Sadly, these riders demonstrated why you have to make time as often as you possibly can, or you'll get caught by the cut-off. 

To their credit, upon reaching the troughs they were careful to give their horses ample chance to drink without hurrying them, but in retrospect perhaps could have moved a little faster through the check. They were banking on travelling at 5 mph, but in actuality, it had taken them 3 hours to do the first 12 miles of trail. With this in mind, you need to judge how your horse is handling the trail, and, if he seems to be in good shape, move out whenever you can to make up as much time as you can.

While coming through the valley floor, these Tevsweep riders had to deal with a loose horse problem. Rider Blayne Chenoweth had dismounted from her horse Cairo to adjust tack and the horse spooked, dragging its rider a ways before taking off, saddle slipping. 

Lin established which way the horse went and it was later recovered munching on someone's front lawn.

Both these horses are trained police horses for Placer County Sheriff's Mounted Unit.

In the end, they did have to go up a little higher to meet up with returning rider Ralph Lepera who had encountered some problems in the notorious bogs on the far side. Ralph was sadly forced to pull, and had to walk his horse, The Bay, back down to Squaw Valley floor.