Ride the Glide
Hickory Run [July 13, 2008] Rain and T-Storms! High 87, wet, muddy.
One, Two
Lost a shoe
Three, Four
Cussed some more
Five, Six
Do some tricks
Seven, eight
Trail is great
Nine, ten
Almost won again
Shades of the Old Dominion ride. Only, this time the rain started during the night and continued all day. The drive home was a nightmare, but more on that later.
To the ride manager. I highly recommend changing your directions for next year's ride. If a person doesn't Mapquest the location and follows your directions from the east, they will be driving almost 90 miles MORE than is necessary. At today's fuel prices, 80 miles is a chunk of change in a big rig. Bring the riders off of I-80 onto SR36N. It's a very scenic drive and shaves an hour off the time.
I am traveling without any human companionship (again) and so had plenty of CD's with me to keep me occupied. Although it's nice to have a crew person riding along with me for conversation and companionship, it's also nice to be able to crank Eminem to 40 decibels and not have to worry that the crew person will jump out the window in agony.
Bee-Bee went with me to carry a little tiny junior rider on her first endurance ride. It was Bee-Bee's first ride of this season, and as she just weaned a foal off in June, I figured carrying a junior rider wouldn't be hard on her. So, today's adventure is me, Flame, Bee-Bee and Max. (Oh, who is Max? An OBX Hound pup I picked up in NC a week and a half ago. He's the bomb and only 7 weeks old.)
My intention was to leave at 10:00 AM to arrive at base camp around 3ish. Due to NPF drama (don't go there, that's a whole other story on it's own) I didn't get out of the barn until 11:00 AM. Stopped and filled my tanks (ouch) and hit the road.
Waltzing Matilda got a little freaked out as we cruised through the Bloomsburg Area ... memories of suicidal bales of hay and wheezing out of breath up the hills came back to her as she cruised through the area setting the story, Shut Up And Play Cards. Once we got about 60 miles on past the area of small balls and cheating card players, she relaxed and we were cruising....
Well, for little while, anyway.
The drive was remarkably calm until I hit around exit 115. The trailer hitched up and down, swayed side to side and I was trying to figure out what the heck Flame and Bee-Bee were doing back there. I pulled off the side of the road to determine what kind of funky break dancing music they were thumping to and discovered on the trailer that the passenger rear tire was shredded.
(sigh)
It's like 500 degrees out here on the side of I-80. The sun is beating down on me because I'm on the side of the trailer that does NOT have the shade. Bee-Bee and Flame are determined to find out who can rip the biggest mouthful of hay out of the hay bag which causes the trailer to precariously rock back and forth on the jack as I pull the tire off, and the spare tire has been on so long it has rust welded itself to the tire frame.
It didn't take me overly long to get the tire changed, but by the time I was done, my appearance was that of a person that went swimming in their clothes. Thoroughly soaked to the skin (yes, this includes underwear) hop in the truck and watch the exit signs for evidence of a place where I can get the spare tire replaced. I refuse to drive more than ten feet without a good spare. Why? Well, look at what just happened. And these trailer tires are new...just put on at inspection last year, about 10 months ago.
I hopped off I-80 at the next exit. Intending to ask for a local mechanic, right there in front of me was a repair shop with a sign that said, "Used Tires For Sale." What they should have had on the sign was, "Sit a spell and wait while we tell you our life story about Bubba and his new adulteress wife."
(chuckle)
I didn't even have to apologize for my appearance (or my odor) after sweltering an hour in the hot sun because Bubba's brother looked [and smelled] worse than me. I must have appeared as a sweet smelling angel when I walked into the dim dingy garage looking for some assistance. Spare tire installed, costing me a mere $10 plus ear time, I hop on out back onto I-80 to continue my trip. I lost an hour and a half but figured I'd still get to the base camp around 6ish. Not too bad, considering.
I stopped and filled my tanks again (ouch, again) and let Max out to do his business. Bee-Bee and Flame were still playing the "Who can eat the most, the fastest, off this bale of hay hanging here" game, so I wasn't worried out their vet in. I offered them water, which they guzzled with the same gusto as they had playing the hay game.
Everyone comfortably set, I roll on into base camp at 5:50 PM. I was stopped by three people on my way down the dirt drive into the camping area who asked if I was Dodie because someone was looking for me.
I'm glad Connie wasn't here, she gets her panties in a twist when people ask, "Are you Dodie Sable?"
Everyone was heading up to the camp house (for dinner was my assumption) and I told the third person that stopped me to save me some food. She grinned but made no promises.
(drat)
This person did, however, know where the party searching for me was parked and gave me directions to her location. I drive on down there and since I didn't see the campground person with whom I had reserved my spot, I wasn't sure where I was supposed to park. I asked Jen if I could park beside her and she said, "No, this place is reserved."
Now, I want you to know, Jen did this with a completely serous tone in her voice and a sad look on her face. I was caught.
"Damn." I groaned. "Where should I park, do ya think."
She pointed beside her and grinned.
I flipped her the bird.
I swiftly backed into the spot right beside her and shut Waltzing Matilda down so I could get the horses out and make supper before it was all eaten. Jen said we could check in on the way up to the dinner. Bee-Bee and Flame backed right off like they hadn't been in the trailer for 7 hours. What good mares. With record time, I set up their water and threw them a flake of hay and we made out way to the dinner. Jen said that they told her to take the path through the woods.
We made our own path.
Dinner was great. I was hungry, it could have really been terrible and I wouldn't have known the difference.
Dr. Art said they'd vet me in after the awards. Since I still had some unpacking to do, I left the dinner as soon as my tummy swelled up in happiness. I saw several people I know, including Sallie!!! (Hey, Sallie - you should turn up your hearing aid, I hollered to you three times before I gave up.) I talked to Cate, who was riding one of Wendy's horses in the 50 on Sunday. Most the riders on Sunday already rode on Saturday and there were only 5 of us that were new to the trail on Sunday so the ride management said they'd have a briefing after the awards down at the white canopy.
Good deal. Check in and ride briefing later.
I go back down tot he trailer and Bryna volunteers to groom Bee-Bee and Flame (yea!). I get the rest of my stuff set up. Jen keeps asking me where to put the canopy and I keep answering the same, "Wait until after the ride briefing so we know where the vet hold is...."
We sit, we talk and I hear a bunch of whistling and hollering from up the direction of the dinner cabin.
Get ready, girls!. Awards are being handed out and we're gonna have to be quick about getting checked in as it's starting to get dark. I haven't checked in yet, so when I see the trucks driving down the hill, I ask Jen to bring up Flame while Bryna brings up Bee-Bee and I'll mosey on over to Helen's camp to get checked in. Everything is on her table, but no Helen.
I walk over to Dr. Art (who is checking Bee-Bee) and tell him I don't have a card yet. He looks perplexed, but rolls with it and pulls a scrap of paper out of his pocket to write down Flame's vet in scores.
I cruise through camp, looking for Sallie (who wants me to sign her book) and for Helen. I don't see either one. I remember that Sallie bought a new rig last year (truck AND trailer) but for the life of me I can't remember anything more about it than the truck was white. Nothing is striking me as her camp and I see four bay Ay-Rabs that could possibly be Kirby and about 20 grey Ay-Rabs that could be Sara. I don't know which horse she brought. Dammit. I hate when I can't remember anything.
Ah - I see Helen walking her horse and all thoughts of finding Sallie fly out of my head. I go over and introduce myself (chuckle) and she she smiles as she says, "I know who you are." She tells me to head over to her trailer and she'll get me checked in.
Vet card in hand, I make my way back to the vet-in area and give it to Dr. Art. He fills it out with Flame's info and I'm ready for tomorrow.
Bryna is very excited to be riding on Bee-Bee and has duded her up with fancy braids and then tell me she'll be wearing hot pink for tomorrow's ride (oh, boy).
Ride briefing. (groan) Not the best briefing I've ever attended, but then there are only 5 of us there and I'm sure the woman briefing us is tired after the Saturday ride and all the hoopla that goes along with it. I dragged most the info out of her with my million and one questions. And believe you me, I don't ask stupid questions. After she gave a three minute spiel, I ask the mileage on each loop. 12 first loop, 13 second loop. I ask her for any "tricky spots". On the second loop, if you hit the bridge, you've gone too far. Blue loops off the the right before the bridge, green continues over the bridge and turns 1/8 mile after it. Water on trail? Lots of water, they just had a rain storm the day before that dumped 3-4 inches of rain and everything is water bogged. What time for the 25's out? 7:00 AM. How long for the hold? 30 minutes. Vet parameters? 64 first hold, 60 for finish.
Now, I asked all these questions. Don't you think she should have volunteered this info during her ride spiel?
(sigh)
It's all good.
This is a true statement. As I was turning to leave, Jen showed up.
(chuckle)
I explained she missed the briefing, but I'd fill her in. I stayed to chat with a couple people I knew that were doing their very first 50 mile ride on Sunday. They were too excited (and nervous.)
I don't know if they completed. Although I had promised to wait around, when you read about the ride, you'll understand why I left.
Now that I know WHERE the vet hold is, we set up Jen's canopy. After we get that done, I go to settle the horses for the night and Darlene comes over and talks to me. She rode today (Saturday) and told me the trails were a nightmare. First loop is knee high mud, ankle breaking rocks and I should just take my time and do a 2 1/2 hour loop. She said that on the first loop yesterday, 7 horses were pulled for metobolics because there isn't enough water out there and they were working so hard through the mud. (Wait, didn't the ride briefing lady tell us there was plenty of water out there?)
She also said due to all the rain they had the day before, the trail was slicker than snot on a doorknob and we should take it easy so we didn't pull a tendon.
Then she told me that it was supposed to rain tonight and tomorrow so the trails were going to be even worse.
(sob)
Now I'm sad. I missed Genesee due to my back and I was really hoping for a most excellent ride.
Well, that's what endurance is all about...enduring.
I drank a beer, sat around and talked with Jen and Michelle until dark. When I heard pitter-patter of rain on the canopy, I took that as my cue to go to bed.
Max was great. Never left my feet and didn't wander around getting into trouble. He certainly got spoiled by all the ladies hugging him and telling him how cute he was. He ate all that attention up and looked for more. The highlight of my evening was when he wandered over to a group of people and I heard on of them say, "Oh, what a cute little Pit puppy." (chuckle) NOT!
OBX Hound! Just because a dog is brindle colored, do not assume that makes him a Pit Bull. Several dogs comes in brindle besides Pit Bulls. Boxers, Great Danes, Coon Hounds, OBX Hounds! Trust me on this one...you can look it up on the AKC Dog Glossery.
Okay - I put Max to bed and I hop into bed. I read for about three minutes before my eyes got too heavy and the rain was making that loud music on the tin roof of my cap as I drifted off.
Alarm was set for 4:00 AM. I woke up at 2:30 AM due to a very loud T-storm booming over our area. Rain was coming down so hard that I was deafened by the sound of it on that tin roof. I tuned it out and drifted back off to sleep until the alarm went off.
4:00 AM. YEA!
I wake up, put max out to go potty. Throw the mares some food and check that they didn't get struck by lightning. No obvious burns on their backs. It's not raining right now but the air is heavy and it's humid already at 4:00 AM.
Buck runs through camp playing, "Wake Up You Lazy Endurance Rider's" music from his new Dodge truck. Jen gets up and lo-and-behold...Miss "I Never Get Up To See My Mom Off In The Morning" Bryna is up, too! I truly expected we'd have to physically pick her up and toss her out of the camper. She always sleeps through the start of the rides.
We get some coffee and chocolate donuts and sit around waiting to get started.
I'm very happy this morning. It's warm so if it does rain, I'm not going to worry about it. I did conceded to the pending rain by putting on a sports bra. I figured that a wet T-shirt contest was not going to won by a "mature re: experienced" person like myself. So braless was out for today's ride.
50 milers left and Flame is dancing at the end of her lead rope. "Me, too - Me, too" her body language shouts.
Oh brother.
Bee-Bee is crunching her hay and looking at Flame like, "You idiot, you need a dumb rider to go out and compete. Chill out."
Bryna gets Bee-Bee all decked out in her hot pink (cute!) and I get Flame dressed. Now she's really ready. Dancing back and forth on her lead rope, popping up her front end.
I am trying to figure out how to get her to chill out about this stuff. She's not crazy on the trail, just getting started in the morning. If anyone has suggestions, bring 'em on! I need all the ideas I can get.
I ask Michelle to help me out a little since I don't have a crew person along. I know she's not here to crew, but if she could just hold onto Flame while I mount at the one minute to start, I'd be much obliged.
Bryna gets up on Bee-Bee and we start our 15 walking to warm up. I walk Flame from the ground while Bryna does circles around us on Bee-Bee. I can see that Bee-Bee is as eager to start this ride as she was last year on the rides so I know she's happy. I truthfully can't tell you what Jen and Luke were doing because I was concentrating on not getting mowed down by Flame.
Two minute to trail time.
Oh, Michelle??? It's time.
I watch my clock and at one minute, I get on.
Hold...
Hold...
Hold...
Trail open.
Let her go.
Bam - and we're off.
Red and white ribbons out. Jen? You listening?
Oh dear, Bryna got out front of me and the little bay horse I was trying to stay behind so Flame didn't fall on the slick grass beading down the hill to the trail head.Bee-Bee is off like race horse.
"Bryna, come back - get behind me." I holler.
"Bryna, pull her up and come back here." Jen hollers.
Flame is bucking like crazy while I try to keep her from running over Bee-Bee. Bryna is either having no luck in reaining in Bee-Bee or she didn't hear either one of us becuase they're bookin' it.
Bryna blows right past the first turn.
"COME BACK HERE NOW!" I yell. "We have to go back, we missed the turn."
I pull Flame to a stop and her front end pops up in a perfect Hi-Ho Silver impression.
(whee)
We track back to the turn and Mary Coleman is right in front of us. I beg her to let us pass because I don't want to run her and Hawk over.
She lets us on by and I turn Flame loose.
Bam - we're off again and it's a single track trail so Bee-Bee has to stay behind us.
We're cruising. We catch up to the little bay horse and pass her by. The nice person riding her tells us to expect bad trail about a mile ahead. She rode yesterday and knew what the deal was.
"THANKS!"
Personally, we rode that whole first loop without finding the treacherous leg breaking trail that everyone was talking about. I thought the trail was great. Especially since I was out front and wasn't getting the mud slung all over me like Jen and Bryna.
About 2 miles into the ride, the sky opens up on us. It's a nice warm rain and I don't care, it will keep the horses cool while we work.
About 8 miles into the ride, Bryna (who is right on my tail) says, "Dodie, you lost a shoe."
WHAT?!?!?!?!?
I look down and sure as shit, Flame threw her left front shoe. Same one she's been throwing at every ride. I don't know what to do anymore. I had the farrier out this week to tighten clinches and make sure she was okay and he said all was well.
(sigh)
We have about 4 miles to go ... I guess we slow it up.
(damn)
On the soft squooshy parts, we boogied. On the hard rocky parts, we walked.
We are losing time (man oh man) and that bums me as we're running out front and Flame is doing exceptional.
We get into the hold 20 minutes before any of the other riders. Wow. Even with losing the time, we're still doing great.
Now, let me explain. An LD (25 and 30 mile rides) is not a race, it's is meant to be for training your horse how to work the trail safely and sanely, training your horse how to pace theirself and to get conditioned for moving up to 50's. Yes, I am aware of all this. There is only one rule of thumb for moving a horse up. Increase the mileage *or* increase the speed. Never do both. SO! If Flame is going to work at speed and finishes these LD rides with lots of horse left in her, then I'm going to continue to let her work fast on the LD's so when I move up to the 50's she's still cranking and I can show these Ay-rabs that Walkers can be top ten, too!
Plus! I don't have the power to hold her back. All I can do is let her figure it out on her own and she is. She is working much smarter on the trail now then she was when she started last year. She has figured out that crossing water means drink. When we see a green meadow, drop and eat. She's doing all this very well without any argument, and then cranks along at 10 mph. I love it.
Okay - I digress.
I run to find a farrier and ask Michelle (once again, she's not there as crew and I am certainly taking advantage of her friendship with Jen.) if she will hold Flame at the farrier while I run and get him money and pee quick.
She agrees with a smile. Whet a very nice person!
Farrier says he isn't guaranteeing the shoe to stay on as Flame lost a big chunk of hoof wall on the inside of the foot.
(groan)
She trots out fine and we are passed to go on.
Bee-Bee and Luke are also fine. Our pulses were all in the upper 40's, low 50's - they aren't working hard at all. Of course, slowing up the last 4 miles probably had something to do with that.
We're out on the second loop and holy pa-moley. What a great loop. Mostly dirt road and double track paths. We cantered almost the entire ride. At the top of the one long pull we did, there was great grazing, so we stopped for about 10 minutes to let them eat. All three horses gorged themselves on the bright green grass. They didn't lift their heads for one minute, just ate and ate and ate.
We did lose about 10 minutes when we arrived at a bridge and I remembered what the ride lady told us about turning right before the bridge. Little did I realize that this was the END of the ride. There was a blue ribbon at the bridge before we crossed, but we could not see a confidence marker after the bridge. We back tracked and looked and looked. Finally, we crossed over the bridge and went up the road a bit until we saw the path we took off the dirt road when we started. At that point we realized we were only about 2 miles from finish.
We were only out an hour.
WOW!
We continued up the dirt road until we saw a pie plate telling us blue in, I mile and we backed off to a walk. I looked at my watch and couldn't believe we just did 12 of the 13 miles in an hour, less that that really, if you take into account that we stopped to eat and we poked around looking for a trail that didn't exist.
WOW!
I looked at the heart monitor and Flame was at 70 HR.
WOW!
Jen wanted to keep trotting, I said we should walk. We were in no hurry and we don't finish until our heart rate is at 60.
Okay.
I should listen to Jen next time because about the time I said walk, here comes Mary Coleman and she blew on past us.
(sob)
Well - I was almost first to finish.
(grin)
We pulsed right in when we crossed the finish line. All three of us in the 40's.
Ride over.
I am tired of being wet.
I spend about 20 minutes cleaning the mud off of Flame. Jen comes over to clean Bee-Bee and I swiftly send her away to get Bryna. If Bryna is going to ride Bee-Bee, then she's going to care for Bee-Bee. That's the rules. It is about the horse, not about you ... get your rain soaked lazy ass out of the camper and clean this horse.
She did.
I have to tell you. I was very impressed with Bryna on her first ever endurance ride. She smiled the entire ride. Several times, as we booked it hard she laughed out loud. She giggled a lot. And never one time, not one time, did she complain about anything...not even about getting soaked in the rain.
I am very VERY impressed.
And Bryna rode Bee-Bee very well. Bee-Bee was definitely happy on the ride. I let Bryna out front a couple times (on trail that I could see in case she missed a marker) and Bee-Bee got into her high gear and moved along. Ears up, eyes forward, she was loving this trail carrying three pounds. She probably was in heaven after a full season of 50's carrying my fat ass around.
So, I quickly pack up all the wet stuff and am ready to go home. Jen made me a sandwich (which was very tasty, even if it didn't have mustard on it). I ate, changed my clothes into dry ones, jumped in the truck and saw more shades of OD.
MUD.
I gotta get out of this field and I'm down hill from the driveway.
We're muddin' it. Waltzing Matilda is straining and sliding. Mud is slinging up on the windshield and I see smoke from the back tires.
I stop, reverse and back down the hill to start over.
Walking back from the vet check, I remember squishing in the mud ... but I also remember that when we walked back from the timer, the ground was very solid. So, I pointed Waltzing Matilda up to the right, away from the driveway, and tried again.
She walked right on up the hill.
Okay, I'm on level ground now, but still have to pass through that little boggy area to get to the driveway.
Hold on mares....
I put her in low 4 wheel and she waltzes right on out of there. Four people standing at the vet tent all give me the thumbs up sign.
(whew)
I'm on the driveway so reach down to take her out of low 4 wheel. I look at the dash to be sure she disengaged and noticed my ABS light and the BRAKE light are lit up.
Huh?
I stop, push in the clutch and she dies.
Huh?
Since I'm already stalled, I turn off the key, pull up on the E-brake and release it then restart her. She fires right up, but those two lights are still it.
Hmmmmm.
I have no cell phone service so I can't call Marc and get his opinion on the matter. I know I have some serious descents to do so I test out my brakes and they're working fine. I get out and check lines under the truck, nothing is leaking.
(shrug)
We're off. I notice that my speedometer isn't working. What the???
I stop for gas before hitting SR36 and when I push in the clutch to stop, she dies.
Damn, she never does that.
I fire her back up after filling up and those lights are still lit up and the speedometer is still not working. All the other gauges are working just fine.
Man, Matilda, what are you trying to tell me?
We're in some driving rain and I'm a little leary about my brakes working as I do these descents on SR36. I have my fingers and toes crossed. So far,t he brakes seems to be working fine. I turn up the trailer brakes, just in case.
I get signal and call Marc. I give him all her symptoms and he's duped. I told him about muddin' it to get out and ask if that could have had something to do with it? He said I could have possibly knocked a sensor or ground or something, but he really has no idea. Very unusual for Marc to get stumped, he's like the auto-wizard of the world.
Okay - we're traveling in some really bad rain. I can't see but three feet in front of me and I can't see cars coming at me until they're almost on top of me.
Didn't I drive home like this from OD? What is this? Someone testing me, or punishing me?
I get out on I-80 and hope that I can drive ahead of this storm now that I can move. Since I don't have a speedometer, meaning I don't have cruise control, I set the pace on 2200 rpms. I know this is right about 65 mph. Within about 30 miles, the sky starts to lighten and the rain is less heavy. Another 20 miles and we're on dry pavement. Another 15 miles and the speedometer starts working.
Hmmmm.
I set the cruise control at 65 and we're humming along.
When I stop for gas again, Matilda doesn't stall out. When I start her back up, the lights are out.
Double hmmmmm.
We're cruising along and the sky is getting dark as I near Hazelton. I get on the other side of Hazelton and I can't see a damn thing. I get onto the Turnpike and I drove right into black clouds (no kidding! The clouds were sitting on the highway as I climbed up the mountain on the Turnpike) and it was as dark as night at 5:00 PM. Traffic slowed to 5 mph as the rain drove down on us so hard that the wipers could NOT keep it off. I was waiting to crawl up on a wreck of someone who stopped and got rear ended by someone who couldn't see. Cars were off the shoulder every where. It was lightning and thundering like the end of the world was near.
I was only about ten feet from the car in front of me but I could not see their lights. I was creeping along when the most amazing thing happened. Lightning struck a car up ahead and balls of blue light started dancing over all the cars in front of me, lighting them up like Christmas trees. Everyone came to a complete stop as the lightning struck around us over and over and over. Rain was driving down so hard I thought the windshield would crack. The wind was blowing so hard that Waltzing Matilda was rocking like a ship on a stormy sea. Max started howling over and over (I guess that was the hound in him, Aroo Aroo)
I have never seen anything so wicked, so raw, so exciting in my life. I was awed by the raw power of mother nature. (I read on the news channel this morning that four people were killed on the TP in an accident during this storm. It must have happened behind me.) We sat there at a complete stop on the TP for over 15 minutes while the storm did her best to shake us loose from the pavement. As the started to let up, the cars in front of me started moving. By the time I reached the Lehigh Valley exit, we had nothing but a light drizzle.
Amazing. I will never forget that light show. I have never seen anything so totally remarkable. WOW!
Okay - now we get ready for Ride Between The Rivers. Stay tuned!
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