Ridecamp: [RC] GERA Classic

Did GERA Classic yesterday and yep, it was HOT and HUMID.  First ride
I've been to where the vets hung a thermometer *and* a humidity guage at
the vet check.  Otis said something like, he just thought he'd show up to
see how many idiots would show up to ride in that heat.

The answer was NINETY (40 in the 50 miler and 50 in the 25) riders, but
apparently they were the  kind of idiots who train in heat too because
EIGHTY-ONE finished!  That's just a 10% pull rate. Amazing. No
treatments, only one metabolic pull if I heard right.  The amount of hard
packed road with log truck style chunk gravel could *easily* ave
justified a lot more lameness pulls than 8.

There was plenty of shade and plenty of water on the trail so I had no
complaints. Give me a sponge and enough creek crossings and I'll ride
through Hades for a completion. >g<

Glad to see Adele Dennard post on RC about her concussion. The story of
her accident went around camp and it's pretty scarey stuff.  At the start
of this ride, about 3/4 mile out while still going uphill on singletrack
we heard them yell "Loose Horse" and looked back to see Nina Murphy's
horse weaving his way through the line evading hands grabbing at his
reins.  Josie blocked him with her horse and managed to ease up and get
his rein.  We turned back to return him and I was surprised Nina wasn't
coming after him.  Turned out she was sitting on the side of the trail
looking pretty puny. I thought she'd broken her jaw when she showed it to
me. The horse had flipped on her.  She said she was heading back and not
going on.  I worried to others that she had broken her jaw and had
everyone pittying her when we should have been looking over our shoulder
because she'd ended up getting back on and was gaining on us. She got her
completion, Go Nina. >g<

I bought 60 lbs of ice for my vet check and used it all just to keep my
sponge water below bathtub warmth. We went through a lot of water but our
horses looked great.  I was really surprised how well they did, eating,
drinking and tearing up the trail.  Josie & I took it pretty easy through
the heat but passed 8 horses on the last loop and she found out how fun
it is to come from behind.  I've done it both ways and definately prefer
being the passer to the passee. :-)

The Georgia Endurance Riders Assoc. did a great job putting on the ride
and making it fun for the riders.  They were very thoughtful in how they
laid out the trail and deserve credit for the high completion rate on
such a tough day.

The SERA horse scales were there and I managed to weigh often. Just to
let you all see what we're seeing here's our results:

Kaboot: Friday PM 920 lbs.  This is 70 lbs over what he weighed in at in
June.  This is the shortest haul we have (3 hours) and I think he arrived
more hydrated than usual.

Sat. 8.5 miles (gate no hold) 912 lbs. WITH TACK.  I figure he probably
weighed 887.  33 lbs less than night before. Vets said horses get rid of
a lot of manure on first loop and that's the big drop.
25 miles:  872 lbs. Lost 15 lbs on 17 mile loop.

33 miles:  878 lbs.  He gained 6 lbs. Heat of day, we went slower,
drinking great

50 miles: 858 lbs. Lost 20 lbs on 17 mile loop. We cranked up the speed.

Sat. PM 861 lbs.


Ben Amil:

Fri. PM 858
8.5 miles  804
25 miles 811
33 miles 798
50 miles 812

Neither horse looked at all drawn and had good scores in the checks.  Dr.
Marcellas is compiling the numbers and will eventually write articles
reporting his findings.

Sketchy results from my memory:

Linda Smith (maybe he name? She's new) won the 50. 
Melissa Crain was top 5 I think and took BC. Vickie Parker & her junior
Alley were in top 5...Wes Crowe  10th,  Josie & me 11th, Roxanne Ciconne
14. Sorry, can't remember more. Somebody with the list give the real
report. :-)

Angie

________________________________________________________________
GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO!
Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less!
Join Juno today!  For your FREE software, visit:
http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=