Big Horn 100 [long]

["Drin & Jim Becker" <rainbow@montana.com>]

We just returned from the Big Horn 100 in Shell Wyoming , It rained most of
the evening before the ride but was perfect weather on ride day . If anyone
out there gets a chance this is a great ride to go and do , beautiful
scenery , you go from desert  to high mountain lakes/trees and back down to
desert/slickrock type stuff . It is a very,very tough hard ride .
We all started out at 4:00 a.m , 50 milers and 100 milers  Bo [CW Diamond
Jim] and I started out riding with a friend of ours who was doing the 50 ,
Louie Rod on her mare Willow , Bo and Willow kept a good pace up and we
came into the first vet check at 25 miles in good time , left out of there
riding with some friends of mine Cookie and Richard Hickstien who were also
doing the 100 , this is where the mountains start ! We kept a respectable
pace going on this stretch and then Louie decided to back off a bit and I
went on ahead , met up with Susan Londe from Cheyenne Wyo. and rode with
her and her horse Axle to the 50 mile marker , had a great time riding and
visiting. After the 1 hour hold at the finish of the 50 we headed out again
for the next 25 mile loop and more mountains ! I mean steep rocky stuff ,
on this route we kept leap frogging with Cookie and Richard and having to
put up with Richard's humor as we passed and they passed etc; etc; . At the
top we were treated with spectacular views of mountains and lakes and
finally some good downhill and flats , here I moved on again and met up
with Marcia Ingram and Sue Horne from Colorado , had a good visit and was
treated to Sue doing some acrobatic stunts when her mare run her under a
solid tree limb , for miles we would hear Marcia giggling over this . Then
we came upon Cindy Collins who was ride manager riding with Nancy Elliot
and ?Fordfrom California , we all came into the last check pretty much
together where there I found out to my horror that my vet check bag had not
been delivered ! But you know endurance riders , everyone gladfully donated
to my cause , glosticks, mash for my horse , hay , water for me , and
electrolytes also , THANKS GUYS ! Then it was on again for the last loop ,
this loop was mostly two track road and then slickrock the last 7 or 8
miles , here Cindy and I rode together until after dark where she got
motion sickness and had to stop , Sandy Bolinger and her daughter Whitney
Bass caught up with us at this point and Cindy told us to go on , that she
would be fine but she would have to sit there awhile until it passed . So
Sandy , Whitney and I all finished the last leg of the ride together , it's
always fun to ride with Sandy and Whitney so the time passed fairly quickly
, we did see some strange sights toward the finish which took us awhile to
figure out , it turned out to be Marcia and Sue's horses with glosticks
tied to their horses tails ! We finished well, in 6th , 7th , and 8th place
I believe and were relieved to finally take care of our horses and hit the
sack . Got back to my corral and to my delight here were Anne Kennedy ,
Ellen Snoeyenbos and Louie Rod all waiting up for me [ we finished at 12:20
I believe] . The four of us had travelled to the Big Horn together from the
Bozeman , Mt. area . All three of them had finished the 50 in good shape
and were waiting up to hear my ride story , what faithful friends ! If any
of you ever get the chance , go and do the Big Horn Ride , it is certainly
one that you will remember .

                                            Drin & Bo [ who finished his
first 100 miler]
                                             S.W. Mt.