Czarko settled in well when we arrived and we got everything prepared for Saturdays early start. Luckily, I started with the senior class who were doing the same distance so I wasn't riding on my own. We started the race at 09:00 on our first loop of 40km. This loop went well and I spent most of it riding with the two leading horses in the 90km senior class so it went quite quickly. Due to being the only one in my class, there was no pressure in the vet gates but we still put speed into practice and didn't dwell too much.
I rode the rest of the race with the leading riders of the senior race which gave Czarko and I a lot of motivation. We kept a good speed up and crossed the line achieving 17.35km/h. I wanted to use this as a training ride for Windsor so although I didn't want to put too much pressure on Czarko, I also didn't want to go too slow. As always Czarko made an amazing recovery and his behaviour was top notch.
The biggest challenge for us was the camping side of things. We didn't expect the temperatures to drop to -2 on the first night and were definitely not prepared for it! Thankfully, it didn't zap our energy too much and we were still able to get on with the day. However, the second night saw us dressed as Michelin men, in two sleeping bags each, topped with one of Czarko's rugs. Fortunately, I had brought three different Buffs with me and I managed to put all three on so my head and neck were covered - a complete saviour compared to the previous night where I wore none. We all found the second night much warmer so had a better night's sleep.Along came the third and last day - a day full of packing and unpacking. Eugh! I personally think this is the worst part of any competition when you are exhausted and aching all over but we soldiered on and managed to get everything sorted to make our way on the 6 hour journey home.
Needless to say, it was another great weekend giving us our second red rosette of the season.
No comments:
Post a Comment