The best-laid plans (and all that)...

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry"

It was the Bandit Springs endurance race this past weekend. I had a grand plan of arriving early, doing some camping and quad riding, completing a successful 50 (and knocking an hour or two off of our Sunriver time) and then enjoying a leisurely Sunday packing up and arriving home fairly early and pretty well rested with time to unpack the camper and get settled before heading back to work on Monday.

Well, that was the plan anyway.

What actually happened was this:

THURSDAY:
Rebel arrived Wednesday night to help me pack up the camper and to do the grocery shopping for our weekend. On Thursday he packed up the dogs and the horse and proceeded to ride camp around noon whilst I went to work with his truck (which had the quad in the back). When I arrived at ride camp at around 6pm everything was set up and the animals were happily settled in. He also installed a collapsible saddle rack in my trailer so I don't have to keep my saddle in the camper (man, I love that guy).

Check out this sweet set-up...

Talk about camping at its finest...

Thursday night we grilled some steak and then went out for a quick quad ride with the dogs. We watched the sun go down and the stars come out. We then decided to play a round of Phase 10. If you don't know this card game, you can check it out here. Typically when we play cards I usually kick Rebel's butt. However, in this game I wasn't even close. I can neither confirm nor deny... but there might have been pouting on my part. I do hate to lose. After that, it was off to bed. Other than the slight mishap with the card game that day went pretty much to plan.

FRIDAY:

Rebel and I decided to sleep in and it was so nice. Shield came by the camper to say hi. She was riding an extra horse in the Competitive Trail Ride that was being held on Friday and we chit-chatted about this and that, having not seen each other in a few weeks. After that, Rebel and I decided to go out for a quad ride because it was such a gorgeous day. Rebel topped off the tank to the quad and we packed up a cooler with water, snacks, sunscreen and bug spray and then hit the trail.

Ready to roll (however, I wasn't really allowed to drive)...

First stop was the top of the world...

Not sure what mountain top we were on but you could see for miles...

And miles...

Prineville as seen from the Ochocos...

Looking back towards ride camp...

While we were there, we watched all of the different butterflies with fascination. There were all types (even Monarchs) buzzing around the top of this hill... colorful moths too. It was tough to tell exactly what they were doing but they looked like they were all chasing each other. It looked like fighter pilots in action. It was very cool.

A butterfly right before it took off to do battle...

After that, we were off to see a waterfall we had tried to see in the winter but because of closed gates we couldn't get there. The going was a little rough and at some points I had to hop off the quad and let Rebel power over a few rocks but we made it. And it was worth the trip (and the little bit of a hike)...

Whoever owns this little bit of paradise is a very lucky person...

It's heaven on earth...

After viewing the waterfall, we decided to take the scenic route home. The gas tank was still looking good and we were having a good time. And at that point we were only about 28 miles into our quad ride. Unfortunately from there things pretty much went sideways. About 1/2 way into the scenic route home the gas situation started getting interesting. There is a digital meter that shows in bars how much gas you have left. At one point we lost 2 bars at once and the meter was flashing a very ominous "E". At a fork in the road we had a decision to make... go the shorter way where there was most likely to be zero traffic (and therefore zero help if we did run out) or go the longer way but be on a paved road where we could hitch a ride back if we did, indeed, run out of gas.

We opted to go the way of the paved road. About a mile or so down the road Rebel had the idea to stop and actually stick the tank to see how low we really were (like we need to flag down traffic now kinda empty or we have enough gas we think). Come to find out we had plenty of gas left. Oops... we added on a ton of extra miles for nothing. Except we did get to see a little band of wild horses...

I busy eating here. Leave me alone...

I think I'll just hang out over here...

By the time we were back to camp we had gone almost 90 miles (86.7 to be exact). And we were very dirty (but we had a blast)...

PSA: "This is your tattoo on dirt..."

As we rolled back into camp on the quad, Honey and Beaver were just pulling in. They brought a camper too.

I actually think Honey's camper is older than mine. Shocking, I know...

And then when we were all down registering and vetting in, we ran into Hutch who was also just getting there. Bow showed up a little later and she and Hutch shared a tent for the weekend. At the vet check all went well except for getting a B for gut sounds. Flash typically gets A's but I wasn't too worried. He was kind of depressed that his Bromance partner Leo hadn't arrived yet. Once Leo was set up next to him he dug into his food with gusto.

On Friday night we stayed up and chit-chatted and talked about things that ought not to be talked about in mixed company (sorry Rebel... I'm sure that was not a convo that you really needed to be involved in). Then it was off to bed so we could be bright and perky the next day.

LATE FRIDAY NIGHT/EARLY SATURDAY MORNING:

I'm not sure what time it was exactly, but somewhere in there I woke up with a raging fever. It felt like it raged on for eons years, but I'm sure it was just a few hours. Either way, I was feeling pretty rough once it broke. I went back to sleep and hoped I would feel better once the alarm went off at 4:45am.

SATURDAY:

At 4:45am the alarm went off. It was really early and I was still not feeling well. However, I decided to get up and get dressed and see if I felt better as the morning went on. I came out of the camper looking a little green around the gills (according to Bow and Hutch). As the morning wore on I just felt worse so I made the decision to not race. Instead I got back in bed and stayed there until around 9:30am.

After that I ate some breakfast (successfully) and decided to take it easy for the day. We hung around camp and didn't do much. At some point I decided to take a nap. While napping, Honey came back in from her 30 and finished in 3rd I think. Then Hutch and Beaver (who had hooked up for the 50) came in looking a little worse for wear. About that time I finally rallied and listened to their stories of their races. Hutch and Leo had a rough start without Flash and I there. At the first gate (which was a few miles out) Beaver and her horse Monster caught up with them and they rode together for the rest of the race. About 4 miles from the finish Monster took a tumble and threw Beaver off (over his head) and then flipped over on top of her. They were both lucky and no major injuries occurred, other than her riding pants exploding off of her (because Monster is a stallion, she had a strap clipped to her spandex riding pants. when he tumbled her pants expanded to 5 times their normal size and then the elastic finally gave up and exploded). She came into camp with her pants tied in a knot. Thankfully she had some biking type shorts on underneath. Otherwise that probably would have been the talk of the race for years to come.

After that, I perked up some and was able to have a good dinner and watch a thunder storm start to roll in. About that time I decided to saddle up and take Flash out to stretch his legs. Rebel joined me on the quad with the pups in hot pursuit. It looked like it might just sprinkle a little so I didn't worry much about the weather. But Bow decided she wasn't in for tenting it in the rain and decided to pack up and head out (don't blame her). Hutch, Honey and Beaver went down to the ride meeting and awards for the day. While we were out on our ride, the skies opened up and just started dumping on us. Flash decided it was time to head back to camp now. He did a huge 12MPH trot the whole way back. As we trotted by the ride meeting we got a lot of funny looks. I'm sure we all looked like drowned rats. But they didn't look any better. 40 some-odd people were stuffed under a 12x12 canopy. It looked pretty miserable. The meeting and awards were done in record time. After that it was back to playing cards, only all of the girls (minus Bow) joined us. Poor Hutch just couldn't grasp the way the game was played. Beaver kept trying to explain it which just caused the rest of us to laugh our butts off. Then it was off to bed... and hopefully not get sick again. Honey and Beaver were riding a slow 50 again the next day and I had decided to join them. But we all decided that we didn't want to leave at 6am and that we would make our way down to the start around 7 or 8am.

SUNDAY:

I woke up at around 5am and was feeling much better but not 100% yet. I decided to drop from the 50 and only do the 25 mile race they were offering instead. Beaver was too sore from her unplanned dismount the day before to ride, so she was out. Honey decided not to ride so I saddled up and headed to the start by myself. Flash was a little hyper but not off the wall but I walked him down to the start just to be safe. Once I informed the timer and manager that I was changing rides and heading out we took off at a fast clip and about 25 minutes behind everyone else...

Heading off on the first loop. See you in 10 miles...

"Becky, just look at that butt..." (can you hear Sir-Mix-A-Lot? I can...)

Because we were only doing 25 miles I let Flash pick the pace he wanted to go. And he wanted to go!! We fast trotted and cantered a lot of the first loop, which was 10 miles. We also passed quite a few people on the trail. However, I was polite and slowed down and made sure I was OK to pass instead of just flying by. No race is worth getting anyone hurt... plus most were on green horses.

Before I knew it, we were back in camp and doing a vet check and a 30 minute hold. Flash was doing great and I actually felt pretty good too. When we vetted through again his gut sounds were still only a "B" but he was eating and drinking fine so I wasn't worried. Just about the time I was getting ready to leave the vet check, Honey rolled in riding Zypher. Say what?!? That girl started about an hour behind us and had motored through the 10 mile loop quickly too. I debated on waiting and riding with her but opted to just go it alone and see what Flash had under the hood.

We took off out of camp on the 15 mile loop at a canter. I just let Flash go. I figured when he got tired he would slow down. At about 3 miles in we caught up to yet another rider who was on a very cute paint mustang. We met at a water trough and ended up leaving together. Flash was trotting much faster than the mustang so after a minute or two I couldn't see them anymore. This loop was much more hilly than the previous loop so I was making him slow down some to go down hill but other than that I wasn't rating him at all. 

On a particularly steep downhill just as we were passing a log that was kind of buried in the brush, a chipmunk (killer apocalyptic chipmunk, if you ask Flash) popped up on top of the log and scared the crap out of him. Flash spooked (and levitated) about 4 feet to the left and I was catapulted over his head. However, as I went flying by I had the presence of mind to grab on to his neck and swing my feet down to land the unplanned dismount almost perfectly. I was docked .5 points because I had the reins tangled around my left leg when I landed... otherwise it was a perfect 10 (just ask the Russian judge).

Right as I was trying to extricate myself from the reins, the dude on the mustang went trotting by. Um, excuse me? Very poor trail manners there sir... and of course I felt compelled to shout that out to him. Jerk. I totally could have gotten killed if Flash was the type of horse to freak out when another horse goes flying by. Thank goodness he's not and I was fine. I hopped (ok, more like scrambled) back into the saddle and proceeded to hunt that dude down and leave him in our dust. Take that!!

The rest of the loop went pretty well. Eventually the hills started to get to Flash and we slowed down a little. We enjoyed the views and took our time climbing to the top...

View from the 15 mile loop about 10 miles in...

Almost to the top...

At the 2nd to last water stop, the dude with the mustang caught up to me. That mustang was the little engine that could. No matter if he was going up hill or down he was doing it at about 6MPH. Flash and I were flying on the downhills but walking the uphills so we passed and were passed by this guy several times. Finally we just kind of settled into their pace and cruised to the last water bucket. On the way I got to talking to the guy. So he wasn't a jerk, just totally clueless. I guess it takes a few races to get the gist of the trail rules. Plus he also informed me that we were sitting 2nd and 3rd. Say what?!? Dang. Not bad for starting out 25 minutes behind the rest of the group.

Once we hit the flat I said goodbye to the dude and Flash and I cruised the last 3/4 mile at a canter. About an 1/8 mile out I decided to hop off and walk in so that Flash would pulse down right as we got into the finish. The dude trotted past me still riding and it cost him when we made it in. Flash pulsed right down and we got 2nd (only 21 minutes behind 1st) and the dude came in 3rd even though he beat us to the finish. Hah!! Take that.

We presented for Best Condition and almost won that, but fell a little short. That mustang was in pretty good shape and Flash had pretty much run at a 10-12MPH pace the whole ride. But we had a good time.

And then it was time to pack up and go home. Typically I get to sit around and just chill out until the following day, but not this time. We wanted to be home at a decent hour so after a brief rest it was time to pack up and go. We decided to stop at Taco Time on the way home and then swung by Yo Wild! for some frozen yogurt. Both were delicious.

Once we got home, I turned Flash back out to pasture and he cantered off looking good. He obviously was no worse for wear and feeling fine after our 25 mile run. I, on the other hand, was fading fast. Rebel and I furiously unloaded stuff as fast as we could and then I jumped in the shower. While I was standing there under the hot water I started to drift off to sleep. I had finally hit the wall... hard. I couldn't finish the shower fast enough and get in bed quick enough. I was done. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold.

Now that, my friends, is a weekend.

Next up is Pacific Crest where we will be traveling a few hours South to do a beautiful valley ride. I also have my vacation (and my sis's wedding) coming up in a few weeks. The summer is shaping up to end in spectacular fashion.