Ride the Glide
OLD DOMINION 25 [June 14, 2008] Beautiful weather! high 84, overcast, breezy
also known as: 25 miles is for weenies, let's do 31 instead
Old Dominion Endurance Ride is 34 years old and they moved the trails this year. The story goes they've gotten too big for where they used to hold it and the 4H center couldn't accommodate them any more. I can tell you that's truth! Last year, we were packed like sardines and there was no room to walk between rigs.
I was terribly excited to try out the new trails. First because I love new trails and second because I wondered if they were going to be as tough as the old trails.
Okay....We set up an OD team of riders. New Promise Farms Trail Trash (grin). T-shirts were donated by Dan's Tees of Allentown, PA. They read New Promise Farms, Proud to be..TRAIL TRASH. Cindy made us hats that says RACK ON (gaited riders really have the rack, ya know.) Teams are made up of four riders. Our team was to be:
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Dodie on TWH "Flaming Lucy"
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Cindy on UST "gods, I forgot his name already"
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Cheryl on SSH "Cosmo"
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Jen on AHA "Luke"
Unfortunately, Cheryl emailed me earlier this week and bailed on the ride because she was afraid it was going to be too hot, and she saw that last year hardly anyone completed the LD (due to the heat). She didn't want to subject Cosmo, a young horse on his first year of rides, to that kind of ride so early in his career. She should be commended for thinking of her horse first and foremost. That killed the team, though I felt I could find someone at the ride who didn't know who I was, and didn't know they'd be in a story for the whole world to read, then I could charm that person into joining us keeping the foursome together.
Jen called me at 10:30 and told me they were getting on the road, but she was afraid she'd be late so would I please tell ride management when I got there that she was coming, but running behind. I was confused because if she's two hours from me, right off I-80, she should actually get there just about the time I do, since I'm leaving at noon. I shrugged off the confusion and assured her I'd tell them she was on her way. Check-in was 1:00 to 4:00 and vet-in closed at 5:00.
Kevin met me at the barn and since I was already packed, we loaded up Flame and hit the road. Even with a pit stop to fill up Kevin's belly, we still made excellent time and arrived at the base camp 3 3/4 hours after leaving the barn. Plenty of time, I am 15 minutes early for closing of check-in time (grin). Not often that Dodie-time gets ahead of the game.
Here's a piece of advice to you riders going to rides. Gas is ridiculous right now, yes? Lately, I have been reading in all the horse magazines about changing your driving habits to get better gas mileage. I also saw an article on the CNN news site about truckers slowing down to conserve fuel.
Hmmmm
I wasn't in a hurry on Friday (the 13th, no less) so I thought to give it a try. Normally, I set the cruise control at 69 and that's where she stays. I decided to slow down 5 miles to 64 and see what would happen. Actually, I wanted to see if the articles were bull hockey so I could have some fun at their expense.
Waltzing Matilda usually gets 12 miles to the gallon. I filled the tank twice (once there and once back) and driving at 64 instead of 69, she got 15 miles to the gallon. I kid you not. The first time I thought I had mis-added, or maybe I topped off the tank a little harder than I usually do ... nope, second tank was exactly the same 14.88 miles tot he gallon. (Nice when you have a calculator handy)
Okay, time to change Waltzing Matilda's name to Slow Dance Sally. I am definitely all about that extra 3 miles to the gallon. On average, that should get me 105 more miles to a tank and save me $28 per fill up. At $4.10 a gallon, I'm there.
And, I will tell you that on the trip down, I passed hundreds of truckers. That never happens. They're always passing me. I guess the CNN article was true that the truckers are slowing down. I think only a handful of truckers actually passed me. Very unusual for a Friday afternoon when they're usually all in a hurry to get where they need to be for the weekend.
I arrived at the new base camp and was overwhelmed! I wish every ride manager would use the OD as an example of how to get your riders into base camp effectively. They had an "OUT ONLY" exit and an "IN ONLY" entrance. I drove past the camp to the entrance and was amazed and the perfect rows of rigs parked in the field below the road. How is that possible, I thought to myself. I've never seen rigs parked so neat. I am serious ... go back and read the Big South Fork story - what a parking nightmare that place was. I will probably not go back to that ride because of the parking issue.
Because it looked like vet check and ride management was there, I dropped Kevin at the well marked "OUT ONLY" driveway to check us in and get the scoop on what we needed to do. I continued down to the "IN ONLY" driveway and I was greeted by a parking attendant. They had a map layout of the base camp with each slot already pre-designed and numbered. They looked at my rig and picked me a spot that would accommodate us comfortably without taking up room needed for the bigger rigs. She wrote my name down in slot #31, gave me a map and a list of camp rules and directed me to my spot. (Little did she know, I was already on the list in slot 41 because Cindy reserved me a spot when she arrived on Thursday.)
Off I went to park. As I set myself up to back into spot 31, I see Cindy coming up. I stop and wait for her. She chides me for driving right on past her (grin) and says she has a spot reserved for me right next to her. So, I back up 10 spots and park in 41. Kevin was back with my ride packet so I then sent him back to the parking attendant to delete me from spot #31 and tell them I was already reserved in spot #41 so that #31 would be available to another rig.
Kevin, Cindy and I made a good team. We had my camp set up in a record 11 minutes. Yes, that includes the panels up, Flame cleaned and watered, canopy up with chairs and table laid out, and Kevin's tent set and filled up with heavy stuff so it wouldn't blow away. It was rumbling thunder in the background while we were setting up camp and I didn't want Kevin to lose his house should a T-storm brew on through, so I threw the cooler full of ice in the tent. It wasn't going anywhere now.
Bad news....oh, yes, there always has to be bad news, yes? Makes us appreicate the good news when it arrives. Cindy was already pulled from the ride. Her boy was shod this past week and the farrier quicked him (this means that a nail hit blood when it was driven into the hoof. It happens, nothing you can do about it expect give the horse a week to heal.) She was hoping he'd be better and he showed no signs of pain when she left home Thursday morning. Apparently, the stress of swaying in a trailer for 7 hours flared it up and he was off when she arrived. She pulled him right away and they gave her a refund on the ride entry fee. That was wonderful of them.
I am depressed. I was really looking forward to riding with Cindy. It was so nice to meet her, become long distance friends and meeting up at a ride thrilled me to no end.
Damn. I really think this is a ploy. No-one wants to be on the NPF Trail Trash team.
I put my numbers on Flame and notice that my number is the exact time that Sapphire was born. Is this a prophecy? Should I run out and play the lotto? Am I being silly? Off we went to vet in. Dr. Nick checked us in and commented on how much better Flame was getting about her check in. Not nervous at all and her HR was 48 (last vet in we did at Michaux, she was so nervous-nellie that her check-in HR was 60!!!!) Now, Flame traveled all alone to this ride and maybe since she wasn't expecting any friend to be with her, she was just like, "Whatever." Either that, or she's getting the hang of her silly human's idea of fun.
On the way down to the vet-in I saw Kyle. He is here with Tracy to ride her Ay-Rab in the 100 mile. He's insane. I love him to pieces, just because he is insane.
The ride packet was exceptional! Tons of information inside, a schedule of events laid out in perfect harmony with how the ride was to go, and meal tickets. Hey, wait a freakin' minute. There are two Sunday tickets, two Saturday tickets, and only one Friday ticket. What? Do they expect that Kevin won't be hungry on Friday because I made a pit stop to fill up his tummy-tank on the way here? What the heck. Well, I figured I would work it out at the supper. I paid for his meals, and I would make sure he got fed.
Where is Jen??? I'm a bit on the worried side. If she left at 10:30 when she called me and said she was leaving, she should have been here long ago. I walked up and down the base camp thinking maybe she arrived and I missed it.
Nope (shrug), no Jen and Luke. I have no cell service in base camp so I can't call her. In fact, I have no cell service and my husband is probably freaking out about now thinking I am road kill somewhere on I-81 and no-one has bothered to call him and tell him about it.
A truck with speakers on top of it came through camp announcing how we were to get to the pavilion where supper would be served. Since Cindy already had her truck unhooked from her trailer, we piled into her vehicle at 5:50 to head over and get fed. I scanned vehicles on our way out looking for Jen...Nope, no Jen.
Now, I have to apologize to Jen and her family. When I agreed to mentor Jen for this sport, I didn't mean to teach her how to be on Dodie-Time. That was a horrible thing I did to her.
We drove up through town
and I surely do wish I had brought my camera. This was the quaintest
little southern town, and the "Inn"??? we passed was to die for. I
love historic old buildings and I wish I had taken the time to go back into
town before I left and looked up the history of that building. It
looked like an old dormitory or a small college or a spectacular Inn or
something. If someone reading this story knows the history of that
building, please email me so I can update this story (and my curiosity).
We parked and then trekked
up through a foot path in the woods to another pavilion up on the hill.
I stopped once for Cindy to catch her breath, then stopped again when I
heard my phone go "beep" letting me know it had some kind of signal. I
quick called Marc to let him no that "No, you can't collect insurance money
because I am not road kill on I-81 and you can just get over it. Maybe
next ride."
Upwards we trekked. Nice foot path, and being the barefooted Indian that I am, I was silent as a ghost on the path (well, until I stubbed my toe on a root and let out an expletive worthy of a sailor.)
Supper was awesome and I even got to have seconds as they had lots of food left over. No problems getting Kevin's meal and he had seconds. Pulled pork (southern style, not the yucky way they make it in PA) and being from a southern family, I know my pulled pork BBQ sandwich. Cole slaw...again, southern style, not that stupid mayonnaise stuff they make in PA. Baked beans (oh gods, I'm glad I'm sleeping alone tonight) and chips.
Mmmmmm
I watch and watch for Jen. I figure that when they arrive in base camp, someone will be there to send them up to the supper and ride meeting. I was getting a sinking feeling in my gut that she had second thoughts about being on the NPF Trail Trash team and didn't have the guts to approach me about it so decided to just blow off the ride instead (grin). Am I a bit on the paranoid side, or what???
The ride meeting was entertaining, as well as informative. They were very excited to be on this new trail system, in a new base camp and they thanked every person that was involved. It takes a lot to put on a ride (I know) and the fact that they put on this prestigious ride and did it in a time of economic crisis, as well as changing base and trail systems say a lot about the dedication of the OD team.
My first and only complaint about this ride....starts here. I felt that the trail explanation was a little brief and not overly descriptive of what to expect out there. The one thing they iterated over and over was the turn on the road where the 100's and 55's go left and the 25's go right. They said it was well marked with pie plates and we needed to pay attention. They talked about the lollipop that the 25's were going to doing, briefly, and concentrated more on the 100's and 55's.
That's okay. It sounded simple enough. Blue and white ribbons the whole trail. Red for turns. Vet check at 16 miles. Got it.
Because they never mentioned it, I didn't know to ask about it, and that's where they story becomes very interesting. You will have to read on to get the punch-line, I'm not giving it away at this point in the story. I didn't know, so you (the reader) can't know either! Ha!
Ride meeting is over and as I get up to depart, there is Jen calling my name (whew, she's here). Apparently, she has learned Dodie-Time very well. Even though she called me at 10:30 AM, they didn't actually leave until 12:30 PM. Being as they're 6 hours to the ride, add in all the pee breaks along the way, they didn't arrive until 7:30 PM. She missed dinner and the ride briefing. No worries, I'll fill her in back at camp.
We trek back down to the truck, I carefully avoid that sneaky root on the way down, and I burned off some of that second helping I had. Yea!
We sat around until 10:00 PM talking and having a grand time sharing some old war stories. Cindy is FULL of stories from her years and years of riding. She also felt sorry for me after hearing the knee banging, hole in the tights producing story from Michaux and she mended the knee on my tights. How awesome is that. I had already decided not to wear them because I thought I night be too hot, but I surely did appreciate the mending she did for me. Saves me $90 on a new pair.
Although it rumbled and carried on in the distance, we never did get a storm that evening or over night. I slept like I was at home. First time at a ride that I fell asleep and didn't wake up twice (or more) listening for the horses. I slept right through to 4:30 AM. Woke up at my normal wakee time and was very refreshed and ready to go. WOW!
(Note, this would be Happy Item #1 - there are more through-out the story, watch for them. June 14th was a great day for me!)
Jen had asked me to wake her at 5:00 AM so she could vet in Luke at 6:00 AM. They gave her special concession to do a morning vet in since she arrived so late at camp the night before. I read a little of my book and heard Kevin moving around. I asked Kevin to knock on her camper door to get her up. Little known to me, she was already up, had her coffee and donuts and was impatiently waiting for the 6:00 AM time to get here. (chuckle)
She wandered over to my rig and I put my book away and got out so we could sit around and gibber-jabber while we waited for the slow slow second hand to pass minutes on by.
At 6:00 AM we went down with Luke to get vetted in and get her ride packet. No coffee (the pot was empty). They did have my favorite for breakfast, though Happy Item #2. Pound Cake! Yummy yummy yummy! I had TWO pieces. I'm such a pig. I surely do love pound cake. Especially if you have fresh strawberries and whipped cream on top (now I'm getting homesick for my garden, strawberries were just about ready when I left on Friday.)
She got everything done....apparently Luke thought the trot out was the actual start of the ride and he almost mowed Jen down. I missed it. Drat.
The 25's start at 8:L00 so we have two hours to chill, tell more stories, and digest the breakfast (not to mention pee twenty times). I'm sitting there all chilled out and Jen is like a hummingbird, flitting from one thing to another without getting any one thing completed. I am highly amused by this (but don't tell Jen, I don't want her to think I'm mocking her - I'm not, I'm just highly amused by nervous people!) It's kinda like being the designated driver. I swear I have more fun watching my friends drinking and getting stupid than I ever did when I used to drink. The amusement value is not only higher, but I remember it in the morning (snicker).
Yes, I am still planning on trying my new "start" strategy at this ride. If you remember from my last ride story, I have decided to let Flame bust out front and keep her there as long as she wants to be there. I am hoping that this will not only save her brain but also save my hands. I'm just now peeling off the scabs from the last ride and I'd like to keep them that way. I told Jen that if her and Luke couldn't keep the pace, to go on and fall back and I'd wait in hold for her. No problem.
Little did I know.
By 7:00 AM, Jen has Luke all tacked up and I haven't even walked back to groom Flame yet. I'm still chilling with Cindy, making plans for crewing. Since she's not riding, she volunteered to help Kevin crew for us. Of course, the NPF Trail Trash team is down from four horses to two, so crewing should be relatively easy. The nice part was that since Cindy had her truck already disconnected, we could use her as the designated driver. I travel pretty light and had everything loaded in one bucket. Add the cooler with wheels I purchased just to carry extra ice for holds, and I was done.
Here's what I take to hold.
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Two water tubs (small one fits inside the large one)
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One bucket
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Two plastic coffee cans with handles (for scooping water onto the horses)
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One container with Flame's beet pulp
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One bag of carrots (for Flame)
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One apple (for me)
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One cooler on wheels full of ice to chill the water we use on the horses
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One water, one gaterade thrown in the cooler to replenish my saddle bottles
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One e-lyte
All this fits into the water tub so my crew doesn't have to work so hard. I've gotten very frugal after last year when I was running 50's and realized how much gear my poor crew was toting around. Stuff that we never used. I have streamlined and it works great for me and Flame (and hopefully for my crew).
Now it's 7:30 AM. I groom Flame and put on her saddle. I send her out with Kevin to walk and walk and walk while I go to the timer and check in.
The
plan is, when the timer clock says 7:59 AM, I get on [and hold on].
Little did I know that someone (someone!) was taking pictures of me waiting
to get on. And I did just sit there and wait while everyone else was
warming up under saddle, I had poor Kevin walking and walking and walking
Flame while I sat and relaxed.
I get on and Flame knows! She hunches up
underneath me and I hold my breath waiting for the airs above ground.
Nope, she turned her self towards that trail head and she was ready.
The clock ticks. 20 seconds, Flame is starting to dance. 15 seconds and we're doing circles. 10 seconds and I feel her bundling herself up underneath me (HANG IN THERE FLAME) 5 seconds and I point her towards the start line. TRAIL OPEN. We were way back from the starting line, seven horses in front of us when I let her go.....
Did
I say let her go? I mean, I hung on for dear life and just pretended
to be in control. I let her go...yeah right! She blew out front and
stayed there. No airs above ground, no bucking, no pulling, and on a
totally loose
rein. The plan worked!
Gods! Happy Item #3. I am in heaven. This mare is crazy - just like me.
So we're blasting along, way out front of everyone ... I turn around every now again and the only horse I see is Jen on Luke. And Luke! I swear he has a smile on his face. He's right on Flame's tail with no effort what-so-ever. Now, let's mention Jen for a second .... I'll bet she's still picking bugs out of her teeth. She didn't quit smiling the entire ride.
A couple miles go on by and I slide back to let Luke lead a little bit. Flame wasn't exactly thrilled about that, but Luke makes better time up the hills and I figured she'd keep right up with him in an effort not to lose her first place standing. I was right, she keep right up (grin).
We're blasting along trail, and let me tell you - this is EXCEPTIONAL trail. Some rocks, not a lot, and it's no effort to cruise. This is nothing like the old OD trail. This trail is phenomenal. Anyway, we pass a pie plate with a big "W" on it. Jen is leading and I look at that plate and try to imagine where there could be "water" here on this hill. In the 9 years I've been riding this sport, when management puts up a pie plate that says "W", especially on trail like we're on where there is absolutely no water, it means WATER. There were no arrows, nothing that said TURN LEFT HERE, DUMMY.
AND!!!!!
We were still on the ribbons. No worries. Jen asked me what the "W" meant, and I replied "WATER".
We're cruising along, cruising along, following ribbons right up to a road? I look and we see cars parked along the side of a dirt road. I look at my watch and it's 9:05 AM. There is no way we just did 16 miles in an hour. I mean we were moving, I felt like we'd done 10 miles, but no way 16 miles. We cruise in and there is a timer sitting there. They're in shock.
"Holy crap." the volunteer at the timing tent says. "We weren't expecting anyone for at least a half an hour."
Flame zooms over to someone's pan of feed and starts chowing down. I try to get her out of the pan and another volunteer says, "That's okay, let her eat."
Another volunteer says, "Let me go get the trail guy."
I am dumbfounded. Wow, vet check already. They gave us our vet-in cards with the time of 9:08. We start walking down towards the vet in area and I know that my crew isn't gonna be here. I told them expect us around 10:00 AM.
Wait, there's Kevin. But that isn't Cindy's truck. I talk to him a second when yet another volunteer comes up to me and says, "We think you're off trail. You should have ome in from the top of the road, not from this side trail."
"We followed the ribbons." I state.
"That's not possible," he replies. "Let's take a walk and see what's going on."
Just as he said that, here comes another rider through the trail out onto the road that we came in on. I look at my watch and it's 9:13 AM. This rider was 8 minutes behind us. On the same trail.
I get back on Flame and we head back up the way we came in. 10 feet into the trail, there's a ribbon. Another 15 feet, there's another ribbon.
"See?" I smugly state to the volunteer. "Ribbons! We followed them right into this trail head."
The volunteer shakes his head and looks concerned. We walk up the trail some more.
We come to a fork. There are red turn ribbons. We had come in from the right fork so the volunteer took off down the left fork.
"Ribbons here. You should be going this way."
"Okay," I reply. "Then you need to take down those ribbons we just passed and put some kind of barrier up so more people don't come down this trail into the vet check from the wrong path.
He nodded at me and told me to have a good ride and we started down the other fork.
Within minutes, we're back at the vet check, at the bottom of it.
I throw my hands up in the air in frustration. A guy comes barreling down towards us and tells me that we need to go back up the way we came down, cross the bridge back up the mountain to where the pie plates tell us to turn left.
Now, I am confused. We never saw any pie plates telling us to turn left. In fact, we were watching for "turn right" pie plates. At the ride meeting, they toldus over and over and over (at least four times, maybe five times) that when we got to the pie plates, 55's and 100's go left, 25's go right.
So, why are there pie plates telling us to go left? Why didn't this come up at the ride briefing so I'd be looking for them? And where the heck are they because we certainly did not see them.
Okay, fine. I look at my watch and it's 9:33. We have lost a half an hour and gotten I don't know how many miles off trail. I can't believe this. The heat is coming up now and we're gonna have to climb back up this mountain and find where we missed trail and get in the right direction. Dammit.
Now, this fella that came into the vet check behind us is sticking with us. As we cruising back up the trail the way we came, I introduce me and Jen to him and he tells us his name is Brian and this is his only second ride. He has a very handsome horse named Tex who is 17 years old. Tex sure isn't acting like he's 17. He's right up there with Flame...and since he came in alone behind us by 8 minutes, he has to be moving at top speed on his elderly gelding (grin).
I told him if he wanted to get on out in front of us and move out, go right ahead. He replied that if we didn't mind, he'd stick with us because we seemed to know better what to do (Yeah, right! We're off trail because we're so better at this) I laughed and told him that was great...we'd be happy to have him.
On our way back out the way we came, we passed several riders. I told them, "Turn around. This is the wrong way." Two girls argued with me and said, "Look, we're on ribbons."
I agreed with them, I sympathized with them, but I also told them this was the wrong way and they had to turn around and follow us because we were going back to where we missed the turn.
Only one of them, a guy in bibbed overalls, turned around with us. The others said, "Nope, we're going to follow the ribbons."
(shrug)
"Okay!"
And then, we lost track of that guy in the bibbed overalls. I don't know if he didn't believe us and turned back towards the vet check or what, but I never saw him again the rest of the ride.
UPDATE: I just received an email from the volunteer that was helping us the first time we got to the vet check. And I quote (with her permission) "Dodie, I just read your story. Great story, you should be proud of yourself for going on even though you didn't think you'd make the time. You need to tell the readers that you were not the only one that missed that turn. There were a total of thirteen riders came in, ten of them long after you did. You and your two companions are the only ones that completed on time. One other rider did turn back and finished OT but the rest didn't bother to continue when they found they had to go back three miles and then finish the loop. Now, this is not confirmed officially, but I had overheard Dr. Art telling the lady vetting in at the end at the same time I was that there were a lot of RO pulls due to missed trail.
There is no water up here. We crossed a little creek that they all three drank and drank and drank from, but other than that, there is no water out here. It's starting to get hot and they're panting pretty good from traveling up hill. We cruised on back up that mountain and about 3 miles we see a pie plate with an arrow pointing to the left and it says "To Finish".
Bugger me!
I go around the other side of the tree and there is that freakin' "W" pie plate. No arrows pointing to the left. No words saying, "Stay Left". I stop a second and look back the way we came (from the right-the way we went when we first passed this point) and there is a blue and white ribbon not five feet from this fork. I look in the direction that we SHOULD have went and I don't see a blue and white ribbon right away. I look a little harder and there it is, about 15 feet into the trail on the left.
I ran the ride meeting over in my head again and no where did the ride manager mention there would be a pie plate that said "W" and we were supposed to stay to the left. I pulled out my map they gave us and realized this is the bottom of our lollipop.
Bugger me, again!
That means we have 10 miles to go to get to the vet check. I look at my watch and it's now 10:05 AM. Vet check closes at 11:15. If we don't get in there by that time, we will be disqualified.
Just shoot me and tell the cat I'm dead!
Okay Flame, let's boogie.
We passed the drag riders and they were in shock that we were 25 mile riders. I told her that there were lots more behind us so they might want to drop back a little and wait for them to catch up. They didn't believe me, either, and kept coming up the trail behind us.
What? Just because I'm wearing a "TRAIL TRASH" T-shirt, does that mean I'm a liar, too???
Oh, some water - just a little trickle off the side of the hill, but water. Flame found a hole where a hoof went and drank and drank. Whew. Bet she feels better. Tex was off to the side drinking from another foot print and I'm not sure if Luke was drinking or not, it almost looked like he was playing in it. It wasn't deep enough to get my sponge wet, but I did make every attempt to get some water onto Flame for radiator cooling.
We get going and now we're on some serious up hill pull. Flame is chugging along, but up hills aren't her thing so she starts lagging. I send Luke out front. He speeds us up a little bit.
Up and up and up and up.
No water, and we're still going up.
Finally, we come off the tow path onto a wide open space with lots of grass and shade. The horses are panting something fierce and there's no water. I get them over into the shade and we're still going up hill so we're walking.
By the way, that was a nice pull, not rocks and good footing. If we had hit it when we were supposed to, before we did 6 extra miles we didn't need to do, and before the heat started coming up, I do believe we'd have pulled it just fine with little effort. I'm telling you, this trail is great. I surely do hope they do this trail again next year. So much better than the old trail.
I look at Tex and he's really pounding his breathing. We gotta stop, we're killing this poor horse. Flame was breathing pretty good, not excessive. Luke was brething a little harder than Flame, but not excessive. Flame was licking her lips which she does when she's ready to stop and drink.
NO WATER. This is the one bad thing about this trail, there' no freakin' water.
We're walking in the shade, letting them catch they're breath, and the trail dips back into the woods. (whew) Coolness.
We're still moving up hill, but it's now a soft grade so we put them into speed again to create a breeze to cool them off. I poured my two waters over Flame as we started, hoping to give her a little radiator cool. I drank my gaterade and wished I had some gum.
We crest the mountain and we're on a ridge. Jen is in front and starts panicking.
"I don't see ribbons." (She sounds a little frantic.)
I look down and this is a well worn trail with lots of fresh foot prints in the dust.
"Keep going, Jen. We're okay."
"But I haven't seen a ribbon."
(I'm smiling back here behind her.)
"That's okay, we're okay. This is the trail."
"But how do you know?"
"Because it's well worn with lots and lots of hoof prints and there are no trails going off it unless you want to fall straight down the mountain side." I am trying to contain my mirth. We're on a thin ridge crossing, we can see for miles across the tops of the mountains, and on either side of us is a sheer drop down. I'm SURE there is no other trail besides this one. My Indian GPS tracking device kicked in and I was pretty sure we were going in the correct direction.
"Okay." She didn't sound convinced, and now I'm wondering if SHE thinks I'm a liar, too.
I looked back at Brian, and he's contentedly following us. Gods, I hope I am not leading this poor man astray! I don't want a complete stranger to find out I may be a liar and didn't know it.
The horses got their wind back and we're slow trotting along the ridge. Couldn't go much faster than that because it is a little rocky up here. Pretty soon, Jen sings out, "A ribbon."
(chuckle)
We're cruising along, having meaningless conversation about Brian's first ride and isn't he uncomfortable in jeans, and how long has he had Tex when we burst out of the trees onto a dirt road.
Hugh is there with his camera!
"Hey!" he greets us. "Smile."
I don't even want to see our photo. I
had my hands up in the air, mouth wide open talking and he snapped the
picture.
(snicker)
Typical Dodie fashion.
Hugh says that vet in is about 4 miles down this road. I look at my watch and it says 11:02 AM. We'll never make vet in by 11:15 AM. Blast it all.
I say to Brian, "Look if you fly, you can probably make it to vet check on time. I can't guarantee we're gonna make it because I'm not going to push Flame in this heat with no water."
"Naw," he drawls out in his southern accent. "I'll stick with you guys if you don't mind."
I smile. "Good deal!"
All of a sudden, Flame takes off like her ass is on fire. She's literally flying down that dirt road (which is a pretty good downhill grade.)
Luke and Tex are right beside her, we look like the three musketeers. Jen starts giggling and says, "We're doing 14 mph according to my GPS."
I believe it. I've been in this racking gait with Flame before. She puts one foot down, shoves off and travels 25 feet before the next foot hits the ground. It's a remarkable feeling when she does this gait. I feel like we're totally out of control, without being totally out of control. I'm sure you can't understand that, so I encourage you to come and ride Flame once and see for yourself. It's a rush!
Those three horses ran down that mountain, three-a-breast, for a good two miles before they started to slow up and get control of themselves. Jen was all about that. Her excitement caught me up and I was smiling right along with her. I couldn't tell if Brian was smiling or not, but Tex looked like he was smiling!
We slowed up and I'm still looking for water. The trail cuts off the road back into the trees and that concerned me. I was sure that they said at the ride meeting that we'd come down the road into the vet check. No mention of cutting back into the woods....
WATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you God!
We stop. We drink. We sponge. We stand ankle deep in the creek and absorb to coldness. Flame drank and drank and drank and drank and drank. This water was ice cold. I sponge and sponged her, and me. I look at my watch. 11:16.
Oh, well.
Then Flame leaps on out of the creek and head down the trail like she knows where she's going.
Freakin' mare. Wait for the other two, dummy.
We get onto a dirt tow path and I see a person.
Jen gasps, "That's my husband. What's he doing out here."
I look and see blue tarp canopies through the trees.
MY GOD! We're at the vet check.
11:22 AM - we're only late by seven minutes, I wonder if they'll cut us some slack.
Paul comes up to us and says, "Don't worry, they extended the vet hold time 30 minutes for you guys because so many people got off trail."
Really? Got off trail? No!
Okay, let's do the math. We just did 22 plus miles in 3.25 hours. We lost 15 minutes of "moving time" while we were trying to figure out what happened. So, really under 3 hours. Moving almost 8 miles an hour. Not bad, not bad considering we had no water, we had lots of places we had to walk, we walked a good two miles after the hill climb letting the horses get their breath and cool off, and we walked the last mile and stopped for about 10 minutes at that water back there.
Impressive!
And Flame is still going! She's not showing any signs of fatigue at all.
I get off and look, she still has on four shoes.
WOW!
Cindy takes over. She's a maniac - organized everything, gave Kevin and Paul orders, kept us moving. I wonder how I can figure out a way to fly her out to every ride so she can crew for me. There was NO arguing with Cindy! She knew what to do and how to get it done. I loved it. For once, it wasn't me bossing every one around.
Brian had no crew or crew stuff, so I stuck him on my crew. We fed Tex, got Tex cooled off, gave Brian instructions. Poor Brian, surrounded by women shouting orders. Must have been very intimidating.
We think they're cooled off about ten minutes so we go to the vets. Everyone's pulse is down to parameter. WOW! That's amazing. Everyone's vet in went well except mine. Flame's CRI was a little high so they kept my card and said come back in half an hour. If things were good at that time, they'd count that as my exit vet check and let me go.
Cindy moved the truck closer to the vet in and I tied Flame up and worked on cooling her off. Cindy gave Brain more instructions about keeping Tex in the shade so he didn't heat back up, give him more food and carrots and any thing else he'd eat. Kevin abandoned me to go crew for someone else.
Now what the heck? I drove him up here to help us, not run off with someone else. I guess I've been left at the alter.
Maybe God was looking out for me when he brought Cindy here with a lame horse so she could crew for me. Happy Item #4 She is excellent crew, totally in control of the situation. She never even asked me anything, she just told me, handed me water with a face that said "Drink, or else.", refilled my bottles on my saddle, kept Flame comfortable, and did all this without so much as a "fare-thee-well." In fact, I got all frantic (like I tend to do) about where's something and Cindy shut me down. Told me it was under control, go sit down and relax. And there was no brooking arguement with her. I sat down.
WOW! I'm gonna send Judy to Cindy's house for lessons. Judy is also excellent crew, but she hasn't learned to shut me down, yet.
30 minutes, I go back to the vet and Flame is at 44. The vet says, "Trot her down to the second bucket and back."
I start Flame and ...
CRACK!!!!!!! BOOM!!!!!!!!!!
Thunder right on top of us. LOUD. I jumped three feet in the air. Flame never blinked an eye, she kept on trotting to the bucket and back.
The vet was amazed.
"I can't believe she didn't spaz out," she said.
"I know," I relied in wonder. "I jumped but she just kept on going."
"Well, her HR must be a little up from that." but she still laid that stethoscope on her.
"Nope," she said in a minute. "CRI is perfect. You're good to go."
She gave me my card back and I went tot he out timer to get my out time. Same as everyone else's. 12:22 PM
That gives us 90 minutes to go 9 miles and have our heart rates down to 60 so we complete on time.
Whew. At least we've done this trail already (grin) and the horses know it. And most of it is down hill.
CRACK!!!!!!!!!! BOOM!!!!!!!!! BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh my gods, it's getting dark. We're gonna get hit with a T-storm.
I hate riding in a T-storm. My cousin Louie is STILL in the Guiness Book of World Records as the man that's been hit by lightning the most times. Eleven, to be exact. Look it up.
I don't want to start trying to beat his record!
BOOM BOOM BOOM
We're on the saddles and headed to the out timer.
Time to go. 12:22 PM. Let's boogie.
Flame almost shoots out from underneath me. I swear, I went flying backwards and thought I was coming off. I wasn't ready for that.
BOOM BOOM BOOM
We make the turn out of vet hold and they sky opens up on us.
YEA! Happy item #5 - we can really move now- the horses will stay cool while it's raining on us. I put Flame into overdrive and we're off. I look back and Luke and Tex are cantering to keep up with her. She's on fire. It's like she knows she can move on down the road while it's raining.
We come to a fork in the trail and I know (from being here once before) that we need to go left, but the trail looks like you should go right. Flame is turning right while I'm steering left and she put on foot down and spun like a barrel horse onto the left trail. I almost came flying off again! I hear Jen, "Are you okay?"
"I'm still on, aren't' I?" I'm laughing. This is great. I hear Jen laughing, she can't believe we're riding in a T-storm, getting beat up with rain, running as fast as we can down trail.
She's in heaven!
We come to those stupid pie plates.
We follow the trail to the left back to the finish line.
We were passing people left and right. I counted 6 people we passed, plus the five people I know were behind us because they were off trail. I hope we'll get back there in time. We pass a nice little gray horse and all of a sudden, Flame bobs her head a couple time and I hear a "chink" off to the left.
FUCK! She lost a shoe. We have 6 miles to go and she lost a fucking shoe. I really hate my farrier about now. I truly truly do.
Now we're in trouble. This trail is red clay. It's raining. Wet red clay is NOT the best footing when traveling down hill. Jen moves Luke out front because I'm trying to slow Flame down so we don't slide and snap a leg off at the knee. Luke's moves ahead and I start fighting Flame to keep her relatively slow. Tex is right behind us. Luke is getting farther away and Flame really starts fighting me to catch up.
"Jen, slow up."
She slows Luke down and we catch up. I give her the Dodie lecture of dont' travel down hill on wet red clay or we'll all get broken legs.
She drops back.
Now I feel bad, I didn't mean to upset her. I just really didn't want a broken leg.
Okay, off the red clay, let's crank it. We're into some fist sixed rocks now, Luke is boogeying out front and Flame is making every attemtp to keep herself off to the side off the rocks. her head is bobbing every now and again when she hits a rock on that bare foot, but for the most part, on the soft stuff, she's moving fine, no limp. I am praying to every god I know begging them to keep her sound until we vet in.
All of a sudden, the rain stops *AND* we come out of the woods onto the road leading back to the finish line.
1:24 PM. MY GOD! We did it! A nine mile hour. We will get there and pulse down in plenty of time (cut off for the 25's is 2:00 PM)
I get off Flame to walk. I want to save that foot as much as possible. Luke is power walking, and Flame is not about to let him get ahead so she's dragging me.
"Jen, slow down. We need to get their heart rates down so we finish on time."
She dropped Luke back. Tex is ambling along behind us with no excitement or worries. He doesn't look tired, either. These horses just did 30 plus miles and they don't look a bit tired. Poor Tex looked like he'd went swimming in mud. Because he was the last horse as we ran through the rain, he got all the mud clods throw up on him. His neck, chest and body was coated in thick red mud. Brian was pretty mud covered, too. But he was smiling. he looked like he thoroughly enjoyed himself. I'm so glad we managed to get him back on time so he could complete.
Walk, walk, walk.
My shoes are full of water and feel like lead on my feet.
Walk, walk, walk.
Damn, how far is this road?
Walk, walk, walk.
Ah, there's the entrance to base camp. Not too much farther.
Walk, walk, walk.
Flame is actually relaxed now that she's sees base camp and she isn't dragging me anymore.
I look at my watch. 1:33 PM
(big smile) Happy item #6
Walk, walk, walk.
Cindy has her truck and all our stuff right there next to vet in. Seeing as how all the other 25's have long completed because they only DID 25 miles (hehe) we didn't have to fight for crewing space.
We didn't wait too long to go up and get our pulse. Just long enough to get the most of the mud off their bellies and legs.
Flame was at 40. Gee, that's better than her check-in pulse. Her CRI was 40/44. When the vet asked for trot out, I pointed out that she's lost a shoe 9 miles ago. He said okay, trot.
I have Kevin trot her ... Kevin doesn't move fast enough for her and she kinda ambled along. I hollered out to her and she picked up the pace a little. Enough that I could see she wasn't limping. THANK GOD!
We completed.
OMG, we completed.
We threw everything into the back of Cindy's truck and she hauled us back to our camp. The rain had been stopped for about 30 minutes so I was hoping to get everything packed up before the storms came back. They were calling for some severe storms here. I wanted to get on the road and get home. Flame was alert and busy in her pen, she wasn't tired at all. I was sitting there under the canopy watching her thinking that she could have done a 50 mile ride, I'm sure of it. And if I actually tried to condition this horse, she's be amazing. My god, how did I deserve this mare?
THANK YOU CINDY! For selling me this mare!
Jen was all frantic to get stuff unloaded and I told her that's why we had crew, so we could sit and chill while they unload (grin). Kevin got the hint. He started packing up. I finally got off my ass after a half an hour of eating Cindy's chicken and drinking some ice tea and started unloading Cindy's truck. The canopy was dry but the tent was drenched inside because Kevin forgot to zip the panel shut in the morning and the rain went right in, soaking the covers and clothes. Oops.
We made short work of packing up, but I could see Cindy was sad that I was leaving. She and Jen were staying the night and leaving out in the morning. Not me, I got a ton of work to do on Sunday, so I want out of here before the storms start.
Boom .... rumble ...
Oh, hurry up Kevin.
Boom boom boom
I get everything closed up and put Flame on the trailer just as it started to rain. YEA! 3:04 PM and I beat the rain. Happy item #7
Kevin tells me he's staying so he can crew for Kyle on the 100. (sob) Now I'm really all alone. I say good-bye to everyone and hop in the truck. Let's go, Waltzing Matilda, now known as Slow Dance Sally, it's just you and me, Babe. We got 3 1/2 hours of traveling to do.
About the time I hit I-81, the sky opened up. It's pitch black and the rain is coming down so hard I can't see three feet in front of me. Cars are pulling off the road left and right. Literally, they're pulling off on both sides of the highway, how dangerous is that. Bunch of idiots. I'm creeping along at 40 mph trying not to run over anyone.
Mile after mile of this. I finally get out in front of it, get some light in the sky and decide I should stop for gas and some coffee to keep me alert. I don't normally drink any kind of caffeine after breakfast, I'm hyper enough without that, but this was really draining me, driving in this weather. Plus, I was tired from riding and thought coffee might be a good substitute for rest.
I stop and fill up (ouch $$$) and notice that my four legs wraps are still sitting on the fender of the trailer. HOW THE HECK??? I swear to you, I didn't put them on Flame because they were soaked from the earlier rain before we left, but I sure thought I had put them inside the trailer. And not a single one of them blew off there. Still there. Happy item #8
After talking myself out of suicide for spending so much money on gas, I go inside for coffee. I give the guy behind the counter a hard time about how old the coffee is, and will it make my hair stand on end (good) and will it put hair on my chest (better) and he's having a great time with my banter while I'm putting in cream and sugar. I walk over to the counter to pay and he waves me off. Says the entertainment was well worth the price of the coffee.
Happy item #9
I get back in the truck, shut the door and
BOOM BOOM BOOM
Hail is coming down the size of marbles as I pull back onto I-81.
Damn. This is slow going.
Mile after mile I travel in the dark with rain coming down so hard it's bouncing off the hood of Matilda. Mile after mile of cars pulled off the road with their blinkers on. Mile after mile of eye strain and shoulder tension.
All the way into Carlisle before the rain starts letting up. Oh, it's still raining, but at least I can go 55 mph now instead of 35 mph.
Matilda was great. Never one time did she hydroplane or get wobbly on the rain covered road. I like these new tires I put on her.
So, my 3 1/2 hour drive turned into 5 hours. (sigh)
But, I'm home. Happy item #10
Flame is now sore on that front foot without a shoe. Poor Flame. I called my farrier and he's coming on Monday to put a new one on her. I'll give her a week off to see if it heals up. Poor Flame. She did really well and I wish I knew how to let her know how proud I am of her. Best I could do was feed her the whole bag of carrots I had left over. She did like that!
And now, we dream of Genessee! Here we come!
Okay - now I KNOW the gods were truly looking after me on Saturday. Here's the Rest-Of-The-Story - written by Jen. The after-the-ride adventure.
(click
the image to enlarge)
After you left camp the rain came back and drenched the entire base camp.
BTW my truck camper does leak....from the ceiling vent that is situated
right over my bed. Fortunately I brought a tarp with me and Paul climbed
out and put the tarp over the roof of the camper and voila....no leaks.
So, I was quite delirious after the ride and at one point I even almost
passed out. I finally sat in a camp chair and downed a bunch of orange
juice and felt a little more human. Later I climbed into a dry spot in the
top bunk of the cab-over section of the camper and fell asleep....I had
some really strange dreams though. At about 4 PM Bryn woke me up when she
was looking for Paul. She sounded emergent. Apparently a lady got stuck in
the mud and Bryn offered Paul's services as a truck driver to get the lady
unstuck. I went back to bed as they went off to do their thing and when I
awoke I looked out the little camper window to see the Old
Dominion Mud Bog. The pretty hay field had somehow turned into
trenches of mud with trucks and trailers stuck like flies on flypaper
EVERYWHERE. Holy crap some of the trucks were axle deep. Paul and Bryn
were back. He had helped a few people get unstuck and Bryn was amusing
herself by riding all over the basecamp on her bike. Unfortunately Bryan
was one of the people who was desperately stuck deep in the mud. Bryan
moseyed over to our camp and I offered a spot for his horse (Tex) to chill
until he could get pulled out. In the meantime I made Luke a bigger
paddock and he was having a grand time mowing the field. Bryan came back a
few minutes later with his horse Tex who seemed quite pleased with the
living arrangements. Tex is the perfect gentleman. I brought tons of feed
and hay and there was tons of beetpulp left over and I had tons of water
in my tank so we all shared with Bryan and Tex and had a grand time. Paul
even seemed to appreciate the company and Cindy was a dear to drive us all
over to dinner at the pavilion. We ate like kings! They had roasted herbed
chicken, salad, potatoes, greenbeans, fruit salad and cookies. I was
starving but everyone agreed that the food was exceptional.
Instructor/Manager: Dodie Sable
Located in New Smithville PA at Fenstermacher Road, 3 miles north of Kutztown University
Call us at 610.756.3836 or email us at dodie@newpromisefarms.com