Muckleratz CTR 2025

 July was about Muckleratz and August has been about my NACMO ride, and every day I question why I feel the need to even continue telling the entire universe about all my rides ad nauseum. But here we are. For now.

Last year, I took Booger to the endurance ride at Muckleratz, then turned around and did the CDR with Lucy. I had a lot of fun doing it that way, so I decided to repeat the performance this year. It has been a month already so some of the details are fuzzy by now. 

Good girl, Lu.

Green Lane: Camping and NACMO

 The Father's Day NACMO at Green Lane was two weekends ago. This year, I decided to book two nights of camping for extra saddle time. Of course, it turned out to be the hottest week of the year so far, with a real feel well over 100℉. It wound up being a great weekend despite the heat.

Double Saddle Time

 It's almost June and I'm still blogging about April. Oh my.

Two days after our Stokes adventure, I met up with Sam to babysit her baby mustang on her first off property trail ride since she came home from the trainer. Then, Sandy reached out to me and I joined her for a sunset ride from the airport on her mares. It was a glorious day.

Baby's first boardwalk!

I do love to borrow Fina.

Jersey Devil 2024

After Hector, my ride season came to an abrupt halt. We missed Chautauqua. After that, I set my sights on Mustang. Originally, I was planning to take Lucy and do her first LD. I was going to ride with Sam on Puma. Then Mustang got cancelled. We regrouped and planned for Jersey Devil. The plan was to ride Lucy in the 25 with Sam. Then Sam mentioned that she wanted to do the two day 50. It would be her first multi day. I decided to enter Lucy in back to back 25's. This way, if she completed one day and not the second, the miles from day one would still count. It would be more expensive, but since I ride pass fail, I was all for it. 

After the Essex hunter pace, I had my doubts about Lucy being able to do both days. Booger, meanwhile, was still rip roaring fit. I had no doubt she could do 50 miles in two days. It would be our first multi-day as well. In the end, I decided to enter Booger in both 25's. My train of thought was to ride the first day and see how it went. If I wasn't having a good time, I didn't have to start the second day. I was interested to see if she'd be quieter on the second day. I keep telling myself "no more sand rides for Booger" because she treats them like really long race track. But I had such a good time riding with Sam last year. I figured it was worth a try.

It turns out, Booger wasn't the problem that weekend. 

I seriously love this mare so much.

Muckleratz LD 2024

The short version of the 2024 Muckleratz endurance ride is as follows:
I was going to do the 50. The temperature was in the mid 90's with high humidity. I had a crappy week. My motto for the weekend was, "I don't even want to be here." I ended up dropping down to the 30 to ride with Christine. It ended up being the best endurance ride Booger and I have had to date.

Jersey Devil 25

 One year to the day after Booger's first CTR, we went back to where it all began, finishing the season at the Jersey Devil. 

This was the moment she spotted Mike waiting for us at the in timer.

Crewing Mustang Memorial

 The weekend after we got back from our vacation was the Mustang Memorial endurance ride, right here in NJ. Originally, I had planned this ride to be Booger's first 50. When I entered her in the Horseshoe Bend Boogie in August, I was hoping it would be her second 50. After she was not-quite-sound at the finish, I went back to the drawing board. I hemmed and hawed and Mike encouraged me to enter the ride. My mantra all year has been "just try it and see what happens". Jen F and Christine would be attempting their first 50's. Jen M was coming to crew for them. A lot of our friends would be coming down. I wanted to camp and ride and have a good time.

In the end, I entered the 30. I planned for it to be my last ride of the season. The only other ride left on the AERC calendar was Fort Valley, and we are definitely not ready for OD trails. 

With 48 hours to go, I couldn't shake a bad gut feeling. Plus the forecast was calling for 80% rain. I had only ridden Booger on trail once since the 50. I ride her in the ring about three times a week so she's not just sitting, but still...

If I was being honest with myself, I just plain didn't want to do this ride. I have done Mustang a million times. The trails are, frankly, boring. I will never beat crossing the finish line of the 50 in first place with a ride time of 4h13m in 2013. While I try to actively support all endurance rides, and especially the local ones, I didn't want to go. Thirty miles of sand and pine trees in the pouring rain sounded awful.

So I did something I've never done before. I pulled my ride entry and cancelled my PTO. 

Instead, we went down and crewed for Jen and Christine. It ended up being a lovely day.

Crew Jen, Killian, Rider Jen, and me.