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[RC] Ride with the Nez Perce - heidiI attended a really fun first-time ride this past weekend called Ride with the Nez Perce. Rosa Yearout and her crew from the Nez Perce Appaloosa Horse Club really put on a nice event. Camp was in a green meadow with trees around for plenty of shade and lots of green grass. Trail was in and out of the timber on the rolling Palouse with lots of nice views and good footing for the most part. Repeat trail was mitigated by doing it backward, which made it a whole new vista. The trail was moderately difficult, with times slowed down by the fact that it was fairly technical--but it was well-marked and safe, and personally I kind of prefer technical trails anyway. :-) There was good natural water on the trail, and management had made the effort to have plenty of well-spaced water tanks in camp for easy access as well. The volunteers were great--friendly and eager to learn. They even had a "water guy" handing out water bottles at one point out on the trail! :-) Sarah Metcalf was the head vet, and helped with a lot of the first-time "stuff"--and the best part is that I heard various volunteers saying "When we do this next year, we can...." which means that hopefully those of you that missed it will have the opportunity to come another year! :-) The good time was topped off by a dinner put on by ride management featuring chili and delicious Indian fry bread. On a more personal note, after managing to claw my way back to some semblance of health, I finally stepped back up to 50 miles at this ride after doing some LD's--and was thrilled just to finish in one piece. (Horse's first 50, too--but he was more ready than I was. <g>) I was sure glad to see Mary Forrester there, and I rode most of the ride with her--the catching up on our visiting as we made our way down the trail sure helped take my mind off my own increasing aches and pains. :-) (Thanks, Mary!) And thanks to Johana Doyle and her friend Karen who helped to crew my horse between loops 3 and 4, as I had forgotten to take my Tylenol after loop 2. (Oops.) Anyway it sure feels GOOD to be back on a 50--in that warped sense that endurance riders feel GOOD. <g> I'm reminded of that scene early on in the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" where Lawrence puts out a match with his fingers, and then another little Cockney soldier tries it. He says, "Oooh, it damn well 'urts!" Lawrence says, "Certainly it hurts!" The soldier asks, "Well, what's the trick, then?" And Lawrence answers, "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts!" (Doesn't that about sum up endurance?? <g>) Heidi =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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