addendum

Addendum to Monday's ride...I got back from my ride and my barn owner was there. She is a 3-day eventer, former endurance rider, who doesn't do a lot of trails any more. She was wondering about my ride and my GPS. I showed her how it recorded how far we'd gone, time, etc. Looking the stats, it says: distance: 9 miles, elapsed time: 1:30:23, avg speed: 6.0, max speed: 17.9, total ascent 1,029 feet, total decent: 1,001 feet, and has altitude and speed charted every 2 minutes.

She noted that was a pretty good speed for that trail, being as technical as it is (part of the tough American River 50 ride). Lightbulb moment! I had been reading about endurance pace versus training pace, worried about how I can be quicker on these tough trails. I really had not taken into consideration the trail type: I know these trails are tough but they are just trails, right? Then thinking back to some of the blogs I read and trails they cover, many technical, but many open and wide, where you can trot (and even canter!) for more than a few minutes before pulling up to go over rocks, down steep rocky footing, etc.

I know right now we're just riding and having fun, but having a distant idea or goal is helpful to me. I really hope to find adventures on those types of trails, to go explore and really discover my horse's and my capabilities.

p.s. my GPS is an app on my iPhone. I already have the phone, so buying a secondary device would be nice, but not right now. The app is MotionX GPS, and I've been really pleased with it and all the data it saves. I just turn it on when I start the ride and forget about it. I don't use it to help me find trails, I know all the local trails too well already.