[RC] VT 100, A Big Thanks to my crew -from Farzad & Bullseye - Lisa Faryadi
Hi everyone,
This was the 2nd
year that Hot Desert Knight, AKA Bullseye, and I won the Vermont 100 ride , and
I’m just starting to post thank you notes at Ridecamp; what can I say? I’m
a little bit slow. I always wanted to do this ride, so last year finally
started on my way. Being my usual “crewless and clueless” rider,
I figured I’d just get up there and probably find some help . I was
quite excited, packed everything up and left quickly for a head start on the 17
hour drive. I kept feeling that I had left something behind. I haven’t
told this to anyone yet, but guess what I had forgotten;.. MY HORSE..! Good
thing I’d only gone a couple of miles. Anyhow, turned around, loaded him
up and left again. Then Sue Greenall, the ride manager, called and told me that
she had found me a crew. Yarrow Farnsworth from N.H. had volunteered to be my
crew. And what a crew she turned out to be. Single handedly she took care of us,
making sure we both had food and water, carrying my saddle, tacking him up and
making sure we would leave on time. There is no way we would have got 1st
place and B.C. without her. Thanks again Yarrow. Well that was last year; this
year I called a good friend of mine, Melody Bittersdorf, in Vermont. She had
crewed for me the 2nd half of Biltmore 100 ride this year in may. She
started the 100 mile ride herself, but her horse threw her off after colliding
with another horse. Both horses had to pull and she herself was beat up but O.K.
so she took care of us the rest of the ride; what a tough cookie .At Vermont , She
was riding the 75 herself, so, a friend of her, Natallie, from Virginia, drove
all the way to crew for her while she asked her husband Jeff and daughter Kerri
to be my crew. Wow, How would we do endurance without such good friends? Then
I got the extra bonus and pleasure of having Melody’s other daughter
Krista and her husband Guy help us as well. Krista was supposed to ride the 75,
but the horse that was promised to her wasn’t available. So , she , her
husband and their two boys, Justin & Jay, ( forgive me if I’ve got
one of the names wrong) hung around and helped all day. It was awesome. They
had very well behaved kids, Kerri took a lot of pictures and it felt like a
family picnic. we even had their sweet little Chihuahua with us. He just stayed
in front seat of my truck being cute. It was a wonderful time and they took
great care of Bullseye and I. last year , we were 15 minutes short of beating the
course record of 12 hours ;1 minute. This year the weather and footings were
great, and the night before the ride, I made a tentative schedule of
arrival, pulse and out times for each hold . I was hoping to break
the record by 15 minutes. Well , Bullseye performed better than I had expected,
and my crew kept him cool and made sure we were well rested at each hold and
left on time. They also made note of our proposed and actual schedule and
together we were able to beat the course record by 39 minutes, with a ride time
of 11 hour; 22 minutes. Thanks again Melody and family. We couldn’t
have done it without you. I also need to thank the management, stewards and the
vets and time keepers. At three holds, including the finish, we arrived over 40
minutes ahead of the scheduled opening time . They had to rearrange the staff
to make sure they would be there for us. Thanks again,
