Day 7
I awoke form what was a very short night of sleep given the disturbances of night 6. As I’m packing up my stuff Willemien pops back in the ger form outside and says “we have a problem, Tiffany your horse is gone” Our hearts sink. The picket rope where her horse was is snapped. We assume that when everyone drove home last night the horse spooked and broke it. Tiffany gathers her stuff and heads out to search for her horse. Because ours were picketed, we don’t have to let them our to graze, they’ve been eating all night. We’re getting much faster at packing our stuff and about 6am we’re ready and just waiting around for 7am. None of our hosts are stirring in the slightest. Another morning without breakfast or coffee. Tiffany has found her horse a couple of km away and we’re all saddled. we walk them down and water them and then come back to the girls to stand around and wait for 7 AM. Then we’re off like a shot headed toward HS 20. We know the boys have stayed there that night and enjoyed yet another evening of undisturbed sleep. But we also know they had to push in order to get there.
I know Vance is at the Holiday Inn in Ulanbataar and will heading to the finish line tomorrow, our paths converging. He’s written to take a moment and look around to see how far I’ve come. In doing so, it seems like a lifetime ago we crossed the start line. The days go slow but somehow stack up and we’re closing in on the Finish line.
The ride is uneventful and we arrive quite early. On the sign in sheet Willemien sees that Patrick (PHE) has received a penalty last night when they came in. His horse did not pulse down within the allotted 30 minutes when they ride in last night. He has ridden out with Chris though, as they have changed the rules now (many times) to allow a penalty to be taken any time at or before HS 27. HS 27 will be the last time that he could sit that penalty. So he is now riding with Chris though know he will have to sit for 2 hrs at HS27. We pick 3 race horses from HS 20 and head out. It’s a boggy valley and then a decision as top how to head over the hills to HS 21. We side hill a lot and try to not gain and lose too much elevation and wear our horses out.
HS 21-22 is uneventful except for in our search for water as we approach the station, we head to a water hole shared by a herd of camels. Super exciting as this is our first and only camel sighting of the race. When we vet the horses, Tiffany’s comes up lame. He has been sound the entire leg, but during our walk into camp, must have stepped on a stone, as not he lame and she incurs a 2 hr vet penalty. It’s her choice when to sit the penalty anytime before or at HS 27. She chooses to keep riding with us and sit it at HS 27.
“Terrible leg” is what my notes say from HS 22-23. Tiffany is on a runaway sorrel and ours our good soldiers plodding along next to a paved road the whole way. Hot and boring and flat. We try, as always to just ride the horses we have, not the ones we wished we had. When we get to HS 23 with not much time left to ride for the day I”m ready to bid that leg farewell. We vet our horses and ask again for horses that are easy to catch, bridle and saddle. Earlier in the day, we’ve heard from HQ on our trackers that they have eliminated HS 24. A gift. We’re supposed to ride straight to HS 25. They ensure us, as if anyone cares, that the course is still well over 1000kms. We head out with 45 mins left to ride. The route crosses mountains or can go along a river valley. As we approach our decision point, it’s clear if we didn’t have to stop for the night we’d head across the mountain road. However, the chances of us finding a ger versus the river bottom are much smaller. So we unfortunately have to take a slightly longer route down into the river bottom. It turns our to be the right choice and it’s dotted with gers along a stunning valley.
We end up with a family and it’s the best night of our whole race. The setting is beautiful: on a river, with a catch pen for the horses, and a welcoming family. They’re busy butchering 2 sheep as we pull up, and watching their process is fascinating. Not one piece of the animal goes to waste, including the blood. We watch and Richard, the videographer arrived to interview us just it was happening, can caught it all on camera. His translator also helps communicate to the family what we’re doing, hoping we can have a better experience than last night. When Kit, the head vet, comes to check our horses they’re gazing happily along the river and we’ve had a chance to wash our girths in the water. He indicates we could finish tomorrow. “It’s only 4.5 stations” he says knowingly. We haven’t done more than 4 in a day yet, and write off his comment as a pipe dream. He also warns us that HS 25-26 is an absolute slog and to get mentally prepared. “Just keep pushing” is our motto. We’re riding hard enough to keep the boys running & close enough to capitalize on any opportunity.
The family moves out of their cooking ger and gives it completely to us. Williemien and Tiffany have beds and we’re all to ourselves, with the sheep trimmings You’d think we’d be bothered by the smell, but we’re so nose blind to our own stink that I don’t even notice. Between the caring and genius family, a generous setting, horses settled nicely in a pen, it’s the best night out we’ve had. Unbeknownst to us, it’s also our last night.
