Re: Riverdance Ride story

[AliFarr@aol.com]

Here I thought I was the complete Ridecamp junkie, on the computer as soon as
I unloaded the camper from the Norco riverdance ride. Nope. Somehow, even
Heidi managed to get all the way home to Oregon and back on the computer
before me!  Part of the fun was meeting fellow ridecampers Barb Thomas and
Susan Garlinghouse in person.  More of the fun was the fact that I finished a
50! <VB - can you say ear to ear - G>  Ok, so I am one for two which isn’t
bad, but with the Garner Valley ride an overall disaster - on a personal
level, the ride itself was challenging and beautiful and I hope to meet it
with more success next year - I was feeling oh, sort of incapable I guess.
Since generally, I am one of those people who lives by the “you can do
anything you put your mind to” motto, I decided Riverdance would be the place.
I started  by begging Ride Manager Lynne Glazer to let me start a half hour
late with the 25 milers, thereby allowing my junior rider to do the 25 and
then let me go on and finish the 50.  I figured I could make an 11.5 hour time
limit.  That was perfectly acceptable until they changed the start times to an
hour apart.  Lynne knew that would put a crimp in my plans, so she and Heidi
proposed that Kris ride with the 50 milers and they would give him a
completion based on total time off the 50 start time.  That made my hold at V1
a bit longer, but I would only be giving up those few extra minutes instead of
an hour AND those extra minutes at the hold.  Even better, that allowed us to
ride out with Becky Hackworth and I cannot be effusive enough with my thanks
that she is willing to shepard my slightly nutso horse, who setttles nicely
when parked behind hers and an additional junior rider along with her two
juniors in our group.  The effect that two teenage girls have on a teenage boy
was quickly proven, as at the first water crossing, (we are talking about mile
1.5 here) Kris’ horse Gydion bolted the crossing, Kris came off and Gydion
stepped squarely on Kris’ thigh.  Now, without Becky’s daughters along, I KNOW
Kris would have pulled on the spot.  Instead, he gamely got back on, and with
help from a rider at V1 who volunteered her advil, he finished the 25.  Talk
about another good sport; the rider who gave us some advil looked about two
deep breaths from either loosing her breakfast or just plain passing out.  I
don’t know if she finished, but she was trying to do it on sheer willpower and
she still had the presence of mind to be kind to another rider.  Out of Vet 1,
we were gamely trying to catch up to Becky and her daughters as we had waited
out the 25 miler hold for Kris and were about 10 - 12 minutes behind.  Those
straight up and straight down hills looked a lot like one of our training
hills at home, but without rocks, so Gydion and Cders headed up them at a
pretty spanking trot.  Hit the deep sand near the top and I got off and walked
up the rest of that one.  When I had stopped gasping for breath enough to get
back on, we went trucking on down the trail.  I got off again to run down the
hill, as I was hoping my bum knee would actually last 50 miles and the best
way I could think of to save it was not to pound it posting downhill.  Going
past the water tanks our horses finally decided they were thirsty - I was
beginning to worry, as they usually drink by mile 7 or 8 and they did not even
drink at V1.  Tanking up seemed to be a good thing as they tackled the next
big hill with more energy than I thought possible.  We caught up to Becky
shortly afterwards, partly due to another bout with trail sabotage that left
them looking around for the right trail.  Off to run down the next big hill.
When regrouping at the bottom, everyone got a good laugh at my expense, as my
calf muscles were cramping so badly that I could NOT get my foot in the
stirrup to get on! Cders better quit growing or I’m going to need one of those
stirrup extenders.  The last few miles back to V2 were through the bamboo
alongside the river and were positively pleasant.  Heidi had decreed a 45
minute hold at lunch, which while wonderful for the horses, seemed too short
for the riders to get organized for the afternoon.  Becky and I got up to vet
about the time we could have been riding out.  Oh Well.  As we started the
second 25, Cders was as fresh as when we had started at 6:00 am.  He left out
the bucking part though, for which I am grateful........  ya’all might
remember that after the last ride, I had posted a question about speeding up
Cders pokey trot.  I now have one solution.  Put another horse, any horse in
front of him.  Whee, instant 8-9+ mph trot.  He just kept getting stronger all
afternoon.  The afternoon river crossings were lots of fun as well as the
bamboo tunnel trails.  Very varied terrain all afternoon.  Kept things
interesting.  Finished at about 4:30 which was very respectable for a first
50.  Ride Manager Lynne Glazer should be commended for a very well done first
ride.  Yea Lynne!!!!!  There were four times during the day that we got
slightly lost.  In reviewing the map afterwards, if I had just gotten the
darned thing out and looked at it, the right direction would have been
obvious.  I think I am going to make a heavy plastic pouch of  4.25 x 5.5 size
with a ring and a snap to attach it to the front of my saddle, then put the
map in it. (Hubby’s idea - good one.)  It always seems too hard to dig it out
of my saddle pack, but you would think that I would learn that one minute of
digging is a lot shorter than 10 minutes of riding in the wrong direction.
DIMR at work.  Other things I learned: organized is better. I spent Thursday
afternoon putting everything in the trailer “just so” and was able to tack up
in the dark in record time.  I slept better the night before because I wasn’t
worried about what I hadn’t done.  Getting hubby to drive to the ride was a
super plus, but I can’t count on that one as a regular thing. :::Big sigh of
regret:::  If hubby is helping crew, next time I will leave a written list of
things I need for the afternoon, so he can set them out and have them ready.
That way I might have my electrolytes and my scoop next time.....
It was FUN!  Its Monday and I’m walking - ok, slowly, but I can even walk down
the stairs.  Both horses and riders were in better shape than I thought.  Good
way to finish a ride; looking forward to the next one!

Alison Farrin
(Caer Donn aka Cders “How many times can I dump my water bucket, mom?”)
(Gydion “If he dumps it again before I get a drink I’m gonna bite him”)