In which "never say "never" " is a thing, and Fee and I ride Tevis

I can truthfully say that Susan Garlinghouse convinced me to do it.  

Although her most famous horse, the Mighty John Henry, sustained what most would call a career-ending (if not life-ending) injury last year, Susan signed him up for Tevis this year.

And if JH can do it, why not the Dragon?

I seriously suck at selfies, but here's our "startline" photo

But, wait.  Isn't the Dragon retired from endurance competitions?

Yes, she is retired.  The sustained concussion of 50+ miles of trotting was causing her too much discomfort--and you know I've always said that "sound enough" isn't sound enough for endurance, and that she would never do another one.

And, hold on.  Isn't Tevis considered one of the toughest (possibly the toughest) 100 mile ride in the world.

Again, the answer is yes.  

But this year, now that the World Has Ended, the answer is also no.

14 miles of Tevis completed, without leaving my home Swamp

This year Tevis (like so many other things) is a virtual event.  And this year, competitors have 100 days to complete 100 miles.

This year, Fiddle and I can do it!

Probably the first time they've had logging traffic on the Tevis trail,
but definitely not a new experience for the Dragon and me.

We see deer.  Also chipmunks, squirrels, hawks, eagles, butterflies and snakes.

For leg #2 of our Tevis journey, we joined up with Anne Marie and Rifle, who are also "doing Tevis" this year.  Rifle is another "rehab comeback" horse--this kind of Tevis is exactly his speed.  

We couldn't find a "Cougar Rock" photo spot, so this will have to do.

We did 9 miles yesterday.  As we log miles on the Virtual Tevis website, we are awarded virtual trophies.  

I would really like to see the REAL Tevis trail some time, but this is not the year for it

At the end of our virtual ride, we will be awarded a real t-shirt.  

It's not the coveted Tevis belt-buckle.  You still have to do the real trail to get one of those.

Proceeds from the Virtual Tevis go to support the real trail and the real event.  Which, hopefully, will happen again someday.

Maybe, someday, I'll even ride the real thing.  For now, I'm virtually there.

Want to sign up for your own Virtual Tevis?  The event ends November 9th, so you gotta do all 100 miles by then. Just like in the real Tevis, you sign up to do all the miles on a single horse--but if you don't have a horse, there's now a non-riding version of the event!

 Here's the LINK.  

We'll see you out there on the (virtual) trail!