Club Stuff

Musings from Karin   

The Gold Country ride has come and gone and what a success this year’s ride was. We knew it was one of the best rides and finally, endurance riders are taking notice and showing that they too, appreciate a well organized ride that puts horse and rider first.

This ride would not be possible without the efforts and leadership of Cherryl Holbrook. This ride, even at our low rider numbers, was a massive effort to put on due to the permits required from forestry, the private property issues that seem to pop up each year and all the other issues that an endurance ride is required to cope with year after year. Cherryl lives in Grass Valley and the trip to Dru Barner is at least an hour and half drive for her. This drive was made numerous times. 

Now that I am living up in the Garden Valley area, I was able help mark the trail. Of course, this required that I pre-ride with Cherryl about 3 times to make sure I wasn’t placing riders in a hidden pot field or back up on Bald Mountain. Yes, I am geographically challenged, but still continue to ride like I actually have a clue where I am. Judy Carnazzo and Marissa Dardi were my trail mates in the marking endeavor. Diane Dixon-Johnson and Cherryl marked the other half of the first loop, while Stuart Porter and others marked the ride and tie and last loop of the 50’s.

It was particularly courageous of Marissa to ride with me, since she was my marking partner a few years ago, and I got us both lost. I think we actually came up with a new trail. 

In addition to Cherryl, the huge volunteer effort of the club shines at this event. Usually, it’s a full day’s commitment and sometimes two days. I know, at the Darling Ridge vet check the same group of people keep showing up to work and I am so grateful to all of them.

Yes, the ride was a huge success because of all of you. Thanks and keep up the good work.

Best of luck to our Tevis riders on July 23rd. Hopefully, because of the extreme heat this week, the Tevis weekend will be cool? 

See you soon, 

Karin Occhialini

Club Dues:

• Dues for 2005:  Single = $15   Family = $25
• Jon Saunders will collect at the meeting, 
  or they can be mailed to the club PO box: 
  P.O. Box 3412
  Auburn, CA 95604.  

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Gold Country Ride

Ride Management
Cherryl Holbrook

I just wanted to thank all of you s-o-o-o much for all your help at the ride this year. It was amazing how we were able to band together and accommodate so many riders. One week before ride day, we had a full ride of 140 riders and almost 50 people on the waiting list. As it turned out, we started 92 50s, 36 30s, and 11 ride and tie teams. 

• The parking team (Bill Johnson, Diane Dixon Johnson, Judy Carnazzo, and Pete Occhialini) did a beyond perfect job. There were endless comments about how great they all were. 
• The vet stops, headed by Karin Occhialini and Donna Williams were all wonderful. I had so many comments from everyone about how they were treated like queens and kings. 
• The vet secretaries, timers, and P & R people worked all day (with no breaks), and the barbeque (headed by Art Spackman) was to die for. 
• SOS and the radio club were there in all the locations (I don't know how rides do it without radio contact). They saved us when an injured horse had to be walked out, met by management, and trailered back to camp. It was only thru radio contact that we knew where the horse was and how to reach it. 
• Thank you to the water crew (Martin Macken, Stuart Porter, and Jim Holbrook). 
• And a HUGE thank you to our ride secretary, Randy Hackbarth who had to deal with all the phone calls and our waiting list. We had riders calling at all hours trying to get into the ride. As it was, there were at least 30 riders who wanted to ride, but couldn't.

We had a tree fall during the ride and had to hike out to saw a way around it. Besides that and the injured horse, the ride went smoothly. 

So, I just wanted to thank all of you. I have always said, I will keep doing this if you all keep wanting to help. I think our ride has finally received the reputation and recognition it deserves. Hopefully, next year, people will sign up early and we can avoid this last minute frenzy. I will sanction the ride next year for July 8th (one month before Tevis) so, we will probably have another full ride. Jon Saunders says we need to start spending our money. Bring ideas to the next meeting for organizations you would like to donate to.

Thanks again for a job, beyond well, done!!

Cherryl

> Jon Saunders says we need to start spending our money. 
> Bring ideas to the next meeting...

A new digital scale to weigh the top ten riders.

Becky Santucci

Darling Ridge Vet Check
Karin Occhialini

Thank you Mike and Kristy Hartman, Chuck and Nanci Gabri, Jim Holbrook, Bill and Diana Pryor, Bill and Diane Dixon-Johnson, Koy Webdell, Judy Carnazzo, Cindy Tough and her son Michael, and last but not least, Pete Occhialini!

As usual, our vet check was amazing, incredible and efficient. We had many great comments about our stop and how much the riders enjoyed being with us.

Next year, I will actually try to be there. As you know hauling two horses out turned into a "rescue mission" for another horse and as a result, I arrived just in time to clean up and close the stop. Of course the transporting of the injured horse was the priority and because you have been there year after year supporting this event, everyone did their task and every horse and rider was taken care of and sent down the trail.

We obviously have some changes to make and any suggestions from you will be greatly appreciated. We are going to try one of three things; 

1. another vet
2. use the ride and tie vet until 9am
3. start the 30 milers an hour later than the 50's

Any one of these will help with the congestion and long lines at the stop. I think we handled the large number of riders beautifully, but with the 30 milers and the 50 milers starting close together, it does create a time of congestion. We will also move the P and R area up and the vet area up a bit farther on the road. We also need to come up with an area to turn the rig(s) around that are hauling out horses.

I will also have more clocks at the stop. One would be reading real time, one clock for the out time, a clock for each nationality that is riding i.e., the Japanese rider would know what time he would be leaving the ride in his native time zone, a clock for each time zone in the U.S. and a clock for Greenwich time. Our vet check will look like a scene from "Alice in Wonderland."

The only positive about the clocks is that Pete and NOT I took much of the flack for this idea. See, there are benefits from not being at the stop.

I think the food and drinks were fine and I will still get a little more of each next year.

I hope you all will want to participate again. It would never be the same without any of you.

Thanks again.

Karin and Pete

Thank you to Bill Johnson and my neighbor, Miki Cohen for going back to camp to get rigs to haul out horses. Welcome back to endurance, Miki!

Georgetown Airport Vet Check
Donna Williams

Our Vet stop at the Georgetown Airport, was lots of fun, with good munchies, fun riders, no big problems with the horses that were pulled, and good team work all the way around. Fortunately, the horses and riders came in staggered groups. We did have a little rattlesnake in the men's restroom. My husband, Ken, very humanely relocated him away from our Vet stop. Dale and Deena Lake, Dominic, Kelly, Rho, Jo Ann, Ken, Jon and Carol, made our vet stop a fun way to volunteer for G.C.E.R.

Thank you each, 

Donna W.

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Stories

Starting the Career of an Endurance Horse
Jon Saunders

After months of walking and trotting to gain condition, we headed off to do our first limited distance ride.  It was the NEDA ride, put on by Cliff Lewis and based at the Pit Stop Bar west of Silver Springs, Nevada.

For a first ride, it seemed ideal.  Plenty of desert if the boy got excited, nothing to fall off and not much to run into, either.  Actually, the trail was pretty good.  Not too many rocks, gentle grades, good marking and on the long loop, water tubs.

As this was the first time that Rocky was starting an "endurance" ride, we planned to get to the start line about five minutes late.  No problem, the plan worked.  Rocky paid no attention to any other horse all day, even when we caught up and passed some.  He acted like he had been doing this all his life. It was a very uneventful ride, just cruise.  We finished at 11:30, so it was four hours ride time and an hour hold at lunch.

This went so well, I thought that we had it made.  Do the Gold Country 30, and then on to Bridgeport for our first 50.  Not so, disaster struck.  Rocky fell off the Tevis trail on the third of July and is out for a month with a badly cut hock.  He just missed mashing me as I lay on the trail - he saw me and changed the direction of his lunge to get back on the trail.  When he did that, he lost it and rolled twice down the slope and then fell off a 6-8 foot drop to a creek bed.  I thought he was a goner, but he just got up and came up the other side of the draw and walked toward Auburn.  I had to scramble to catch him, but did.

There were a couple of riders that were close behind me when we went off, and they stayed with me as we walked in.  When we got to the staging area in Auburn, he was limping (and bleeding) and they had bandages, gauze and vet-wrap.  A lady was loading up to leave and when I asked for a ride and explained why, she said "Sure, I'll take you to Cool. Where's Cool?"  She is from Simi Valley - that's southern cal - and was up here training for the Tevis.  Guess what goes around comes around, I have helped others and she said that others have helped her and it's her turn.

Jon Saunders

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Mudslim Jim and the 50 Miler
Cathy Rohm-Richardson

[Photos: LCT, from last year's non-mud'n'rain ride]

Never let it be said that endurance riders endure more than great distances on our trusty steeds. June 18th's Cooley Ranch Ride saw rain and mud and rain and more mud. And, did I mention the mud? It was EVERYWHERE! This made riding a bit testy, but not as testy as parking the rigs. Ron and Ruthie Waltenspiel put on a superb ride, despite the not so favorable weather conditions. Ron and his tractor literally hauled various non-4-wheel-drive rigs to and from their camp spots.

Uncooperative weather notwithstanding, Cooley Ranch was one of the most spectacular ride's I've ever done. The ranch is situated above Lake Sonoma, and on several occasions on the ride, you can see said lake. The ride takes you up several very decent climbs (Tevis training anyone?), many of which culminate on ridges from which you can see for miles in all directions. At one point, we actually saw the sun, and Potato and I just happened to be on top of one of the highest ridges. We had, indeed, ridden above the clouds. You had to be there!

The well-marked trail took us for two miles through and across a dazzling stream. Bill Gore got some Really Good Shots of horses splashing through the stream, flanked by wonderful oaks, alders, pine trees and redwoods. We front riders were treated to the sight of a very large wild boar crossing the road. This was something new to my mare and Potato's horse, as you can imagine. The pig wasn't the only wildlife - we saw approximately a dozen deer, and many, many steers. After the pig, the steers and deer didn't even garner an ear twitch from the horses.

It's almost impossible to fathom riding 50 miles anywhere in California and seeing no one but other riders. The only structures were occasional low buildings for the cattle and one house. It was almost surreal, and I got the distinct feeling that I was riding back in time.

Before I knew it, the finish line was at hand. By some miracle and through no fault of my own, my SMR Fifi d'Or (Cougars Gold x Jeunefille de Cailana) were first across the line with Potato and Tychos Comet (Hired Gun x Ellipse) hot on our heels. Tycho, however, didn't see the need to actually cross the line and had to be lead over. His owner, Chuck Centers, our intrepid crew, met us with cold Coronas with lime. Life just doesn't get any better!


Put this ride on next year's calendar. It's well worth it, even when Mudslide Slim is in attendance. Thanks again to Ruthie and Ron and Jamie Kerr, who vetted for us even though he was simply a "spectator."

Cathy Rohm-Richardson

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Loney Meadows
Betsy Wobus

Ok, Adella Albiani, our resident wild-flower expert, was off work and available to ride on Friday, 7/1, and Vicki said she'd go along and help us find the trail if there was snow--so I went up and scoped out the parking areas earlier in the week: they were all clear and rock solid. The wildflowers should be spectacular!

I loaded Timi and went down to pick Adella and Fancy up at Hwy 20 and Wild Turkey so we could be up at Loney Meadow to meet Vicki at 9AM. Vicki was riding Dan, her old guy who just knows forward and will go through anything. She would pony Kate, her young mare, and free-pony Amber, another mare who likes to eat too much. Kate is dominant, and what I soon learned is that Dan is scared sh----ss of her.

Now I've ridden with Vicki a lot since Mary Anne moved, and I've learned that unless there's an up-coming ride that a horse needs to be conditioned for or she's riding a client's horse with a lot of "go" and shoes, her rides are methodical and based mostly on the footing, as all of her horses are barefoot. So walking is the norm with trotting only when the footing allows it. (Last year, we did the Loney Meadow 'loop' in 4-5 hours, walking ~75% of the time.)

Well, this year would be different. Timi was happy to follow behind or pass and trot ahead when we started up the road to Carr-Feeley lakes. Fancy stayed behind, as with shoes and a penchant for kicking, it's always the safest place for her. Amber came last so she could stop periodically and nibble at the grass, and Dan did whatever he had to to make sure Kate stayed behind him. All was fine until we started finding snow along Feeley lake, which was a lot lower than we'd run into it last year.

Amber decided to team up with Kate and she told Timi in no uncertain terms that he had to stay behind her no matter what. At one point, this led to my almost tumbling over Timi's head because Amber stopped dead while we were still cantering! Timi and I did our best to keep Amber behind us: she didn't seem to be quite as bossy with Fancy.

We got past Island lake without too much trouble, but then the snow started making the trail hard to find. Dan just kept moving along through everything, much of the time at a canter in order to stay ahead of Kate. Timi and Fancy of course were cantering just to keep up--along rocky trails, through snow banks several feet deep as well as on good forest footing. We were all blazing new trails to by-pass snow or downed trees, and at least twice, even Vicki and Dan couldn't find the real trail. But find it we did and kept going on our way.

Somewhere after the sign to Glacier lake (where we had the most difficulty finding our trail), we started seeing backpackers coming the other direction. Interestingly, none of the horses gave them any pause--except Amber, who always stopped to ask if they had any food she could possibly have. Soon, we passed the sign to Sawmill lake, and we knew we would make it all the way around as we were out of the snow. Our wildflower viewing was pretty much limited to phlox, a few lupine, the odd yellow flowers (one of which we looked up and found to be pericone), pom-poms and along the last part of the forest trail, some brilliant snow flowers!

Map from http://www.fs.fed.us/r5/tahoe/documents/rec/grousemap.pdf
Grouse Lakes Area, Nevada City Ranger District, Tahoe National Forest

As always, Vicki had watched for tracks the entire time: we were the first horses to do the trail from Carr to around Lower Rock lakes. Other horses had come up from Loney Meadow, but hadn't gotten even as far as Lower Rock lake. And, to make it an even more significant ride, we finished the loop in just over 3 hours, in spite of the snow and difficulty following the trail!

Maybe next month Adella and I--and Vicki with a different combination of horses--can go back and really see the wild-flowers. And by August, the Castle Peak area ought to be in bloom, too.

Happy trails!

Betsy Wobus

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GCER Ride
Betsy Wobus

Timi and I did our first 50-mile endurance ride at the club's ride on Sat., July 9! We started out strong, but not fighting each other, and after about 6-7 miles, met up with Bill Coburn and Trysten, friends of 2 of my best riding buddies from the Bay Area. Bill and Trysten completed Tevis last year; I actually met him at the Camp Far West ride last Sept. We rode together into the first vet check, Timi working his "little" heart out to keep up with Trysten's ~12mph trot. He pulsed down in <2 minutes and passed the vet check with a C on gut sounds. He doesn't like to eat when he's away from home, something we'll have to work on. It was such fun have Chuck Gabri do our first P&R, since I'm used to doing his at the Quarry and on the Oroville ride! 

The next segment back to camp was also fast: we got in at 10:37AM, which meant a riding time of under 4 hours (I spent almost an hour at the first vet check trying to get Timi to eat). Again, he was good except for his C on gut sounds, so we hung out for about 1 1/2 hours picking at hay and bran mash.

After lunch, we went out by ourselves, but he proceeded quite nicely and we caught up with Bill, Robin Everett and another lady, whose name escapes me, riding a mare. Timi liked the wet hay at Stuart's water stop, but still didn't eat much. When we got to the airport--what a beautiful site!--we were greeted by many friends along with good food and drink for both of us. Timi still had C gut sounds, but he was eating hay and mash much more avidly.

Unfortunately, leaving this check by ourselves was a BIG mistake. He kept saying "Mom, can't we just get the trailer and go back that way?" After starting the long uphill, we were caught by Jazon Wonders and his riding partner, then Robin and friend came along, and finally we met up with Bill again. This time at Stuart's place, Timi stuck his nose in the tub of wet hay and didn't pull it out except when Stuart's young helper came over to spray me down with water--and Round-Up, I was jokingly informed! No weeds in my hair, as I even took my helmet off to enjoy the coolness!

The last 5 miles-or-so were fits and starts, with the mare starting the trotting, Timi catching up and pulling a little ahead, realizing he was in front and stopping, then the mare stopped, and Robin's gelding was just playing "follow the leader." We pulled in at 5:10PM and passed our final vet check with B gut sounds and even the rider "fit to continue."

It was a great ride, the weather was wonderful, and I can't thank all of you wonderful club people enough for making me feel like a real endurance rider and taking such awesome care of all the horses and riders. Forever after, I will be there working along with you, as now I've done my first 50 in 14 years!!! 

Betsy Wobus

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GCER Ride
Lucy Chaplin Trumbull

I was so excited by Zini completing her first 50 that I produced a humungously long epic write-up – which proved to be too long to put here. So I stuck it on its own web page. If you would like to read our tale in excruciating detail, please go to the following link:

Zini's Gold Country 50 

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Ride & Tie Is Going to Be Fun, Right?...
(Part 5)
Lucy Chaplin Trumbull

Seemingly, the only active thing I've managed to do in the R&T department recently is help prod Nick Warhol into trying his first event (at least I'd like to hope that my prodding made a difference). What follows is Nick's account, followed by (with no collaboration - I made sure there was no peeking) his partner Gary's explanation of their race.

• Version 1 - Nick Warhol
• Version 2 - Gary Fend

Gold Country Ride & Tie
Version 1
Nick Warhol

I’ve always suspected that Ride and Tie people were absolutely nuts, and as of Saturday, July 9th, 2005, at 1:09 pm, in beautiful Georgetown, California, my suspicions have been undeniably confirmed. I’ve seen these people at some endurance rides, running along on the trail, huffing and puffing, always running, but always moving down the trail. I’ve seen horses tied to trees on the trail, some standing quietly, while some are tearing the tree down and dragging it down the trail while they run away. Why would people choose to do this insanity, when they could be riding a nice horse instead? 

Because it’s actually pretty fun! Yes, I did a ride and tie. A twenty mile ride and tie, to boot. My new horse Don is on his routine for a ride every 4 weeks, and wouldn’t you know it, the Gold Country ride fell right smack at the two week point in Don’s schedule. I was thinking about finding a horse to ride, since the GC is a fabulous ride, when my buddy Gary Fend made an off hand comment about how we should try the ride and tie. We could use his horse, Canadian Annie, the Mack truck of half Arabians. After all, Gary was a real veteran of Ride and Tie competition, having done all of one event prior to this one. What the heck? Why not? How tough could it be? I am not really a recreational runner, but I do a lot of footwork and running in regular rides with my horse, I used to be an aerobic beast on my road bicycle, and I actually had been doing a lot of running with Don lately. Sounds like fun! 

The GC ride was huge this year- there were almost 140 horses in total, and the ride management dealt with something like 50 people on the waiting list. I was impressed at the really positive attitude and overall camaraderie of the ride and tie group. They were all so jazzed and excited about the event! When they found out it was my first time, they were all over me with helpful hints, offers to crew, suggestions, and were truly excited we were giving it a try. The event seemed like any other endurance ride I have ever been to, until Saturday morning. I got to sleep in while Judy prepared and left on the 50 at 6am. Big Yawn- I got to sleep in until 8 am! That’s a civilized time to get up, let me tell you. We attended a little riders meeting where Gary and I scoped out the competition. We were a little out of our element- some of these guys looked like marathoners. There were only 12 teams in total- 6 on the 20 mile and 6 on the 10 mile. They have neat teams in the sport- they have man/woman teams, woman/woman teams, and Gary and I were a man/man team. The other team concept I liked was the “Century in the saddle” team. Oh yeah, we win this one, hands down! Gary and I combined are well over a hundred years old, but I’ll never admit how much! 

The strangest thing I felt initially was walking from the truck to the start, wearing my riding gear and helmet, without a horse! I kept looking back like I forgot him! Very strange. Gary hopped up on the massive bay Annie and we headed to the start. The theory behind a ride in tie is pretty simple- 2 riders, one horse, no riding two-up, and the winning team is the one who gets all three heartbeats across the finish line first. I really had no idea what to expect, so I had Gary start, since he’s done it before. I have heard that the start at these events can be pretty berserk, but with only 6 teams at once, it was quite tame. The ride starts, and the riders take off down the road on the horses, while the six runners (myself included) take off running. Gary trots off, but the first couple of horses are running! And so are the runners! Look at these guys! Cripes- I’m in last already, and it’s been five hundred feet! Oh well, our goal is to survive and make it to the finish. I’m running along on a nice downhill, but I can still see two runners ahead of me. After only about a mile, there’s the first horse I see tied- it’s Annie! (Impossible to miss, since she’s so huge) I run up to her, untie her from the tree branch, and notice Gary about fifty yards ahead, jogging up a hill. I hop on, and after remembering I’m riding a fifty-five gallon oil drum, (she’s that wide), I start trotting- our first rider switch was a success! The next one I saw wasn’t. A few moments later I can see a woman taking the horse from her partner. The horse isn’t standing still, and wants to go after the other horses. (Sound familiar?) She gets a foot in the stirrups, tries to swing up, but the horse is leaving, and she’s not up. Uh oh, not good. She’s on the side of the horse, and he’s trotting. She falls off, but is hanging on and being dragged! He’s cantering now, and I’m watching this- it was like in the old westerns when the cowboy falls off and just gets hauled away by the horse. She FINALLY lets go and is rolling along in the dirt, getting totally scuffed in the process. OUCH! That had to hurt. I stop, but she’s up and heading down the road. Gary turns around and catches the running horse (!) and returns it to her, where she gets up and takes off. Wow! She never even lost a place. Tough rider! I trot on by Gary, thankful he and I are wearing our helmets. 

Now it’s my turn to pick a spot to tie- how far should I go? The road is hard, but wide and rolling, so I trot along and see a tied horse. Good! They tie, I tie. I hopped off and tied her to a tree and took off running down the trail, leaving her behind. Weird feeling! Very weird. I stopped and took a look back- she‘s standing there like a statue. Good horse! I ran down the road and made a right hand turn onto a pretty single track trail that was slightly downhill. Hey, this is neat! I blast along down the trail running kind of fast, and even passed a runner. Western States 100, here I come! (Oh yeah, right. Let’s see if it feels this good in a few hours!) I ran for quite a while, since we discovered that being endurance riders, we normally don’t trot fast down hills. That meant I was going faster down the hills on foot than Gary was on the horse! I doubted that this would be a 20 mile downhill trail, and guess what, I was right. The trail turned up, and as a result, my pace slowed. I was jogging up, though, and not walking, but Gary quickly caught me. We tried a rider pass off where he just stopped and gave me the horse. I took off, leaving him running behind me. It was very strange to get up and start trotting, and be completely out of breath. Here I am, trotting along, huffing and puffing. The horse must think I am nuts! But it works! After a couple of minutes I felt fine, and was enjoying trotting along on the big mare. Yikes! I better not forget to stop and leave the horse- poor Gary would be in for quite a stint if I rode off for 30 minutes! 

We continued on for a few miles, and actually looked like we knew what we were doing. We made many rider exchanges, and rode along with two other teams, mixing it up with the runners. I was on foot when we got to the water stop at 5 miles, and after grabbing a bottle of water, I just kept going. Weird again! I was getting a good workout heading up a pretty good hill, but after a few minutes, here comes the big Annie to the rescue. I could tell it was her by her very distinctive “clomping.” (She’s a little on the heavy side.) Gary goes by, but stops to tie under a tree a hundred yards ahead. Off he goes, I get to the horse and get stung twice by yellow jackets as I hop on. Great. I hate those guys. We passed the horse back and forth between us a few times until we came to the downhill section, where I ended up running all the way down, maybe 15 minutes, since I was going as fast as the horse. Somehow the crafty Gary planned the exchanges so that I had to cross the river on foot, getting my shoes soaked in the process. Now I’m in a squish and tie. Once across the water, I started up the long climb up to the vet check. It was about a mile and a half, but on foot it seemed like three. We had to walk up the steep grade, each of us taking a couple of turns on Annie. Boy, that’s a nice relief to see the horse in front of you. My lungs were going pretty hard when we finally reached the top- the slight uphill road to the airport seemed like a downhill after that steep climb. A quick change and we were at the vet check. Here’s where it gets strange. No hold! Once the horse is at pulse criteria, and passes the vet exam, off you go. But there is some strategy involved, and as Ride and Tie Pro Dennis Tracy had coached us, we did it like the Pros. We all arrived at the same time, so the smart thing to do is immediately send the strongest runner off on the trail again, right away, while the other rider takes the horse through the vet check. Once clear of the vet, the rider with the horse takes off in pursuit of the runner. Great Plan, except for a couple of factors. We hit the vet check; I grabbed a huge drink and just turned around and took off back down the trail. The pulse criteria was 60- pretty low for a R&T I guess. It took Gary about 15 minutes to get Annie down and through the vet check; he wanted her to have a little time to eat as well. And what of me? I’m running! Down, down, all the way back down the steep climb we had just come up. This trail was really steep, so Gary would be going down very slowly on the horse. I hit the streams at the bottom and sploosh across again, supercharging my shoes with water again. It’s been about 15 minutes. I head down the road along the stream and a decent trot-very pretty and shaded; I’m running, but I’m tired. Another 10 minutes and I clear the bottom of the canyon and start the climb back up. Where is Gary? I’m walking up the steeper hills, jogging the less steep, and trying to go a little faster on the flats and downhill’s. He has our water on the horse, and I’m thirsty. Run, Run, Run. More uphills. Walk, Walk, Walk. It’s been 30 minutes now. I’m still moving forward, but I’m ready to hear the giant clomp of Annie’s hoofs behind me. No clomping. Still uphill. I begin to wonder what would happen if Annie had bee pulled at the vet check? How would I know? At the finish, I guess. How far am I going to go? I decided that if I made it to the water stop before Gary caught me, I’d just lie down and die for a while until he showed up, or I’d get a ride back in a truck. Another five miles by myself? In the open sun on those uphill roads? I don’t think so! 

I went for a long time before I finally heard those wonderful hoofs come up behind me. It knew it was Gary, since we were the last of the 20 mile teams on the trail, and there were no 50 leaders yet. Gary thought I must have gotten lost, since it was taking him so long to catch me, due to the vet check, that slow downhill, and my unbelievable speed on foot! (right) I was pretty tired and gladly got up on Annie and let my partner hoof it. We trotted off up the hill- much better! Now’s my chance to go all the way to the finish- Nah, I couldn’t do that to poor Gary. We went back to our standard trading scheme of something like a half mile each, with enough time to let Annie get a rest while tied. Not too much further we got back to the water stop where I had the guy just douse me with water. I was scooping myself from head to toe. Five miles to go! Neither Gary nor I had a lot of motivation left, but we kept going, walking the uphills and jogging the rest. Gary came across Annie standing in the middle of the road with the tree I had tied her to attached to the end of her lead rope. Bad choice of tree to tie to! I t was more like a sapling. We trudged up the hills in the direct sun, each waiting for that wonderful horse to come up from behind. Some of the top 15 or so riders coming the other way on their second loop would offer me water. I must have looked pretty tired! We finally reached the little cutoff trail that did a little loop of a mile or so. I was still running, but slowly, and only on level and downhill. I realized at this point that my “forward” was leaving me. My gait was okay, but my impulsion was a C at best. I walked up the last hill and made it back to the main road- a mile to go. We traded about 4 times in that last mile, since neither of us had any real desire to be on foot much. At long last we arrived at the little hill that led right to the finish on top. Gary was on the horse, I was walking along beside them up the hill. We could see the finish in a couple hundred yards, when here comes my wife, Judy, riding with Lucy Trumbul Chapman [he tells me he does this to taunt me. LCT] and Merri Melde. They were heading out on their second loop. We figured they would cheer us on, and help celebrate, but all we got was “What? How come you aren’t running?” Groan! I was done, as was Gary. Lady was by far perkier than both of us combined. We actually ran across the finish line, and then stopped. Done. Finished. Completed. Thank goodness. 

Wow. What a workout. Annie got very good scores at the post ride check- she did great. The runners? I was happy to sit down. Had it been 5 miles more it would have been a little iffy, although we probably could have walked it. We did end up second in our class, (out of 2) and 6th overall (out of 6). I was pleased to hear we only finished a little over an hour slower than the winner, though. That really helped, although I’m not sure why it really mattered. We made it to the finish. 

What did I learn? I realized that this sport is not what I thought it was. It’s a running event where you use a horse a little to help you out, as opposed to a horse event where you do a little running. Being a good runner is everything. Considering neither Gary nor I did any training, I figure we did pretty well. And now that it’s over, it was fun. Will I do it again? I won’t be turning in my AERC card any time soon, but given the right event, and maybe a few miles shorter, who knows. The best summation of how Gary and I felt at the end was when the winner of the 50 caught us with a half mile to go. We got off the trail, (glad to stop for a moment), as she came swooping by. She said: “Wow, you Ride and Tie guys really are amazing, you are Supermen!” Gary’s reply was classic- he smiled, and said, “Thanks, but at the moment I don’t feel very super.” I could not have expressed it any better. But two hours, and some much needed food and drink later, we were feeling pretty darn good. 

Nick Warhol 
Hayward, Ca

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Gold Country Ride & Tie
Version 2
Gary Fend

The Ride and Tie National Championships were held at Euer Valley in Truckee in three of the last five years. While riding the 50 mile endurance rides there I thought it might be fun to give it a try some time. There were numerous reasons why I was reluctant to do so. I had not done any running since high school 30+ years ago, I did not have a partner, I was unsure if my horse would agree to being tied while other horses raced by, and the six to seven thousand foot elevation of Euer Valley scared me. I mentioned this to my daughter, Jamie, and she didn’t hesitate to volunteer to partner up so we were on for next year. Luckily, the Ride and Tie Championships the next year were in Mendocino—sea level. In addition, I got a new horse, Annie, who was steady as a rock and nothing seemed to faze her. She was just starting her endurance career and what could be better training than a short ride with numerous rest stops along the trail. I wasn’t going to let the fact that I was still out of shape stop us now. Jamie and I did the short (16 mile) course at Mendocino, we both had a great time, and Annie was fantastic.

A few months ago while sitting around drinking margaritas, I was telling Nick Warhol about my R & T experience and he confessed that he, too, had thought about giving it a try. We looked at the ride calendar and saw that the Gold Country Endurance Riders were including a R & T with their annual endurance ride so we penciled the date on our schedule. I have ridden the GC endurance ride many times and it is one of my favorites. We decided to ride Annie and enter the 20-mile distance instead of the shorter one for some reason that escapes me now. 

I was leaving the Bay Area a few hours before Nick and Judy so I agreed to save them a spot in camp. As I approached Dru Barner I found a line of rigs backed up half way to the Georgetown Divide. I figured it was a just bunch of people trying to locate the perfect camping spot so I proceeded to go around them and use one of the other entrances. I didn’t see the sign that said “valet parking” and although there weren’t many people in camp yet I was surprised to find so many prime spots still available. I unloaded Annie and was walking around camp when I ran into Cherryl, the ride manager, who informed me of my faux pas. She led me by my ear to the parking supervisors and after a brief flogging I was allowed to park where I had started to set up. The GCER volunteers are great! They were even parking rigs for people who were uncomfortable about maneuvering between the trees to optimize space. I was amazed at how they could back into places with two people giving them conflicting directions.

We all hit the sack unusually early considering the R&T ride meeting wasn’t until 8:30 the next morning. By 6:15 I could no longer sleep, had breakfast, and was roaming the near-empty ridecamp. I felt like I should go for a ride or something, I had so much time on my hands. In reality, I didn’t have as much time as I thought. For some reason I thought the ride started at 9:30 so I would have time to saddle up after the meeting. Turns out it started at 9:00 and I had to leave the meeting early to take care of it. At the meeting we were told we would have to do an exchange at the vet stop and were advised that the stronger runner should ride into the stop and let the better rider (notice I didn’t say “weak runner”) take care of the horse and vet in. We didn’t discuss the issue at the time but I assumed since Nick is younger and Annie is my horse, Nick would ride into the vet stop.

The start of the ride was humdrum by R & T standards. Maybe it was because there were only six teams but there was no whooping and hollering and hardly anybody fell off. I did catch a loose horse about a half mile from the start, but the dirt-covered rider quickly caught up and was on her way as if it happens all the time. After about a mile Nick and I settled into our place in the field and at about the two-mile mark the 10 milers (they left 5 minutes behind us) began to pass us. It wasn’t long before we realized we were wasting time unhooking the reins from the bit, re-hooking the reins to the halter bridle ring, tying to the tree, and then the procedure in reverse. I took Ann’s bit off and we rode the rest of the way with just the halter. If we had done it earlier we probably wouldn’t have been passed by so many 10 milers.

At the ride meeting we were warned of a steep 1.5 mile climb into the vet check. At the bottom of the climb we crossed a creek a few times. As Ann and I crossed the creeks I couldn’t help but think how glad I was that I was riding instead of wading through the ankle deep water in my year old Costco/Kirkwood Court Classic sneakers. Nick had a brand new pair of high tech, Gortex running shoes that I’m sure were even comfortable full of pollywogs.

The climb was brutal. We switched often in the next mile. When I arrived at an almost level spot I caught up with Ann walking down the trail dragging an old dried up twig about ½ inch in diameter. She wasn’t going anywhere but I was worried she would step on her reins, pull up, and break the snap. She has done that trick about 20 times in her short life and I actually carried spare reins on the saddle in anticipation.
We arrived at the vet check with Nick running about 20 yards ahead of me. It was unclear where the vet check actually began. I looked for a line that declared “the person riding past this point must hand off and begin running“ so we both got off and Nick continued down the trail as if he rode in. As he took off he yelled back, “Fill my water bottles…” I spent about 5 minutes letting Ann eat, another 5 minutes getting her pulse down, and 5 minutes more for the vet check. When we were done I felt bad that while I was standing around Nick was on foot so instead of letting Ann eat some more I started back out. Until I realized that I forgot to fill water bottles. The water was near a table on the other end of the vet check area. I started going through the half dozen ice chests around the table looking for some water when I realized Ann was helping herself to a serving plate of watermelon. 

After all the delays, it took forever to catch up with Nick. I thought for sure he got lost. He was probably thinking I got pulled at the vet check. Soon we were nearing the finish. With about 2 miles to go my legs were getting rubbery and I wasn’t completely catching my breath during the horseback segment. The finish line was a welcome sight.

When people ask if I will ever do a ride and tie again I tell them I don’t know. But I have quit drinking margaritas.

Gary Fend

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Everyone should be a little extra cautious when riding the trails next to the Folsom Lake shoreline. Since the Lake is near capacity, it means the rattlesnakes are more likely to be pushed up on the trails. One mountain bike person was struck last week, and went to the emergency room. Numerous rattlesnake sightings are occurring on the trails. Rattlesnakes have always been something to consider when trail riding, just be a little more aware since there is a temporary change in their environment.

Donna W.

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The aim is to get the newsletter online on Friday before the meeting.