Grizzly Mtn Ride 2022 – My wrap up and more…
You want to know what endurance is? Check out the photos Jala took last weekend at the Grizzly Mtn Ride.
Jala Neufeld’s Grizzly Mtn Smugmug Album
Look through these pictures! This is endurance. Do these folks look miserable and unhappy? NO! There are smiles in every photo! Big ones! Even the horses appear to be smiling and it was snowing sideways for part of the day!
I’ve spent many nights in the camper and even in a tent or two, listening to raindrops pelt down on the roof, thinking…I don’t have to get up and go in the morning. I PAY to have this sort of fun. I don’t have ride. I don’t want to ride. No one can make me ride. Then the alarm goes off, I get up, put the coffee water on for my partner, and go out to feed and give electrolytes to the horses. Then, we saddle up and…ride. And we have fun!
The 2022 edition of the Grizzly Mtn Ride was just this, except you didn’t hear the rain pattering on the roof all night. You went to bed after a really pretty day, and knew you were very likely going to be waking up to snow on the ground. We did. It was lightly snowing when we headed out on our 75 miler, and only got thicker. By the time we got to the top of the first buttes, it was snowing heavily.
Max said the weather gurus predicted snow til about 12-1 pm, and he was right. Then we only had to contend with the squalls, one of which was a 15 minute screamer, complete with free facial hail. Our faces were numb and the horses’ ears were full of snow and hail. Bam! It was nice out again and remained so for much of the rest of our day. We finished in the neighborhood of 9 pm, having had a very satisfying day.
No complaints here. Miles High and Fire Breathing Farah were good to go, all day long, for 75 miles, with our good friends, Siri Olson on her Troop horse, and Tani Bates on her Flash Boy.
The point is this…when you’re doing something you love, with people you respect and appreciate, you’re going to want to endure about anything with them. This group right here, shares a goal. A big goal. We’re trudging and enduring our way towards that goal. What a great group to ride with!
It was hard to step away from the Grizzly Mtn Ride, especially when the seams started coming apart in the form of inclement weather. Poor Sharalyn got the deathly ill bug the week before and was barely hanging on. She’s surrounded by a Bad A$$ Girl Gang though, complete with partners and the shebang. With the help of her most awesome village, Sharalyn and Richard pulled this one off. The trails were well marked. There was plentiful water, and more than a few vodka trees out there. The fact that one couldn’t see the lime on the corners during most of the morning and part of the afternoon can’t be faulted on anyone but Mother Nature. She’s got a wicked sense of humor, that one.
Everyone who showed up to the 2022 Grizzly Mtn Ride was a shining example of Endurance and Fortitude. I admire every single one of you. You’re my heros, you’re bada$$, you’re tough. You’re the very picture of endurance.
Max and I just laughed when we headed out with one of our Chihuahua girls, Poquita, to unmark the Rimrock loop the next morning. Mother Nature was having the last laugh. It was beautiful out.
Isn’t that about how life goes? Put your fear behind you and get out there and really live your life. You only get one chance to experience all the things.
What Darlene Says... 