Fw: A letter to our Tevis Crew- Nick Warhol

["Steph Teeter" <step@fsr.com>]

<another message from Nick>

-----Original Message-----
From: Warhol, Nick <Nick.Warhol@kla-tencor.com>
To: 'steph' <step@fsr.com>
Date: Friday, August 14, 1998 10:24 AM
Subject: A letter to our Tevis Crew- Nick Warhol


>Hi Steph- Can you forward this to the list for me?  I think it's
appropriate
>for everyone to read.
>
>Thanks-
>Nick
>
>
>
>
>To everyone who came up and helped at Tevis this year-
>
>I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank everyone who came out
>and helped crew at the ride this year.  I'd also like to explain a little
>about what goes on during an endurance ride, especially this one.  I think
>it might be a good idea to change the name of the sport to "improvising."
>It seems like no matter how much planning is attempted things still seem to
>go crazy sometimes.  There were so many examples of unplanned episodes
>throughout the ride I don't even want to begin to list them.  But you know
>what counts?  The ability for people to adapt, recover and go on.  That's
>exactly what we did during the Tevis.  You guys who were crewing for Judy
>and I were not out there for pay- you were there because you are our
friends
>and care about helping us get through one of the toughest rides in the
>country.
>That means so much to us, yet it seems easy to forget sometimes.
>
>There is a common disease that affects all endurance riders on occasion
>(yes, even me!) called DIMR.  (Distance Induced Mental Retardation)  That's
>to blame when a
>rider snaps at a crew member, or says something less that tactful, or
blames
>someone for anything at all during a ride.  The thing to remember about
>endurance riding is there is only one person responsible for finishing a
>ride- that is the RIDER.  No one else.  Not the crew, the crew chief, the
>vets, the in timers or the guy who cleans out the porta-potties.  It is the
>responsibility of the rider to get through.  If the rider can't take that
>responsibility he or she should not be out there.  The crew is there for on
e
>reason- to make it easier for the rider and horse to make it through.
>
>The Tevis just exaggerates everything.  It's bigger, more complicated and a
>whole lot more stressful.  Of course all riders cope with stress
>differently.  Some fly off the handle, some withdraw, some just get
>irritated.  The stress of this ride is partially to blame but that does not
>make the offending party less responsible.  I was thinking about this while
>driving home from the ride since I am guilty of suffering from DIMR as
well.
>
>This year the ride had a new format that didn't allow the horse to spend
>much time eating from Robinson Flat all the way to Foresthill.  That's
about
>8 hours or so.  Poor Shatta was so hungry coming into Foresthill he was
>grabbing at tree branches.  I had never seen him that hungry and could
think
>of nothing except letting him eat.  Unfortunately he needed to go to the
>farrier and get shoe work done first.  Okay, simple.  I asked my crew to
get
>him some hay to eat while he was being worked on.  Janet ran over to the
>truck to get a hay bag.  She was not back in 5 minutes and I started to get
>irritated.  Where was she?  What could be taking so long? My horse needs to
>eat! The longer she was gone the more paranoid I got.  Why?  I don't know.
I
>think that's just part of being human and loving my horse.  I kept ranting
>about where she was until she came running up with the hay.  Okay, finally
>he's eating now.
>
>What I didn't take into consideration was what actually happened. My crew
>had taken great pains to set up the crew spot in perfect detail with
>everything covered down to the last detail.  They didn't know I would be
>spending 20 minutes with the farrier.  I didn't know they had to park the
>truck about a half mile away.  sure we needed to improvise but that's
>exactly what they did.   And you know what?  Shatta ate.  I got special
>treatment by my crew.  We finished the ride.  The world is wonderful. Yet I
>was bitching about a crew member who was doing everything she could do
>for me for the sake of helping.  Sure made me feel like an asshole later
on.
>
>
>Janet- Thank you so much for your help and I'm sorry for the complaining I
>was doing.  Like I said, I can't really rationalize what happened to my
mind
>but I guess I was tired and I'm only human.  And here's the farrier wanting
>$40 for the work.  Like I carry my wallet on the trail?  Janet gives him
the
>cash without even blinking an eye.  Susan runs over and gets me a burger
>because that's what I wanted to eat.  Claire would not rest until I was
>completely taken care of. Sue comes all the way from Arizona to drive the
>rig and help. Sally Pringle brought my damaged shoe to the next check and
>helped save my ride.  Bill Froming drops everything and helps me with my
>stuff at the first check because I needed help. Not to mention Jean taking
>three days just to make the ride easier for everyone.  Everywhere I turned
>there was someone there trying to help. Everyone involved went way beyond
>the call of duty all day no matter what we riders were complaining about.
>Crewing isn't easy, especially at this ride that requires the grand daddy
of
>crew effort.  You guys all should win an award for the intense effort you
>put in throughout the weekend.  Sleep?  What sleep.  It made me smile at
the
>fairgrounds to see Susan, Claire, Janet and Sue sitting in a little group
of
>chairs, wearing sleeping bags around them to keep warm at 3 in the morning.
>This is a normal way to spend a night?
>
>Thanks again, guys.  Shatta and Warpaint, Judy and I did it.  You guys are
>very much responsible for us completing that ride. I hope you will all come
>back out next year, because we'll be there looking for Shatta's second
>buckle.  I don't know how to thank you except to say:   Thank you, my
>friends.
>
>Nick & Judy, Shatta and Warpaint
>Tevis 1998
>