Had a great time at Gold Country this weekend.
Shady trails, lots of nice people. Around 140 horses on the trail between the
30, 50 and Ride and Tie. I didn't take any pictures this ride, forgot the
camera, of all things. So just had fun riding.
Just wanted to thank the very capable ride
management and their hordes of cheerful volunteers. I must say we were all
treated like Kings and Queens and were waited on hand and foot. And the food ...
my goodness. Talk about decisions. There was so much food available for us at
the vet checks I stood there gawking, not being able to make up my mind what to
have. Water bottles being filled, left and right ... oh and then there was the
drug pusher at the first vet check <VBG> offering up Advil, etc. That was
pretty cool.
Base camp was great. A big grove of shady trees.
The trip there was a little challenging for me. I chose Placerville to Coloma on
49 instead of the Auburn route. My rig is a little long and I don't think my
choice was any better than the Auburn route. I really didn't think I was riding
my brakes that much but apparently, I was because when I got to Coloma, they
smelled pretty bad. So I stopped and let 'em cool. I was parked in front of the
Blacksmith's shop so I asked the guys in there if going 193 all the way to
Georgetown would have been better and they gave that a big NO. Hmmm .... think
I'll just build a house at Dru Barner.
But Lucy Trumbull came to the rescue and gave me a
better option to get home. Black Oak Mine Rd. to Marshall Grade, a small dab of
49 to Lotus Rd. down to Shingle Springs and then home on 50. Well, Lucy ... I
made it! However, I think I'll modify the trip for next year. Marshall Grade was
a leetle bit much for my driving capabilities and I again ended up with some
pretty smelly brakes at the bottom of Marshall Grade and stopped and cooled them
off again. I doesn't help when you have an automatic transmission. My husband
spent part of the afternoon explaining to me how to keep it from switching
itself up to the next gear. Like what do they put those numbers on there for
anyway if you can't count on the thing staying there??? Next time I think I'll
go back out to Cool, down 49 across the river and finish off with Lotus Rd. The
only part I really didn't like about my route there was the part between
Placerville and Coloma and that cuts that out completely.
The only thing I was sad about this ride is that
the awards were announced at 4:30 and I didn't get in until 4:30 so I didn't get
to hear who the top ten were or BC or who got all those great belt buckles for
First in Divisions, or where I came in, in that large pack of horses. I don't
care about my placing, but I'm always interested to see how fast or slow
everyone is riding on a particular day compared to how I'm riding. In looking at
the perpetual trophies the evening before I found it interesting to note
how much the winning times varied from year to year. I saw a couple of
3:30-some-odd minute wins with the other side of the spectrum being 6:30 wins.
Quite a difference. Must be the weather. This year is was a very comfortable
temperature but I know that I was already out from lunch quite
awhile, after a 4-hr 30-mile loop, when the front runners were cantering
past us going back in. So I'm thinking it wasn't a quick win this
year.
Next weekend Battle Creek 25 with James Dean,
the new boy...
