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[RC] Main Divide, Chapter 3 - victoria thompsonYes, Julie, the ride starts at 5 AM.I arrived in base camp about 7:30 in the morning after an enjoyable breakfast with Lynne Glazer. Seems neither of us could sleep past 4:30 even though we had the luxury of staying in bed. I picked up some rider gear that had been left for me to take up to the vetting area and started up Bedford Canyon. It's hard to describe the views as I drove up. Breathtaking is close. This time of year Southern California mountains are usually covered in deep green grass, golden poppies and a gazillion other wildflowers, but this year everything is various shades of brown, brown and more brown. It was still spectacular. I could hardly wait to get to the top so I could also get the ocean view. Arrived at the vetting area about 8:45 and was only slightly disappointed by the view to the west. I could look down to the beach cities in Orange County, but the ocean and Catalina Island were covered in fog. Later in the day it would thin out and we would be able to see boats on the water, but Catalina remained hazy all day. Dr Fred Beesom was already there. I parked near him and he helped me unload all my gear. We set up my umbrella between our rigs and settled in. We chatted and talked shop, read and hiked around. Fred did a little 'house cleaning' and I came away with some tackle box inserts to give to my husband for his fly tying hooks. And we waited. It was close to 10 before anyone else arrived. We learned that all the riders got into vet 1 within 40 minutes of one another. Heather Van Fossen's horse was slightly lame and was pulled. Melanie Wier was pulled for OT. Yes, all the riders got to vet 1 within 40 minutes of each other and Melanie was OT. That is how difficult this ride was, and that was just the first 20 miles. There was also one accident. There was a difficult water crossing with some riders opting to get off and lead their horses across and others deciding to stay on and let their horses navigate the steep descent into the wash themselves. Dede Wolf chose to get off her horse. Now I'm sketchy on the details, so don't take this as fact. Her horse bumped into her and knocked her off balance. She fell down and her horse wound up stepping on her wrist. She got into vet 1 and was treated as humanely as possible :-) Dr Susan Garlinghouse wrapped her wrist and deemed her fit to continue, the horse too, and she climbed back on and left at the end of her hold. The first horse left vet 1 just after 10 AM. If this had been any other ride horses would have been getting to vet 2 before 11. We sat back and waited. More people began to arrive. Questions regarding the way back down the mountain came up. Most people couldn't believe the way they came up (Silverado Canyon) was the easiest road, just the farthest from base camp. One truck arrived making so much noise we thought the transmission may have gotten too hot. We ate lunch, took naps, conversed about everything under the sun, and waited. Lynne had given me a copy of Angie's book, and I had taken it along to read while I was waiting. We starting telling stories about the funny things that happen to crews and volunteers and decided a book needs to be written about those as well. We also decided we had the perfect spot for a vet area because we were being entertained by other motorists all day long. Let me explain. The vet area was located to the side of a very large intersection. The Main Divide, Harding Truck Trail, Silverado Canyon Rd and "The Climbing Hill". "The Climbing Hill" is a big steep section of hillside that off-roaders created when some idiot (probably on a motorcycle) decided to see if they could get up it. 4x4's followed and eventually it became road width. The problem is it doesn't go anywhere. Once you get to the top you have to turn around and go back down. Not everyone is capable of getting up it either. This is what was so entertaining. We'd sit and watch some poor slob in a jeep chicken out when his wheels would start to spin half way up and he'd back down and leave. Then some guy in a suzuki would just keep spinning his tires until they caught something and get flung out of the bad spot and crawl the rest of the way up the hill. They would always stop at the top and get out to look back down. We'd whoop and applaud when they made it to the top. I tell ya, it was better than television. Of course, there we were, armchair quarterbacks all, proclaiming our abilities to get up The Hill in our subarus, camrys and trucks pulling our trailers. We really needed someone with a video camera. One of the things everyone talked about with this ride were the roads to get up there. We were all driving 4x4's. Nobody bottomed out, put a hole in their oil pan, broke an axle. We had a transmission get too hot and a flat tire (but the tire didn't go flat until it was back on pavement). I thought the roads were just fine. They were dirt for crying out loud, but we complained bitterly about how awful they were. Then a little Mazda Miata pulled up in front of us. We shut up after that. Kept cheering the hill climbers though. Tori =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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