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Please Reply to: Erick Larson paradigm@xxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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I just wanted to respond to the remarks about the Oroville ride.

It's too bad that someone had a bad experience with an LD rider.  My wife and I 
rode in the 30 mile ride and had a wonderful time.  I found ALL the riders to 
be courteous and helpfull.  It was the first completion for both my young 
Tennessee Walker/Arab cross and for me.  We had been pulled at the Oakland 
Hills ride earlier in the year after he tripped and came up slightly lame.  My 
wife now has 3 LD completions on her 11 yr old Arab.  Next year the 50's!  At 
Oroville I was told there were 128 riders with 50 riders in the 30 mile ride.

For those willing to read my rant I thought I would post my experience on the 
ride....

We arrived about dark on Friday.  I couldn't believe the number of trailers!  
They were everywhere.  After parking WAY UP on the hill we quickly unloaded the 
horses and ran down the hill to vet in before the vets left.  After vetting in 
I took the horses back to the trailer and left my wife to attend the riders 
meeting that was just beginning.  Wow, talk about just in time scheduling.

Morning came early, especially since we were camped near a train track and the 
train would come by about every 30 minutes all night long.  How nice of them to 
blow the train whistle every time they came by!  That didn't seem to bother the 
horses however.

The 30 milers started at 6:30am, but you needed to leave camp about 6:10 to 
make it to the starting line by ride time.  We crossed the infamous rail road 
tracks on our way to the start line.  How appropriate that my horse stopped 
right on the tracks to leave a big pile of manure.  Good boy!

With the 50's long gone there was still a lot of horses milling around at the 
start.  We stayed in back and let the pack zoom away.  In retrospect, we should 
have been up front.

Those who zoomed away at the start quickly slowed down.  I do understand the 
frustration of someone wanting to go faster and getting stuck behind slowpokes. 
I kept reminding myself: "this is an LD not a race".  Someone needed to tell 
that to my wifes horse who tried to bite my horses butt for the first 10 miles.

There is quite a bit of single track on the ride.  Almost without exception 
when we wanted to pass the slower riders pulled over.  We extended that 
courtesy to those wanting to pass us as well.  Even though it was single track, 
it was not treacherous terrain and you could easily find a spot to pull off and 
wave to your faster competitors.

By the 10 mile mark my wife and I hooked up with the top 4 riders in the LD and 
we formed a group of 6 all moving out at the same speed.  We kept the group 
together until the first vet check at the 15(?) mile mark.

Here's where I have my only criticism of this otherwise wonderfull ride.  At 
the vet check they were SWAMPED with horses.  The 4 we were riding with went 
right from P/R to the vet check line.  Those little smarties knew what they 
were doing.  But my wife and I took our horses to water and food and grabbed 
some food for us, then stood in line.  By the time we finished vetting we were 
10 minutes late out of the hold.  We never caught up.  Rats!

The second half of the ride was my favorite.  At one point they had us blazing 
our own trail up the side of the Oroville Dam.  I would see a ribbon in a tree 
and ride over to it.  Then my wife would see one on a bush and off we went 
again.  Yee-haw that was fun, but I'm sure some people got lost.

There was another vet check about 8 miles from the finish at the top of the 
dam.  I did not like all the pavement and hard gravel on the last climb up to 
the vet check so we got off and walked that part.  It was here that we were 
passed by two riders cantering and trotting on the pavement.  Sure enough, both 
of their horses came up lame at the check and were pulled.

My wifes horse was barely breathing hard at the top and vetted right away.  My 
horse was blowing hard and I waited about 5 minutes to vet.  We vetted fine, 
but I was warned to take it easy on the last part because my horses respiration 
was slightly elevated.

To give my boy a rest I jogged the first 3 miles downhill from the last vet 
check.  What a great trail!  It wound down the side of the dam through oak 
trees and followed the river back to base camp.  Soon enough my horse was eager 
to go faster than I could jog so I climbed back aboard and away we went.

RIDER DOWN!  I hate those words.  It sends shivers down my spine and makes my 
stomach sick.  Coming through the trees about 4 miles from the finish we came 
upon them.  The lady we had been following on the first part of the ride who 
was in the lead through the whole race was lying on the ground in obvious pain. 
Her friend was standing next to her holding both of their horses and alerting 
anyone who happened by.

She said her horse had slipped or spooked going by a big downed tree and she 
was thrown from the saddle.  She suspected her wrist was broken.  The other 2 
riders in their group rode ahead to the finish to get help while her friend 
stayed behind with her.  My wife and I stopped and offered our help, but there 
was really nothing we could do.  Her friend urged us to continue, so I said a 
silent prayer and we rode on.  What a shame.  I know that rider would have been 
in first and her horse, an awesome grey, would have been a strong contender for 
best conditioned.

About a mile further down the trail, we encountered a sweep rider.  We stopped 
to give a report on the downed rider, but he already knew about her.  I 
confirmed to him that he could probably get his jeep to her and he left on his 
rescue mission.  We would overhear the radio at the finish saying she had been 
safely transported to the Oroville hospital.

So it was finally on to the finish.  The last 1-2 miles were on the flat fire 
road along the river.  Fun, fun, fun...  We let the horses drink a little from 
the river and let them go the speed they wanted back to camp.

Don't let anyone tell you your horse doesn't know where camp is!  Our boys 
kicked it into high gear and cantered "tails up" back to camp and the finish 
line.  Imagine our surprise to find we were the 3rd and 4th riders to arrive.

After a final vet check and grabbing a plate of great BBQ chicken we loaded up 
and headed to my parents ranch in Bangor, about 30 minutes away.  Since we left 
early I don't know who won the 50 or who got best conditioned in the LD or 50.  
Perhaps another reader could help me with that???

My thanks to the ride management and scores of volunteers who did a great job 
on this ride.  We hope to be back next year riding the 50.  So watch out for 
Erick and Memphis and Teresa and Astros.  If we slow you down we'll move over 
and if we pass you we'll always smile.

Gotta ride now, it's raining.

-Erick Larson-


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