Mt. Diablo Endurance Ride  - May 2001

The Mt. Diablo ride has a lot of nice things going for it
- it's close to home - only 75 minutes to get there - and it
certainly has a different ridecamp.  We are parked inside
an abandoned racetrack on the raceway looking out over
lots of horse facilities.  Passing thru Livermore on the way -
there were huge horse facilities and it seems as almost everyone
here rides.  But not endurance - I see hunter/jumper places,
dressage, and show barns - right along big housing developments.

There are 99 entries - 75 in the 50 and 24 in the LD.  Corey Soltau
goes over the route for us at the ride meeting as the sun sets
over the hills.  It's cool now but he says that it's really going
to be hot tomorrow.  There are 2 1/2 hours of holds in the 4 vet
checks so the maximum ride time is only 9 1/2 hours.

QSER members at the ride include Lori Oleson, Kathy Mayeda,
Mike Maul, Brian Reeves, Val Weizer, Tom Stutzman, Jan Jeffers,
Mike Tracy, and Nancy Elliot. Brian and Val are selling T-shirts for
the Pacific South and will not be riding on Saturday.

On ride day - it looks like nice but warm weather ahead.  The start is
located 2.5 miles down a paved road at 6:30 but everyone including the
LDs are supposed to get their numbers checked at 5:45 leaving ridecamp.
The start is at 6:30 for the 50s and 6:45 for the LDs.  There are 5 1/2
vets - one available for only part of the ride. Two vet checks are away -
and 2 plus the finish are at the starting point.

First - the statistics:  Lori Oleson and Flame did well -finishing 9th,
Nancy Elliot in 15th,  Mike Maul/Thor in 22, Jan Jeffers/Cloud in 22,
Kathy Webster in about 26th, and Mike Tracy in 31st.  Pulls included
Kathy Mayeda and Tom Stutzman.  Dennis Rinde - part of the McCrary family -
came in 3rd running about half the race on foot. Mike Tracys horse was
among the oldest horse award with four there that were 18.

The 50 was won by Marcia Smith on Saamson in 5:20 and also took BC.  Other
top ten finishers included the Sullivan family with Godfrey/Blue Max in
about 6th.  There were 56 finishers of the 75 starting with some horses
needing treatment during or after the ride.  The day did turn out hot in the
afternoon - Stockton had a record temperature for the day of 100 degrees
compared to the old record of 98.  It was a tough ride due to the heat.

There were very nice views of Mt. Diablo - hence the name Diablo Vista probably.
We were on many of the ridges around Diablo with high fields of wild grass
and oats in the morning with very long slow rises and then ups and downs
in rolling hills.  In the afternoon - we initially had shade but then we
were out in the sun for long stretches with some steep hills up and down.
The third vet check at Curry was a tough one - no shade at all and in the
heat of the afternoon for many. Lots of cattle gates where the riders
either got off to open or hoped a NATRC rider would come along and do it
for them from their horse... :-) I really liked the feeling of riding up
on the ridges with the wind early in the morning - seeing the waving
grass around and being able to see the horizon way off in the distance.

There were still some wild flowers but the grass is almost brown now except
where the tree shade protects it.  We saw wild turkeys and there was a large
trap along the trail for something - pigs - turkeys?  The trail was very well
marked and the banquet in the evening very well done as a catered Mexican
dinner.

One sad thing to note - Cory said that this was the last year for the ride -
he would not be putting it on next year.  I had heard that the ride has a
history of something like 23 years so we are losing both Castle Rock and Mt.
Diablo - each with a long history and tradition behind them.  Cory hoped that
some other group would pick up the ride.  He gave away all of his inventory
of completion awards at the end of the banquet.

I also met the amazing Kathy Campbell at this ride.  Kathy was there teaching
her son the ropes so that he would be able to crew for her at the Pan Am
ride in Vermont in August. Kathy is the best crew I have ever seen.  She
"adopted" many of the QSER riders - Lori, Mike, Jan, Gary Fend,
plus others at all the vet checks.

She had all sorts of drinks, fresh fruit, cold face cloths from the cooler,
cheese, crackers, yogurt - everything you could need or even think of.
Plus she took your card - maneuvered you through the vet checks, took your
saddle when the horse had to be shown untacked, filled your water bottles ...

And if you were having a problem - she found a way to solve it - from inexperienced
P&R staff to your horse not coming down at the third vet check - to "you
have 3 full water bottles leaving this vet check - I expect to see them empty
when I see you at the next vet check"...

It was very nice to get this crew support on a tough ride - Thanks again Kathy!

And finally - my observations on the ride.

Sometimes we tend to take horses for granted - that they are just big pets
that we spend so much on and we have a lot of enjoyable times with.  But
occasionally I see something that reminds me to be careful too.  I spent some
time riding with the wife of one of the riders on this months cover of the
Endurance News.  Sometime ago - he lost a discussion of who was boss with
a young 5 year old.  He has 9 fractured ribs - some in multiple places, a
broken collarbone, and a punctured lung.  He isn't back to riding yet...

Before the ride meeting - a group was sitting around talking about horses
and the subject of ponies comes up.  One guy got a Shetland pony for his
child and the stories of escapes, mad dashes on 680, trying to avoid
telling the Animal Control Officer how it kept getting out...  I am really
glad our full sized ones are not this smart.  Very funny stories though -
a whole different view on horses.

Spring is going away - the grass is turning brown and the wildflowers are
fading.  Spring is one of the seasons I like best here in California.  The green
rolling hills and moderate temperatures turn into the "brown" season and
hotter tougher rides.  But we have things like Tevis and Swanton Pacific to
look forward to in the summer.

Cory and Shel - it was a great ride and I am sorry to see it disappear.

Mike Maul