Tevis 2014 Part One, Robie Park

Successful completion, and our best Tevis ride yet. 

100 miles of beauty, appreciation, and joy, joy, joy.





Lake Tahoe

Peter, Rio and I left for Robie Park near Truckee, CA on Thursday, 8/7/14.  I like to arrive at 100 mile races two days before the start so that Rio can have the entire day before the start to eat and drink.  We have a rather short drive. From Mammoth Lakes, CA it normally takes about 4 hours.  This is the first time we took a different route.  Instead of going through Reno and taking the 80 to Truckee, we took the 50 out of Carson City and went up and around Lake Tahoe.  This route was 45 minutes shorter, and much more scenic.

The first time that Rio and I rode Tevis, in 2007, we lucked out and picked a great spot to camp at.  I'm not going to reveal it completely, even though I am showing photos of it.  It's off the main road, and not so busy or dusty as some of the other camping areas.  We have camped in this same area on all of my Tevis starts.  

                            

We were set up by 5 p.m. and then it started raining lightly, which helped tremendously in keeping the well know dust down for the next few days.  It was lovely sitting on the entry/door of the camper listening to the rain and smelling the wonderful scents of fresh rain on the earth and trees. 

Friday morning was sunny and clear and cooler than usual.  I spent the morning hand walking Rio off and on and organizing various things, including my crew bag for the Robinson vet check, packing needed items in my saddle bags and my camelback, etc.  Around noon, I went and picked up my rider packet and checked out all of the vendors, as well as purchased some raffle tickets for the raffle to be held at the Tevis awards on Sunday.  I spoke with one of the volunteers when purchasing the raffle tickets who is one of the artist that contributed to the beautiful quilt that was donated to be one of the awards for the raffle.  The main item.  I did not win anything at the raffle, which is fine.  All the money raised goes to a good cause.  Dave Rave won the quilt!  How great is that!

After lunch, I took Rio to do his pre-ride vet check, and then I tacked up and went for a short ride. There was a woman riding in front of us, and when I passed her trotting, she asked if it was ok for her and her horse to join us, and I said yes (of course).  I meet the neatest people doing these endurance events.  We had a lot in common.  I could not remember her name, but when I looked on the Tevis website results, I recognized her name,  Patricia Smyth.  She and her horse Jazz finished!



Pre-ride vet check

Pre Ride



The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and talking with some old friends and new friends. Before leaving for Robie Park, an endurance rider named Paul Sidio contacted me via Facebook to ask me if I would wear his #113 bib that he wore in the Tom Quilty endurance ride last year.  He would be wearing his Australian friend's #76 TC bib.  He requested to be rider #76 from the Tevis folks.  Once rider numbers were assigned to the Tevis riders and he saw that I was rider #113, he contacted me.  I recognized him from his Facebook page when I was picking up my rider packet, and he told me where he was camping so that I could pick up the bib.  Paul is a super nice guy, and he was riding with an Australian woman named Grayson.  Paul loaned Grayson his horse to ride.  Unfortunately, Grayson was pulled, but Paul and his great horse, General Lee, finished.

Ride Meeting

Peter at the ride meeting, with the meadow in the backyard.

I took a video of the ride meeting when Peter Clayton was playing a song that he wrote about Tevis.  I will add it to my blog once I contact Peter and get his permission to do so. 

It was a beautiful evening with the big full moon as well as a gorgeous sunset.



Early to bed since I would be waking up at 3:00 a.m. to get ready for the 4:45 a.m. start.  Rio could not of been a better endurance horse on Friday.  He rarely took a break when he was at the trailer between eating, drinking, pooping, and peeing, except to take an occasional nap.  And no wasteful energy by silly antics.  This horse knows how to take care of himself, and I'm sure, this being his fourth time at Robbie Park, that he knew what was to come on Saturday. 

I'll be writing about our ride in my next blog, Tevis, part 2.

Links:

The Tevis Cup:  http://www.teviscup.org/

The Tom Quilty Gold Cup: http://www.waera.asn.au/