RC: Osceola, southern hospitality, and electrolytes

["Steph Teeter" <steph@endurance.net>]

Well, did my first SE ride this past weekend and I'm pretty impressed,
about a lot of things.

1) the weather. It was *#@& cold! The 100 milers left at 5:30 am - it was
pretty darn cold then - about 31 degrees- but right before dawn it got
REALLY cold - it was light enough to see by then, and the grass, and even
our jackets were covered in white frost. The humidity in the air just turned
to frost. Pretty, but COLD. It was actually pretty nice riding, the horses
liked the coolness - plenty of sun, no wind - but, hey, this is Florida! Ok,
no more whining (I think the out-of-staters whined the loudest).

2) the friendly people - great folks, and there's just nothing like a nice
southern accent to warm the soul. (ok Carlos - your accent was charming too
:)

3) the flat trail and incredible footing. Mile after mile of flat,
sandy/loamy
trail. No rocks. No hills. A few swampy sections to wade through, but other
than that the only thing to dictate the pace you chose was common sense. It
was wonderful to be able to cruise for mile after mile w/o worring about
rocks, cliffs, etc.

4) the need for some re-evalutation of my electrolyte regime. I rode my
husband's horse, Sukaro, and did everything pretty normal, but ran into
trouble at 60 miles. He felt strong, plenty of impulsion, very willing to
move out, working heart rate was normal, but we came into the 3rd vetcheck
at 60 miles and his pulse was high and also erratic. He met criteria, and
vetted through ok, all of his hydration parameters looked good,
but his pulse kept bouncing up and down - between the
50's and 70's - definitely not normal, and pretty scary. I spent extra
time at the hold, but he wasn't really interested in eating, and his pulse
still wasn't low and stable like it should be so I pulled him. I had the
vet draw blood so hopefully I can get a handle on what his problem was.

So - I have a question for you SE riders - just how much and how often
do you electrolyte? This ride wasn't even hot - it was pretty humid,
especially
in the morning the air was very damp and still - but I know that can be
deceiving too. I did my normal dosing - 2 oz before the ride, 2 oz at the
first check (20 mi), 2 oz at the 2nd check (40 mi), and then did a dose
out on the 3rd loop at about 50 mi because it was heating up and I noticed
he was sweating quite a bit. I used EnduraMax at the checks, LyteNow as
a preload and on the trail.

I'd love to hear from those of you  that ride in the SE - especially
competitively,
what you use, and how often (generally) you dose.

I don't have the official results of the ride - but I remember some of
the 100 mile results:

1st - Linda Crandall and LR Forgeym - 9:05 - FAST!! and also BC
2nd/3rd - Jackie Baker and Abba Peavine and Bill Wilson (don't know
the horse) - in 10:20
4th - Jerry Fruth and Jabask Knight (aka Irene) - nice stallion! in 10:21
5th - Nikki ?
6th Jan Worthington, horse?
7th Steve Rojek - Something So Strong
8th Jeff Crandall, Mike?

I don't remember all the others - but 11 finished out of 18 starters. The
slowest time was 12:30 - still not very slow. It was a VERY fast course -
perfect footing, cold/cool weather, flat ....

Thanks Jean and all the others that helped put on the ride - it was well
marked, and quite enjoyable!

Steph


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.    
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/RideCamp   
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=