12 – Stepping up the Distance Once Again
It was five weeks until the North Island Champs – my first! We were aiming for the 100km. My first ride of more than two loops, my first start in the dark!
In New Zealand longer rides usually start in the dark – the middle of the night really! – with 160km rides typically starting at 1:00am. I would rather ride a fresh horse in the dark along with others for the first couple of loops than be on my own at the end of the ride in the dark on a tired horse. Also, although it is not particularly hot here it can get quite humid, so it is nice to get a couple of loops done in the cool of night. You do often need to contend with fog though, but at least you’re usually in a group and can get lost together!
I was paranoid Lace would tie up again, so after our 80km ride on Saturday she didn’t get a day off until Friday, although the first three days were led from George and all less than 7km. In the five weeks leading up to the North Island Champs she had only five days off!
So we were starting in the dark… I bought a head lamp (not a very good one as it turned out). I was worried about what Lace would think of it. So we needed to practice, but being cautious I decided I would ride George and lead Lace and start before it got dark and just keeping riding around the farm until it was time to turn my light on. The bonus of this was that there was an amazing comet (Comet McNaught, also known as the Great Comet of 2007) around at the time so it was a good opportunity to take a good look. The weather was perfect, totally the best comet I’ve ever seen.
It was a good plan… but a word of warning to those of you thinking of replicating. 1) Be familiar with your headlamp so you can turn it on easily, and 2) when you’re fumbling around trying to turn it on, DON’T bend your head down…. Otherwise when you turn it on a patch of light will suddenly appear under your horse’s feet! George leapt quite dramatically… for George… Lace didn’t give a toss! So, after we had ridden around for a bit I then put George away and saddled Lace and rode her around in the dark with no problems at all. We were ready!
Bad news at the ride briefing, cows had been moved and loop A was no longer available. This meant that we started the ride in the dark on a course that was not night marked… Marked well enough for day riding, but not well enough for those of us who had not ridden it the day before. The first loop was 40km, 20km out, turn around, 20km back the same way.
At one stage my riding buddy and I got stuck in a paddock… in one gate, following the track, couldn’t find our way out… others came in, they got stuck too, as they had seen our headlamps and followed us – sorry guys! We were stuck in that paddock for over 10 minutes, it turns out that there were two tracks, the one we had followed that went down into the paddock and another that stayed up, following the fence, and left the paddock after only 30-40 metres! We weren’t racing though so it didn’t really matter… frustrating though.
Just before the turn around point we sort of got lost again. We could see the check point ahead, it was lit up, but we missed the marked track and ended up on a series of short steep roller-coaster gullies – hideous! Luckily they were grassy and had no other hazards so we made it safely, albeit slowly, to the checkpoint and were then able to follow the (flat) track out on our way home.
It was a shame for my first longer ride that the course then comprised of three more 20km loops, all the same track… which was the first 10km of the 40km track then turn around and go back. By the time we were on our last loop Lace was totally OVER-IT! She was jogging along slowly and I suggested, just gently, that she might like to go a little faster… she snarled at me (at least flattened her ears and snaked her neck in a very clear NO, SOD OFF!), “Ok, jogging’s good”. It took us 7:17, but we qualified… Longest ride yet!
Also at this time Kerry’s daughter, Emma, was aiming for the World Junior Champs in Argentina. Then Shimar stuck his leg through a fence… and peeled it a bit. I said to Kerry then that if Emma needed any more qualifying rides she was welcome to ride Lace. Thanks, but she’s qualified. Then more bad news, there was something amiss and Emma needed another 120km at 12km/h or faster. There was another junior with the same problem and Taumarunui were kind enough to put on a 120 just to help these two juniors qualify. People were asked, horses sought, to no avail. Richard had suggested Lace but she wasn’t really experienced enough to be first choice – only two open rides, an 80km and a 100km, not tested beyond that yet… but no other horses were available. So Lace and Emma were going to do 120km at Matiere.
Another step up in distance for Lace with no pressure… none at all!
13 – Lace to the Rescue!
