October 2010

Saturday 2nd
Jackit and My First Ride Together

Photos on Facebook Here

The bit I ordered for Jackit on Wednesday (4.5" french link D-ring snaffle) showed up on Friday (can't complain - coming from the east coast via USPS) so today (Saturday) was the day for our first ride together.

He was *great*! So smooth and lovely. We just walked for today and worked on steering (serpentines, circles, etc), but I can't wait to do more. So exciting!

Written last week:

The annoying part about having to write the ride report was that what I *actually* wanted to write was more of a "what worked/what didn't work" article, instead of a somewhat-polite, fit for public consumption story.

So I'll do that here. No holds barred, including some of the not-so-delicate aspects of long-distance riding. :)

Successes:

Mental Trickery: I hate the beginning of rides - you get that awful "OMG, I've only come 1.5 miles and I'm already tired" feeling. So I was very, very careful this ride to take it in tiny bites, either selecting points from the map in areas where I didn't know the trail, or going with points that I did know on parts of the trail I was familiar with. Doing this, I rode from point to point, never letting myself think of the big picture... except for once at 52 miles when instead of focusing on the nice hour hold I was about to get, I was really down because I was "so tired and OMG we'd only come half way". Uh oh. Bad. In reality, going out after the hold felt fine once we got going, so it just goes to show.

Baby Wipes: even if you don't get to change clothes or , the holy grail - shower, at least have a supply of baby wipes at the mid-way point to scrape off some of the grime. It feels heavenly.

Puffy Ankle: Uno had, apparently, knuckled over during a training ride three weeks before VC100. The fetlock had a scrape on it and the leg puffed up. I iced, I fretted, I tried not to look at it while all the time imagining I could/could not see puffiness in the pastern (in reality, it came and went). On the day, this ankle didn't bother him in the slightest, nor did it swell up afterwards, which just goes to show.

OTOH, we're still not totally out of the woods in the long-term - he doesn't like me to pick up this foot, so there's *something* going on - I just don't know what. He gets a month off and we'll see how things are after that.

Power Bloks: For those of you who don't like Gu/Powergels, maybe try ShotBloks from Clif (or Luna Moons)? They are like cubes of jello. I ate two packets of these and they seemed easier to deal with than Gu for once (although I carried that too) - they are slightly less sticky and sweet.

Applesauce Crushers: These came from Trader Joe's (West Coast and NE) and unfortunately I only had one of them. Had I managed to get to the store and bought a six-pack, I probably would have eaten all six. The tireder I get, the more pathetic, and if any activity requires more than point-n-shoot, it may not happen. These are squooshable, resealable foil packets of applesauce. Pop the cap, squirt, and you're done. You could carry them safely on the saddle without worrying too much about them bursting, so they're a nice thing to have.

Using up too much Lucy: In the months leading up the to ride, I'd promised myself I'd be fit and have been running regularly. In reality, life and health got in the way, and it didn't really happen. Although I wasn't a total blob, I was far from the fit, svelte, athletic person I'd imagined in my mind's eye. Despite this, I wanted to help Uno out as much as I could by doing whichever sections necessary on foot.

The steep SOBs were - unfortunately for me - one of those sections. I did the hard parts on foot, and although I wasn't great for the next ten miles or so, I do think it paid off in the long-run - Uno felt good and fresh when I scrambled back on.

Earlier in the ride, I also did the 2.5 mile, 1500' drop down the Old Toll Road on foot, stumbling along, running where I could. At the vet check Uno was remarkably cheerful and pulsed down well, even though we'd blitzed in the last mile at the bottom of the grade.

So I met my goals, sort of. I managed to help him out, without totally using myself up.

The not-so-delicate:

Neosporin: my friend Ann taught me a neat trick for saving your nose in the desiccating NV desert - apply neosporin (or similar) ointment to a Q-tip and smear the inside of your nose. Sounds silly, but spending all day feeling a bit like you're going to have a nosebleed isn't much fun. Funnily, at 50 miles, we were looking at Uno's nostril (his pink one) and he was looking similar, so we shoved a big blob up inside his nose too.

No under-boob rubs. This may seem like a minor thing (and of little interest to the male riders here), but this took a lot of trial and error with various bras and lubricants. Some bras gave great support, but they had a innocuous seam that ran underneath and I'd come home with rather unattractive oozing horizontal sores - esp. if I got off and ran at all. Finally found a bra that works bestest for me - doesn't cause any rubbing at all and is comfy for 24 hours+ without feeling like you're wearing an instrument of torture designed to make you sit up straight.

Body-Gliding:

Butt: This one seems to be peculiar to "over-50 miles" - I've never had the problem on a 50. The "point of buttock" (I believe is the area in question) gets chafed (perhaps from posting?) and it's not until you get off the horse you realise you are a little tender. So this location has been added to my "hot spots to be buttered" list as I'm getting dressed in the morning.

Other areas for me are:

insides and undersides of knees
inside point of calf muscle (mine are apparently particularly bulgy)
under-boob
underarm-top-edge of bra
inner knicker-elastic line (adductor area)

In addition to my "getting dressed" BodyGlide, I also have a small stick that I carry on my saddle - now alarmingly empty - and I was proud of myself that I monitored my hot-spots and reapplied as and when necessary (at 39 miles and again at 76 miles).

Failures:

Mental Trickery: I already mentioned my one failure as we were coming in the last few miles to the 52 mile check. Do *not* let this happen. It's pointless. Take each section in tiny bites and rejoice when you get there.

Food: Not sure if this should be in the success or failure column. Consumption wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either (for me) - although I felt queasy from about 50 miles on. But that said, on the Monday/Tuesday after the ride, I had the worst case of lower-intestinal distress I've had in a long time. No idea if I caught a bug, or if overdoing it caused it, or a combination of both. Ten days later, I'm still not 100% and have to eat carefully.

On the day, I managed to munch on melon, cheese, sliced turkey, and Ensure. Also managed to slurp down applesauce, whipped yoghurt, brownie bites, pot noodle, and string cheese (as well as those two packets of PowerBloks).

Peanuts were not good. And soup at 92 miles made me gag.

Tiny bites was key.

Saddle/Stirrups/Setting up #2 Saddle: I switched over to my husband's "almost identical" treeless Sensation saddle for the ride because it had the longer seat and I thought it would give me more relief for my knees. I'd done 70 training miles in it in the three weeks leading up to the 100 with no problems, but despite that, Uno developed a loin rub at 50 miles and was pretty bald by the end, although not sore (although he was sore to palpation the next day).

In retrospect, I'm not sorry I tried this - my knees didn't get super-crunchy - but I did realise later that since I had *my* saddle there with me at camp, if I'd set it up ahead of time exactly as needed (stirrups are a bit fiddly to get right), I could have switched over to that saddle at the mid-way point and maybe alleviated his rubbing.

Also, analysing what's going on with my saddle, I am going to change my stirrup set up once again (I've been fiddling with this all year) to give me a bit more swing in my stirrups - which will hopefully help the crunchy knee problem.

Not a complete failure, but more in the "could do better" category.

Sun Screen:

Good = applied it first thing in the morning before we started.

Bad = didn't apply it again and turned into a tomato. Dummy.

Abs: Not sure if this is related to the running, the tailing (likely culprit) or just generally riding long hours, but my abs were really sore, esp. by mid-way. Crysta commented that maybe this is why it's hard to eat - your tummy hurts to move. Apparently "abs" are muscles you have in your middle. I wouldn't know, I'm not aware of having any. Another one for the "could do better" column.

Bad Tummy: I can't tell if this was caused by overusing my body during the ride or from a bug that was going around at that time, but I had the worst case of stomach indisposal afterwards. Had to stay home from work Monday and Tuesday because of it and nearly a month afterwards, my stomach still isn't quite comfortable with food.

Fetched home 38 bales of hay on the trailer yesterday. Unfortunately, I strapped it wrong, the load had shifted on the way up our steep driveway, and while we were trying to park the trailer (requires nifty 57 point turn backing down another steep bank), half the load slithered off the back onto the ground. <grumpy face>

Jackit n' me did a small hill on the back driveway. Then we did it again. Then we tried a small downhill and I had to get off - I was getting crunchy from worrying about lack of crupper and he was getting crunchy because I was. Still, it's a start.

When we got home, I still had 45 minutes of daylight left, so Jackit n' me did the small hill again, this time with a crupper. Not sure it helped much, since then I was worrying about his reaction to the crupper. In the end, pft came out and walked in front of us, acting as a brake so Jackit wouldn't rush the hill and I wouldn't scrunch up worrying that he would. Baby steps.

OK, so this didn't happen to me and I didn't know anyone involved, but this story has been on my mind since they first discovered the 33 miners still alive back in August. The way the entire thing was handled was so excellent - very, very conservative instead of instant gratification. They down-played every aspect of the rescue, never bringing people's hopes too high so that there was never any disappointment - just a careful movement forwards to a positive outcome. And, oh boy, was it a positive outcome. As Chilean President Piñera said "a magical day".

Someone asked me at lunch why I was so interested in the story. The only thing I can think is that it plays to my worst nightmare of people falling down small holes and slipping down and down and down - think Alfredo Rampi in June 1981, an event that gave me a sick feeling in my stomach for years afterwards.

Nearing the end of another dull drive home, after a 50 hour week with 10 hours of commuting tacked on for fun, I saw a bear about two miles from home this evening. How cool is that?

Yesterday morning we were discussing how the commute still works for us because the first half (or the last half, depending on how you view it) involves driving along, looking at who's got a new goat; who's put a fence up; who's logged their land; who's got a different horse in for training; who's building a new barn, etc, etc.

But it's little things like this (or big things, depending on how you view it) that really make my day.

I persuade pft to come out and chaperone Jackit and me at Meadowbrook. Since it rained all day, we waited and waited and finally thought screw it, and just went anyway. Soggy sheepskins R Us. Unfortunately, because of this, no photos :(

Jackit's eyes got very big when he saw the boulders at the trail entrance and I wondered if maybe I'd bitten off more than I could chew, but after hand-walking a short way he settled right down and I got on. His standing still while being mounted skills are deteriorating, but off we went.

We rode along the creek as far as the trail went and then turned around. By then it had stopped raining, but not wanting to risk wet wooden bridge, I got off and led him over that. At that point we started up the hill and he got in the lead and off he went - very cheerful, stepping over logs, rocks and clambering over things. He really doesn't care much, which was wonderful.

He's very clingy towards Fergus, which is to be expected, but we had a minor problem when Fergus crossed the wooden bridge on the way back and I tried to stop Jackit so's I could get off, but otherwise the whole ride of about 45 minutes went without a hitch. Yay!

...and with it came fifty tons of wetness. It rained solidly for about 48 hours. For the first 24 hours, the rain went into the solid ground and was sucked away. For the next 24 hours, it sat on top of the ground, sheeting across the driveway and making ripples in it, before flowing down into the barn and filling it with water. pft and I spent respective happy (not) sessions digging ditches and trying to divert water to more appropriate locations.

Apparently our last remaining waterproof jacket isn't. The bathroom is now littered with soggy clothes.

I'm currently beavering away on a big elaborate report all about the Delta and how they're going to improve it. The work is intense, but pretty interesting. Today they were complaining that no-one had been able to find a photo of a pacific or river lamprey. So I googled it.

Having amazed and enthralled you by yesterday's lamprey fishie, today's entertainment is much tamer and less <yikes>-like.

Winter is coming and apparently this enthuses the creative juices. Despite having a ton of semi-finished quilt projects lying around, I'm feeling the need to knit something. This desire only happens once every 25 years or so and at that rate, I'll only have knitted three or four sweaters by the time I drop dead, but I digress...

Looking for the perfect sweater pattern on the web. This was actually a search for the sweater pattern for the sweater that my mother knitted for recently-married younger brother Dan when he was two. I'm eternally jealous that he got this sweater and I didn't and she *still* won't knit me one.

Visited the local yarn shop at lunchtime and invested in enough wool to knit two pairs of socks and a set of five 2.5 (3 mm) bamboo DPNs (double-ended needles). I've lined up plenty of "how to knit socks" websites, so am hopeful of the outcome.

Here's my first "swatch" to see what kind of gauge I'm getting.
You're supposed to knit 4" square, but of course I don't have
the patience for that and besides, I like my socks baggy.

It poured with rain all day, so I knitted a toe, rasped Uno (seven weeks long <yikes>) and Fergus, and scrunched my back in the process. The good thing was, I was able to take a ton of pics of Uno's feet while rasping, to write my EZ Care Blob: "Uno Gets a Mega Trim".

When we got back from our ride, I trimmed Jackit's feet (had last trimmed his heels quite aggressively on 26th September [five weeks ago, when he returned from Summer School] and his fronts again on 9th October [three weeks ago]). This time, he was still long in the heel but I was able to trim them down again and his angles are starting to drop and his feet look less upright.