At Dusty corners, I did my job, drank, took those
electrolytes like straight molasses, and ate some hay. Quickly we were off
again. I liked this section of trail. Mom said it would be a fun mountain bike
trail. We veered off the road onto a single track contouring along what seemed
like an old mining ditch. The trail was good and we made fast time through
there. Before we knew it we were at Last Chance. I did my job and drank and then
proceeded to eat everything insight. Mom left me alone to do that for about 10
minutes then figured we better head to the vet. That was a bit after 4 pm. The
vet thought that I looked funny in my gait and poor mom had to run me out and
back twice. He was concerned, too, that it had taken 10 minutes for me to reach
pulse criteria. (It hadn?t mom just wanted to let me do some eating.) The vet
(another real nice fellow) was sure that we couldn?t make it to Michigan Bluff
before the cut off and advised us to pull. Mom told him how she planned to run
this section. He gave her a crazy look and asked if she were some kind of
running machine. Well mom isn?t, but she can hold a decent pace for a long time.
And we have good sync when she runs. She slows and yells rock at all the hard
places, listens for me to pass over and cranks up again. She knows I am right
with her so she doesn?t even look back. The vet told his scribe to put ?owner is
running machine? on the vet card and let us go. It was about 1615. We had about
3 hours to do the steepest, toughest section of the course. Mom took off running
and by 15 minutes we were at the swinging bridge. We walked quickly across and
it seemed to move a lot more than it had when we did our training ride there.
Soon we were at a nice creek and mom drank and took a bath and tried to give me
one too. The heart rate watch got wet and then really didn?t work. It had been
funky all day; mom thought the batteries were going dead. Up the long, steep
climb to Devil?s thumb we went. Last time we did this I pulled mom right up.
Today I was dragging. Boy ,it was hot. So mom took the lead and I did the best I
could to keep up with her power hike. We traveled up that pitch a lot slower
than mom had anticipated. I was feeling it in my legs and needing a break and
some beet pulp soup! And my crew to
rub and fuss over me. (The real reason Mom?s husband doesn?t like me; I am such
a babe magnet!) Near the top we came upon some volunteers. They had a man down
with dehydration and heat stress. Mom talked to the nurse for a while and
decided there just wasn?t much she could do without a medical bag. So on we
went. The volunteers at Devil?s thumb were particularly nice and I got some
watermelon. And mom got some cold water for her bottles. Little did they know
but she had lots of cold water on her back and was using those bottles to pour
on me. Ugh, I hate that. Off we went to Deadwood, mom still running. I was
wishing for beet pulp soup. Why don?t they have that at these darn vet checks!
At Deadwood there were a few horses. We pretty much vetted right in. I met
criteria and off we went.
We had only an hour to get to Michigan Bluff. It
wasn?t looking good but mom didn?t have a negative thought in her head- we would
make it. Just before veering off onto the steep descent we asked to pass a
couple of horses. Defeated, they were taking their time to MB; they wished us
well and yelled that we looked good and they thought we could make it. Down,
down, down, we went. Both of us traveling as fast as possible, intent on the
trail, and all of its hazards. Mom yelled at each excessively rocky place and
slowed, picking up the fast pace
once she could sense that I was over the rough spot.
