To everyone who came up and helped at Tevis this year:

 

I'd like to take this opportunity to publicly thank everyone who came out

and helped crew at the ride.  I'd also like to explain a little

about what goes on during an endurance ride, especially this one.  I think

it might be a good idea to change the name of the sport to "improvising."

It seems like no matter how much planning is attempted, things still seem to

go crazy sometimes.  There were so many examples of unplanned episodes

throughout the ride I don't even want to begin to list them.  But you know

what counts?  The ability for people to adapt, recover and go on.  That's

exactly what we did during the Tevis.  You guys who were crewing for Judy

and I were not out there for pay- you were there because you are our friends

and care about helping us get through one of the the toughest rides in the country.

That means so much to us, yet it seems easy to forget sometimes.  There is a

common disease that affects all endurance riders on occasion (yes, even me!)

called DIMR.  (Distance Induced Mental Retardation)  That's to blame when a

rider snaps at a crew member, or says something less that tactful, or blames

someone for anything at all during a ride.  The thing to remember about

endurance riding is there is only one person responsible for finishing a

ride- that is the RIDER.  No one else.  Not the crew, the crew chief, the

vets, the in timers or the guy who cleans out the porta-potties.  It is the

responsibility of the rider to get through.  If the rider can't take that

responsibility they should not be out there.  The crew is there for one

reason- to make it easier for the rider and horse to make it through.

 

The Tevis just exaggerates everything.  It's bigger, more complicated and a

whole lot more stressful.  Of course all riders cope with stress

differently.  Some fly off the handle, some withdraw, some just get

irritated.  The stress of this ride is partially to blame, but that does not

make the offending party less responsible.  I was thinking about this while

driving home from the ride since I am guilty of suffering from DIMR as well.

This year the ride had a new format that didn't allow the horse to spend

much time eating from Robinson Flat all the way to Foresthill.  That's about

8 hours or so.  Poor Shatta was so hungry coming into Foresthill he was

grabbing at tree branches.  I had never seen him that hungry and could think

of nothing except letting him eat.  Unfortunately he needed to go to the

farrier and get shoe work done first.  Okay, simple. While in the P&R line,  I asked my crew to get

him some hay to eat while he was being worked on by the farrier.  Janet ran over to the

truck to get a hay bag.  She was not back in 5 minutes and I started to get

irritated.  Where was she?  What could be taking so long?  The longer she

was gone the more paranoid I got.  Why?  I don't know. I think that's just

part of being human and loving my horse.  I kept ranting about where was she,

until she came running up with the hay.  Okay, finally he's eating now. 

 

What I didn't take into consideration was what actually happened. My crew

had taken great pains to set up the crew spot in perfect detail with

everything covered down to the last detail.  They didn't know I would be

spending 20 minutes with the farrier.  I didn't know they had to park the

truck about a half mile away.  Sure, we needed to improvise, but that's

exactly what they did.   And you know what?  Shatta ate.  I got special

treatment by my crew.  We finished the ride.  The world is wonderful. Yet I

still was bitching about a crew member who was doing everything she could do

for me for the sake of helping.  Sure made me feel like an asshole later on.

 

 

Janet- Thank you so much for your help and I'm sorry for the complaining I

was doing.  Like I said, I can't really rationalize what happened to my mind

but I guess I was tired and I'm only human.  And here's the farrier wanting

$40 for the work.  Like I carry my wallet on the trail?  Janet gives him the

cash without even blinking an eye.  Susan runs over and gets me a burger

because that's what I wanted to eat.  Claire would not rest until I was

completely taken care of. Sue comes all the way from Arizona to drive the

rig and help. Sally Pringle brought my damaged shoe to the next check and

helped save my ride.  Bill Froming drops everything and helps me with my

stuff at the first check because I needed help. Not to mention Jean taking

three days just to make the ride easier for everyone.  Everywhere I turned

there was someone there trying to help. Everyone involved went way beyond

the call of duty, all day, no matter what we riders were complaining about.

Crewing isn't easy, especially at this ride that requires the grand daddy of

crew effort.  You guys all should win an award for the intense effort you

put in throughout the weekend.  Sleep?  What sleep.  It made me smile at the

fairgrounds to see Susan, Claire, Janet and Sue sitting in a little group of

chairs, wearing sleeping bags around them to keep warm at 3 in the morning.

This is a normal way to spend a night?

 

Thanks again, guys.  Shatta and Warpaint, Judy and I did it.  You guys are

very much responsible for us completing that ride. I hope you will all come

back out next year, because we'll be there looking for Shatta's second

buckle.  I don't know how to thank you except to say:   Thank you, my

friends.

 

Nick & Judy, Shatta and Warpaint

Tevis 1998