front of us, due to traffic jam
on single track, the rider did not even bother to turn around and see if we
were okay, nor did he punish his horse, nor did the horse wear a red
ribbon....different story!> Mario <that's his nickname>, not hurt by the
serious kick, and I settled in and started to enjoy the ride. For all of
you riding or owning "hot" horses, I would like to offer some hope at this
point, Mario used to be an awfully hot horse last year, never relaxing at a
ride....this time, his first ride of the season, he has been as
professional as can be....guess he figured it out during the winter?!! 

All right, so we are on the trail and I'm riding along into the beginning
of the day, expecting a rather quiet riding event <since Mario and I are
traveling by ourselves> when I run into this group of people, almost all
wearing some "Gold Country Club" sweatshirts or windbreakers. Since we are
on single track and this group happened to travel at a nice speed, I
decided not to accept their offer to let me pass, but follow
them..............
Once in a while <better: frequently> the front rider of the group would
call out loud <!> for "mud" or "rocks" or "low branches", after calling out
for "slowing" down first. The second or third rider would repeat the call
so even I, the last rider of the group, could hear what was about to come
or happen along the trail. <I'm not sure if even the last rider of the pack
was able to hear them...hihi> 

I listened to this type of "trail communication" for a while and when the
second group of Gold Country rider "snug" <which literally is impossible
for them and their "communication"<GG>> up on us, I joined into the system
passing on calls....

In the meantime, the rider in front of me, had turned around already,
opening a conversation. After I had told her that I had done the Gold
Country 30 last year and it still is my favorite ride, the entire group got
to hear about it and it warmed their hearts immediately <didn't it,
Kristy??>. 
I learned that my front rider was Kristy <with a "K">, riding her mare
Amber <with an "A" for attitude>. 
A little later in the ride I learned that the guy leading us most of the
day was "the royal Heini", a nickname he earned himself in his early days
being a member of the club, scepter and crown were soon to follow.......
<Hi "royal Peter" and Karen!!>

I met this group about half way before lunch stop at mile 30 and I had so
much fun riding along with them that I decided to ask whether they would
mind "dragging me along" for the rest of the 50 miles.
Of course, they did not mind at all and once again they proved what I had
first found out at the ride they put on...this is what endurance is about,
the right spirit!! <No, this is not an advertisement for the Gold Country
Club <GG>> 

As I said, Mario was doing great all day long. My crew, Kim <known as
Kimberly with Mystery, the Morab> did a wonderful job to pamper him and me
through the ride <even hand-fed him at lunch>. Thank you, Kim!!

Jazon Wonders, who's horse Mario is, riding cute, little Ravi Das himself,
was leading in the 70 at lunch, but lost his lead due to wrong info about
which trail to take out of the third vet-check given by one of his
competitors. He came in fifth at the end, hurrah Ravi Das!! Congratulations
to Jazon and also congratulations to Bob Spoor, as far as I'm informed his
horse won BC completing the 70!  
    
Unfortunately I did not stay for the awards ceremony, assuming that they
had one. A lot of people decided to leave early, so please don't flame me
if I got any placing wrong.......
I heard that the Gold Country Club had members in the top ten, the group I
had travelled with all day crossed the finish line first half of the pack
or so, but who cared anyway!

It was a great day, we laughed a lot, got the horses through and enjoyed
every mile <that's my objective>, so I want to say thank you to the ride
management and the volunteers for putting on the ride, thank you to my crew
Kim again and thank you to my fellow riders for making my day such fun and
I sure hope, we are going to have more of these rides soon!!!

Happy trails,

Katja & Mario, the tank <at least after mile 40>
Point Reyes