Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Well...time draws near now for Roxanne and I. 
For those of you following our Tevis saga, it's only seven weeks out until we 
load up our horses in Florida, and head 3000 miles across country to CA.
Roxanne has had successes with Shar Po after resting him much of the early 
spring. She completed the Ponce DeLeon 50 in the panhandle in April, then went 
on to complete the Biltmore 100 a few weeks ago.
I just rode "Gorgeous George" the mustang on the Liberty Run 55 last Friday. 
For those of you who didn't read my earlier posts, my horse has had continuing 
grade one lamenesses, so Ed and Kathy Kilpatrick have loaned me George to ride 
Tevis on. George just finished the Ponce Deleon 75 at the end of April, and 
several other 50's throughout the winter and spring.

Liberty Run was a hot as everyone has been claiming, although the big 
difference was it didn't bother me one bit. I have been preparing for Tevis 
with a vengence by jogging 2 miles three days a week, and biking 6 miles the 
other 4 days. I've also been riding my six year old horse up in the hills of 
Sugarloaf mountain (our only hill work in Fla!).
At Liberty Run, I drank 160 ounces of fluid the day before my ride, then downed 
another 24 ounces before mounting up. Yes, I did have to "go" bad during the 
first loop, but it is so worth it not to "bonk" out later in the day! I ate 
pasta and a steak sandwich during the vet checks, and even had a pack of 
Emergen-C (which I HATE), during the third vet check. All this keep me in high 
spirits with plenty of energy.
Now all I need is to get my riding muscles used to riding George (I brought him 
home with me from Liberty Run for the last two months before leaving for 
Tevis). 
I intend to do some hill work with him with a heart monitor, to see how he's 
handling it. The only way we have to prepare a horse for the harder terrain out 
west is to trot on pavement, and it's worked for me before when I did the OD 50 
and the VA three-day 100.

Overall, I'm getting real excited. I was able to talk some more at Liberty Run 
to Claude and Marion Brewer who did Tevis last year from NC, and Ann Coefield, 
who rode it on a lease horse in 1987. 

Roxanne and I are planning a weekend mountain training ride about a month prior 
to leaving, just to "test" things out. 
I hope to journal the trip out west, and we should have some access to a PC 
while on the road, so we can keep everyone posted.

Thanks to all the great support from the southeast region riders, including the 
Distance Depot and Runningbear tack.

Becky Siler, Roxanne Ciccone- Tevis bound...
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And remember, an arab's fourth gait is the spook! 
~  Jeanie Miller

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