We left Washoe and the 39 mile vetcheck and got onto the nice singletrack trail. Tigger saw Jerry and Erasmo ahead of us and thought it would be fun to catch up to them. They were stopping for something and we went on by then started climbing up. Some of this trail was supposedly new but I hadn’t done the ride in so long that I didn’t know the difference.
Fortunately the day had been cooler than expected with some cloud cover and a breeze. It really helped because I was able to do more uphill trotting than I would have been able to do if it had been any warmer. We were playing leap frog some of the time with Heather and Debby. All of our horses were wet with sweat and it was a sweet smell. I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply and slowly to savor the smell, and the moment. It was on this climb that I was finally able to get Tigger to walk occasionally. Yeah!
We wound our way up the long, long climb and finally made it to the water stop where John and Meredith and some others were. Tig really tanked up on the water there and I let him grab a few bites to eat. Everybody wanted to know why my horses boots were still on and what happened to Dave’s. I felt bad for Dave since it was probably the glue that was the problem and was still happy that my boots were all stuck on my horses hooves really good.
I wished I had thought to bring a can of colored spray paint to paint the boots with. Every time I looked to see if Tig’s boots were on I had a hard time because they were black and almost impossible to detect without being off of the horse or having somebody else watch from behind to see the tread pattern.
I knew the next section of trail was going to include the SOB’s and was going to be tough going. As we got nearer to that section I got off and led down on foot. I knew I’d been making good time and didn’t need to rush through this section. I led down the steep part on foot then got on and let Tigger walk up the steep parts. I didn’t tail up because I wanted to save my energy for later. If I tired myself out too early in the ride then I worried that I’d get us lost or not be able to trot enough to be able to finish in time. Tigger struggled with some of the steeper parts and took breathing breaks a couple of times. Of course this is when the clouds had to disappear and the sun came out!
I couldn’t complain about the difficulty of the trail though, because at least we were doing this section in the first half of the ride and before the horses got very tired from being out there all day. I didn’t really know what the new harder trail did but others were sure complaining about it. I had already been warned so was expecting it to be difficult and was relieved once I put that part of the trail behind us.
Off in the distance I could see the radio tower, so I knew we were about to crest the top for this loop and have a water stop. Tom and Sala were here taking numbers and handing out cookies, lemonade and hay and carrots for the horses. Tigger was happy to get a break and I got off and handed him to Tom who held him while he ate. I sat down in a chair and relaxed and rested while Sala handed me a lemonade. Ahhhh! It was nice to get a break. My back was a little tired from all of the ‘tigging’, and just from the physical exertion. I wondered if this was going to get worse, or better after I got back to camp and had an hour hold.
We stayed here for several minutes until Jerry and Erasmo caught up to us. They didn’t stay long, and left ahead of me. I figured that I better get going because I knew that I only had four or five miles to go before I would have an hour hold in camp.
Tig knew where he was and that we were heading back to camp. He was pretty perky and wanted to trot, so we did.
I had a couple of delays when a couple of large groups of ATV’s or motorcycle riders went past us. I got off the trail to let them go by, since it dropped off steeply on one side and they were coming up from behind us at really high speed. Tig is pretty good about this kind of thing and wasn’t nervous but he was impatient. Finally they got by us and we were able to continue on our way.
A few minutes later, here they came back at us again <sigh>. So, more impatiently waiting for them to get by so we could get moving again. This group of off roaders weren’t very savvy about how to behave around horses and as soon as they got next to me going by they all would punch the gas and take off real fast, sending dust flying and making a lot of noise. It didn’t bother the horse as much as it did me. They probably thought they were being nice by getting past me as soon as they could. Some horses would have had issues.
Tig is not a very spooky horse which is one reason why i enjoy riding him so much. He went right on past the mattresses on the trail without so much as a sideways glance. He was even perfectly calm and quiet when we glued boots on the day before in camp even when the train and stagecoach went by. Not all of the horses in camp handled it so well. Three riders didn’t start because the stage had upset their horses so bad.
Riding into the city of Virginia City is always interesting and fun to look at all of the old buildings and deserted mines. You can’t help but think what it might have been like to have lived there a hundred years ago. It had to have been a rough life, full of hardship. I guess if anybody can relate to that, it would be an endurance rider riding a 100 miles in this kind of country.
Why do we do this? I was just glad to be here and getting to ride and kept reminding myself how truly lucky I was. I just couldn’t at this point wrap my mind around it being hard. This was such a great day and I was enjoying every second!
It wouldn’t be worth doing if it was easy, or if everybody could do it. I couldn’t help but reach down and pat Tigger on the neck and tell him what a good boy he was and thank him for getting me this far. Others commented that you could tell that Tig really loved the attention he was getting from me and from Amy.
We had a long downhill going back to camp. I dismounted and jogged with Tigger. He did this goofy slide thing when we got up to where Merri was taking photos. She thought he was spooking, and he may have been – or he may have slipped – maybe he just wanted to pee? {lol} Either way, I have to share the photo since it is kind of cute.
Note the rope I’m leading Tig with – it clips to his halter-bridle on one end and then to the b/c on the other end. There is a round ring in the middle to take up the slack when clipped to the horse. It makes it easy for me to get on and off quickly without having to touch the reins or the martingale.
We jogged and then walked the rest of the way into camp. Other horses were at the water so I went straight to the pulse person who was waiting without letting Tigger drink. I poured a bottle of water on his neck to cool him as this was the hottest part of the day. We were at the 55 mile point and it had taken us (I think) about 10 1/2 hours to get there. Tigger got his pulse time in and then we went over to the trailer to pull tack, then back to vet. Fortunately I was parked pretty close to the vet area so it didn’t take long. We stripped everything off including the protective leg boots.
I vetted here with Jamie Kerr who said that Tig looked great and gave him good scores including an overall A on everything. I was happy that we were now this far and that the horse was looking good. It was also sooo nice to have Amy trot Tig out so that I could watch him move and also see how he was looking. I felt that Tig still had a lot left in him and that we were going at a pace that we should be able to keep up and make it through before the 24 hour cutoff.
This is where I learned that the horse that had been leading the ride came in at 77 miles and crashed. It was on it’s way to the Comstock vet clinic. All the more reason, I thought to myself – to keep riding conservatively. I really wanted to have Tigger finish this ride in good shape.
It was nice to be able to rest and refresh during the hour hold. I sat in a chair drinking a SoBe energy drink and snacking on some ham while Amy gave Tigger a sponge bath and got him cleaned up. Tig was eating very well and was still preferring to eat the soaked beet pulp and crimped oats. He did a good job going between different things though and alternated between the alfalfa hay and the grass hay. He peed and it looked good.
Dave and White Cloud came in and the horses got all excited. I knew it would be hard on WC when we left because he’d be wound up over seeing Tigger leave.
I was ready to go right on time! I knew that the hardest part of the ride was behind us but also knew that the loop coming up had some good climbing in it as well. I was eager to get going.
At this point I felt comfortable enough to change Tigger out of the kimberwicke and put the S-hack on him. He had been very well behaved after the initial ants in his pants first time mounting issue and I knew he didn’t have it in him to try bucking this far into the ride (I was right, he didn’t!). 
Dave has done a marvelous job with him.
I left camp and headed past the road closed sign for the Ferrari races. Went past that area, listening to the powerful engines in the race cars gear down and rumble into town passing us on the side. Tigger didn’t care, he knew where we were going – out on the same trail we had pre-ridden the day before. The sun was out and it was a gorgeous day and we were both still smiling. Jerry turned around and went back to pull. I caught up with Andy who was walking and Erasmo. The three of us rode together kind off off and on for awhile.
After all the downhill we had some fairly level going for awhile. We rode through a lot of old ruins of buildings then turned and were not far from the railroad tracks. The train went by whistling at us and the tourists inside waved back at us. Tig still wanted to trot so we did. Soon we started to do more climbing and heading up. We were again on some of the same trail as the Washoe Valley ride and it was obvious that Tig knew where he was.
We came up to a water stop on the trail where John and Meredith were. Carolyn was also there waiting to crew for her group of riders.
Just before we got to the water and number stop we stopped at a watering hole for a good drink where the wild horses drink.
I snapped some photos of them off in the distance. They were watching us. All during the ride I caught glimpses of the wild horses. They were beautiful.
At the water stop we got off so that Erasmo could pry off his worn through Easyboot. He borrowed my hoofpick and a screwdriver from John and they finally managed to get it off. Tigger munched on some hay and also kicked a leg up, shut his eyes and went on a break. I was off of him and just hung out and visited with the others.
Andy had dropped back so it was just my horse and Erasmo’s horse there. After a few minutes we decided to mount up again and head out. We were now climbing back up and had a few more miles to go before reaching the next water stop where Tom and Sala were. This time when we got there we didn’t go to the right to go back into camp but instead went up and over Mount Davidson and towards the city of Reno.
We spent a few minutes at the water checkpoint. Sala said some other riders had gone back in to pull rather than continue on the trail. We were moving up in the pack and at this point I think I were in the middle of the pack, out of 42 starters. We had a nice break here drinking more lemonade and letting the horses get a good drink and a few bites of hay before heading up for the next climbing that we had ahead of us.
The sun was setting and we knew we didn’t have much daylight left. As we crested one of the hills I saw a herd of wild horses off in the distance. They didn’t move when we rode by. Some of them were lying down, napping. As it got darker and darker the glo-bars became more and more apparent. Wow, I made it this far – awesome!! Tigger got more pats and praise.
The trail markings all day had been excellent. There weren’t a lot of ribbons but there was lime arrows and/or white dots on all of the turns. They were easy to see in the dark too.
There was no moon, but there was enough light reflecting off of the city of Reno and from the stars above that we were able to see fairly well.
It was really a serene and peaceful feeling riding along in the dark watching the brilliant lights of Reno get closer as we continued meandering our way up and down the mountainside. Talk about feeling on top of the world!
On one steep section I decided to get off and lead but found that I was slipping on all of the rocks that rolled beneath my feet. I decided that Tigger was doing a better job going over that than I was, so I got back on. I only turned my headlamp on when I was off and leading him. Each time I turned it back off it took a few seconds to get acclimated to the dark again.
I had put battery operated glo-bars on Tiggers crupper so that he would be seen in the dark from behind. Erasmo was back there following us. I told him that I had a headlamp and two flashlights with me and was definitely not planning on getting lost in the dark. Neither was he, tho he had forgotten to bring a light with him. He decided that it would be safer to stay with me for the time being, and I was okay with that. It was good to have the company and nice that his horse was white and easy to see in the dark.
It seemed like we were a million miles away from anything. That was kind of fun in a way. I found it comforting once I realized that we were getting nearer to a highway down below. That meant that we were coming to the end of the hard climbs on the ride.
I knew that Tigger was getting tired because he was slowing down especially on the steeper downhills. I was able to keep him from “tigging” now and that was nice.
Tig definitely could see better than I could. There were times in this area where we weren’t sure we were still on trail because we had some long sections without seeing a glo-bar. I think the person who put them up was either not a rider, or they were trying to save the glo-bars for later in the ride. It wasn’t that big of a deal though because we were on the trail and always cheered when we came upon an arrow, or a white dot on the ground. Even better was when we did finally come up on a glo-bar.
Finally the highway approached and we crossed. The glo-bar markings were much better now! We made it back to the water trough where the horses drank really well. Now we were back to common trail heading back in. It was the same trail we rode out on in the morning. We trotted most of it in the dark coming out and now we trotted a lot of it going back in as well. We did get off and lead downhill for awhile though to give the horses a break. I think they appreciated that.
We came up from the darkness into the city lights at the cemetery. This was going to be our finish line in a few more hours. Daria and Terry were already set up there waiting for the first finishers to come in. It was going to be awhile yet though, as we passed some of the first horses going out on their final loop when we were coming in. The ride times were going to be really slow this year, and the completion rate much lower than normal for this ride. I was having such a great time that it really hadn’t sunk in yet that the ride was as challenging as it was. From the get go I had planned on being out all night so it didn’t make any difference to me especially since I was enjoying the night ride.
After the cemetery we had a couple of miles to go on pavement. This is where it’s always nice to have boots on your horse because you feel secure – less likely to slip. Plus it’s quiet and the sound of Tigger trotting along felt comforting and relaxing. Almost like rocking in a rocking chair kind of relaxing. I told Erasmo to wake me up when we got there.
Going into the vet check in camp Tigger stopped to pee. He was doing good peeing enough to keep me happy. I knew that was a good sign, and shined my headlamp on him to make sure it was the right color. Yep!
This time Amy was at the trailer when we came in so while I handed my vet card to the arrival timer I said “let’s get his tack pulled”. We were now at mile 78, another hour hold and tack had to be off. In only a minute or two we had all of his tack off and I was heading over to get his pulse. He was down and we vetted right through. Still looking good.
Amy trotted Tig out so I could watch him go out and back. I was pleased with how he looked especially after coming through all of those hills and climbs and 78 miles of rocks. I was happy to see how Tig was keeping his weight nicely and from the start till now he was cinching up on the same girth holes. I was impressed with him, a lot. More pats and hugs for Tigger!
It had been dark for hours. The temperature was just right, with a light fleece jacket I was comfortable. We covered Tigger with a fleece blanket during the hour hold. He ate well again, and was more noticeably tired and spent the last part of the hour hold resting. I drank another SoBe, water, Gatorade and got more to eat. I was feeling pretty good and excited that we were having such a good ride. I don’t remember my out time but I think it was somewhere around midnight. We still had plenty of time to do the last 22 miles. I knew that this last loop didn’t have any big climbs in it so this part coming up would be a nice reprieve for Tigger’s tired muscles. Mine too!
It was a beautiful evening for riding in the dark under the stars. I was feeling really confident now that I could negotiate the entire trail without getting lost because were were going out and then returning on trail we’d been on earlier in the day and I knew that the turns and globars were very well done. That was a nice comforting thought at this point in the ride. I worried earlier that I’d get so tired that I’d miss a turn or something. Or that Tigger would decide he knew a shorter way back to camp and take it when I wasn’t paying attention! I heard stories of other riders doing that and riding lost all night long and not completing.
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