By Emilee RandalSeptember 24 2024
On September 1st, I saw a post from Samantha Ellis saying that the iconic JM Gibbs was available for a Virginia City lease. This is a ride I’ve always wanted to cross off of my bucket list, but since it doesn’t have the hype that Tevis does, it wasn’t really a priority. I talked to my mom and I didn’t think I’d be able to convince her, but by September 7, she was on board. This meant that I only had 11 days to prepare and I was already planning on riding a 50 on the 14th.
I focused on my upcoming 50 and came out of it with very sore legs from riding a horse with a huge trot. I was nervous that I wouldn’t bounce back in time to be the best rider I could be for this 100 (my second 100). Danielle reached out to me the following Monday asking if I’d like to ride her darling saddlebred on a conditioning ride with her and I couldn’t pass the opportunity up, despite being sore. This ride went very well and I felt much better after 17 miles. I packed and utilized the most amazing packing list from Tamara Baysinger and before I knew it, we hit the road. The initial plan was to drive to Winnemucca, NV on Thursday and finish the drive on Friday. I plugged Virginia City into the GPS in the morning so that the ETA time we were looking at all day was an ETA to Virginia City. The placebo effect is funny. We ended up doing the whole drive (13 hours or so) in one day. Tami kindly welcomed us and we hit the hay shortly afterwards.
In the morning, we went into town for coffee and the historical aspects of the town were fascinating! I read the wikipedia page about Virginia City during the drive which made the town itself just that much cooler. I enjoyed breakfast with some of the Crater Hill girls and spent most of the day meeting people and conversing, which was wonderful. One of my favorite parts about going to rides that aren’t in the NW is meeting new people. I love our PNER family but it’s so awesome to meet these infamous riders and get to talk to them about their successes in this sport.
Later in the day, Kelly arrived with Gibbs and we went straight to vetting since the ride meeting was rapidly approaching. He vetted through beautifully and the nerves were hitting. I didn’t have time to pre-ride but my saddle looked like it fit him well. I met Andrew, who was voluntold to ride with me, and he suspected we would finish around 3:30am. This didn’t really surprise me, but I also didn’t really realize how late that truly is when you haven’t had a lot of rest.
At the ride meeting, we were warned about lions and bears. No tigers, thank goodness! The sheriff had notified Tami about four mountain lions in town and Tami had seen bear tracks in Bailey Canyon. There was no mention of rattlesnakes which was a relief. I went to bed shortly after the ride meeting with tightly braided hair (thank you, Mollie) and I slept well until about midnight. I was tossing and turning and worrying about a million possible bad outcomes. I was supposed to be awake at 2:45 and I didn’t have my watch, phone, or a clock nearby, so I hoped it was close to 2:45. Fortunately my mom happened to be awake and close to her phone so she told me it was 12:30. Blegh. I was able to go back to sleep and despite sleeping lightly, I felt well rested when my alarm went off at 2:45. I got up, ate breakfast, drank some electrolytes, and enjoyed the stars. Around 3:30, camp was bustling with energy and it was time to start saddling. I got Gibbs and brought him over to my trailer for some hay and began tacking up and fitting everything to him. By 4:15, we were ready to go. We gave him some electrolytes and I hung out with Andrew while he finished getting ready. We were mounted by 4:40 and headed into town. The energy of a crowd of 43 teams isn’t describable until you’ve done it. I can’t even imagine what Tevis is like!
Gibbs was calmly walking around on a loose rein and I could tell that we would have a good day. This horse is all business. They announced that the trail was open and we walked out in the middle of the pack, led by the sheriff. Everyone worked their way into a single-file line at the trailhead. The only light was from the moon and it was surreal. The trail was rocky already but Gibbs was incredibly sure-footed and worked his way through them like he’d done it a million times. We slowed down through some of the worse bits and lost sight of the front of the pack. Fine by us!
Trotting through the desert in almost complete darkness in frigid temperatures was so cool. I am not one to ride with gloves, so when the sun finally rose and I could feel my fingers again, I was relieved. We cruised through the first 25 miles and had an unfortunate rattlesnake encounter. Nobody died and Gibbs was doing very well. We’d seen a few mustangs and I thought it was just incredible! I have never seen mustangs in the wild before.
We made it to the first check and Gibbs vetted through nicely and ate very very well. I fueled up as well and we began the trek back to camp. If you’ve ridden Virginia City or know more about it than I did going into it, you know about the infamous SOB’s. We cruised down to the Washoe vet check, vetted through, and continued on. When we were almost at the SOB’s, I texted Darlene to let her know. Her response: “my condolences”.
I tailed up half of the first one before hopping on again. Those SOB’s were no joke. When we got off at the top of the second one to walk down, I decided I’d tail up the whole thing. I was riding a bigger bodied horse and it was worth it to be briefly uncomfortable in order to save some horse for Mt. Davidson. I tailed up the second one and stayed on for the third one since it wasn’t nearly as bad as the first two. The view from up there was incredible.
We continued on and made it to the cookie stop. I enjoyed a few cookies, refilled my waters, and grabbed a Dr. Pepper. I was looking forward to the hour hold at camp since I have never ridden 50 miles without going back to camp at some point between the start and the finish. When we made it back to camp, I made the risky call to switch saddles. Mine was creating a very small pressure point on both of my inner thighs which hasn’t happened before. I decided a 100 miler wasn’t the time to troubleshoot this issue and Sam was gracious enough to let me use hers for the rest of the day. I haven’t ridden in a Specialized in a few years and it was definitely an adjustment. Gibbs has a phenomenally strong back so we weren’t at all worried about that. I ate, hydrated, and put on a fleece long-sleeve since it was going to get cold and off we went.
The middle part of most rides is always a bit mentally challenging for me. Having good company made this section a lot easier, but I kept thinking about how when the sun was setting at Mary and Anna, I was 8 miles from the finish, whereas here, I was 40 miles from the finish. That thought was incredibly unhelpful. I was adjusting to the new saddle and Gibbs was completely unbothered, so I figured we would be just fine to finish out the ride in this saddle.
We made it back to the cookie stop and began the climb up Mt. Davidson. At this point, the sun was almost completely set and by the time we were to the top of Mt. Davidson, it was pitch black. The view of Reno was absolutely incredible. I was doing well riding in the dark since I’ve done a fair share of that thanks to minimal daylight hours during the winter and busy days. Sometimes it’s the only time I can ride. Admittedly, I’d never ridden more than two hours in the dark.
By the time we got back to camp it was 10:42. We were right on the line of the recommended latest times. I was starting to get tired since I don’t normally stay up later than 11. Mollie was done by then and Sybil was tucked into bed so she jumped in to help. She and Sam took care of Gibbs and told me to take a cat nap. My mom gave me the most fantastic shoulder massage since that’s where I hold all of my anxiety and they always get really sore after about 8 hours in the saddle. I rested for about 20 minutes and then it was time to get up, refuel, and go.
We only had 25 miles left at this point which didn’t sound like much, but boy, it felt like a LOT once we began the lollipop. We left the Long Valley checkpoint to do that lollipop and I was suddenly hit with vertigo. The significant elevation change compared to what I’m used to at home likely contributed. I have never in my life experienced vertigo and I didn’t realize what was going on until I mentioned how nauseous and dizzy I was. Maybe I should’ve taken that non-drowsy dramamine. Lesson learned. Then my headlamp died and a steady white light was about the only thing keeping me sane. We were warned by riders coming in off of the lollipop that there was creepy music being played and I was more paranoid than I’ve ever been. The trees had faces and the rocks were talking to me. Gibbs kept trotting along, unfazed by the trees with faces and the voices. There was music coming from somewhere, but it was likely just a homeless encampment playing music at 3am. I do think I fell asleep a few times while riding.
Getting back to the Long Valley vet check for a 15 minute hold was a relief. I sat down in a chair and dozed off for a few minutes after eating a small cup of very delectable soup. I tried to drink some water but the nausea made it difficult. I managed to tow myself back into the saddle and we really had to keep a steady trot if we wanted to make it back on time. Andrew turned on his headlamp from behind me and the light soothed the vertigo. We trekked on in dead last and before I knew it, we were at the water buffalo. I flopped down over Gibbs’ neck and almost fell off. A truly humbling moment.
The last 5 miles to camp felt like it took forever but at the same time, it flew by. My mom was constantly updating Darlene who was living vicariously through her and in that moment I was so thankful to have two people who love me cheering me on. It felt like Darlene was right there with me at 4am. When we approached the finish line, I was giddy. We were done.
We made our way back to the fairgrounds and met Mollie and Sam who were ready at 4:30 in the morning to take over and let me go to bed. I was granted my completion and the best hallucination of the day was my bed calling my name. I fell asleep at 5am after a brief celebration with Darlene via text message. Waking up to “congratulations” messages from some of the people I admire most in this sport made me tear up. I get a little choked up thinking about it now. This experience was so unique and special. Finishing and getting a burst of adrenaline and pride is something I will never forget. I am so thankful to everyone who made this happen and to every single person who believed in me. I most definitely could not have done this without Max’s voice in my head telling me to keep on going. Each and every day I will ride for the horses who cannot, for the riders who cannot, and I will cherish every moment spent in the saddle with trusty steeds who share my love for the sport.
Until next year.
