Old Dominion?

[rides2far@juno.com (Angela C. McGhee)]

O.K. guys, I got so much interest in whether or not I was going to OD,
I'll let you all in on the decision.

I'll admit that I've never given much thought to doing the OD.  I don't
like it being at such a hot time of year, and 100 miles of rocks just
didn't sound that great.  I don't guess it's any great secret that
they're not especially known for marking their trail well, and that
there's a strong "home court advantage" there. The thought of doing an
incredibly tough ride...then getting lost didn't appeal to me...but
then...there was that post by Linda Flemmer that made it sound sooo neat
to do.  I let my mom read that and she almost had a stroke at the thought
of me coming down Sherman's Pass in the dark.  Now THAT made me want to
do it!  :-)  And then there's the prestige thing of putting it on your
resume' "Look at me, I'm legitimate". That doesn't stop when you finally
do a 50...next you want to do 1,000 miles, then you've got to do
100's...then the HARD 100's.

I noticed that this year's Anniversary OD was also my 38th
birthday...coincidence?  Then...a friend announced that if I would do the
ride, he'd haul me up there with his rig and crew for me.  I'm guessing
that most of ya'll are like me in that you have trouble taking a dare. 
Just the fact that we keep testing ourselves sort of points towards that
fact.  Sooooo, what to do?  It's a $175 entry fee, and they have a 60%
pull rate.  Should I spend my $$ elsewhere and try for a surer thing? 
Did I want to risk a hot humid ride with 55 miles of hard pack roads?  I
just put on shoes 2 weeks ago with no pads...so that meant easyboots. 
I've used them in front, but not the back. 

 I called someone who has done it several times.  He said it's hard, but
not for the usual reasons, the humidity is a killer, and that I'd
definitely need to hook up with a local who knew the trail.  He also said
it's difficult for a crew who isn't local to find the vet checks...but
then he also recommended that I go for it.  He's been back 4 times,
thinks it's worth it.  Got the same story from another friend, she said
it's tough, she likes them that way, just keeps going back.  I like rides
that reward conservative people, since I am one.  Fast easy rides leave
me behind.

I checked the weather, the 6-10 day forecast calls for below normal
temps, but that could still be hot...and there's still the money.  How do
we justify spending $175 for entry and $80 for gas when the kids would
LOVE new carpet in their room, and my daughter needs a saddle?

I weighed it all, decided that all these things might never come together
at the same time again...the horse is sound, I'm sound, the ride and the
crew were there, and as of today the weather looks good.  So, I called my
friend and left a rather half-hearted "Let's Go For It" on his answering
machine.  Called him back a couple of hours later to finalize details. 
He sounded hesitant.  I think what it comes down to is that he wanted to
help me get there if it was something that would really mean a lot to me,
but if I wasn't THAT thrilled about the prospect of going, he'd rather
not use up 3 vacation days.

  As it is, it came up so sudden that I really was VERY hesitant about
going, and felt guilty about spending the family's money.  I think I'd
probably have as decent a shot at finishing this year as any, and I'd
love to impress you all with a story of my conquering the East's premier
ride, but I'd also like for my daughters to be proud of their room
instead of trying to arrange throw rugs over the chocolate milk stains on
the carpet too.  I guess we can't have everything.

So, don't look for my name on the results list.  We're going to Dalton
this weekend and see if we can find some carpet that doesn't show
stains...and Kaboot will never know how close he came.  :-)

Good Luck to management and everybody who plans to ride.  Hope you get
the kind of weather Lonstreet's Charge had.  I'm sleeping late Saturday!

Angie

 

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