The purpose of this blog is to track my progress in my journey to Tevis 2013. Clearly. That is the title. But a blog that is nothing but ride reports could get really boring really fast. Besides, real life has an awful lot of influence on the achievement of my goals. A fabulous example of this happened just last year. It was Hoss’s first year, so we were doing Limited Distance. He’d done really well at the Descanso ride in June, so I planned to bump up to 50 miles at Manzanita. Well, as luck would have it, on July 1, one of my dogs cut in front of my bicycle while we were racing downhill on a dirt road. The end result was a nasty accident that caused a separated left shoulder for me. The dog? He’s fine. But he doesn’t run in front of bicycles anymore! Well, anyway, this meant that there was no way I’d be riding 50 miles in October at Manzanita. By October, I was able to do the 25 mile Limited Distance ride at Manzanita, but I hadn’t been back in the saddle long enough to do more. So, yeah, life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.
Which brings us to my latest little interruption. This one isn’t a killer. But it is kinda funny.
When I first moved in here, I noticed a section of pipe that comes out of the ground, goes about a foot with a valve in the middle, then goes back into the ground. It’s right next to the driveway. It’s practically in the driveway. I thought, now there’s a bad place for a section of live water pipe! I wasn’t real worried about it, though, because we erected my round pen in the middle of the pull through drive way, so nobody was likely to be driving over it. Even when we opened the round pen to drive through it, the panels would be between the vehicle and the pipe.
Fast forward to the present. I took the round pen down for a birthday party we had, as it would really cut down on space to park or just party. I have another party scheduled soon, and I had an area flattened for a couple of pipe corrals, which cut out part of where the round pen had been. So, the driveway has been through for a while now. This means that I don’t have to back the trailer in from clear down by the neighbor’s house! How nice! Well, I pretty quickly realized I was gonna have to watch out for that pipe. So I got in the habit of watching my mirror to make sure I wasn’t going to take it out with the trailer.
Which is exactly what I did last night. I pulled in to the driveway, and noticed that one of the trash cans had been upset, and dog and cat food cans spread everywhere. I immediately knew who the culprit was: Tanner, the Pomeranian/chow cross dog. Well, I was so annoyed by this particular happenstance, that I forgot to watch where the trailer was. I pulled around the corner, backed the trailer into its space, got out, let the dogs out of the truck, and looked back at the trailer. I was a little confused as to why the trailer tires were wet. Oh, well. Off to let the goats out. While I was opening the goats’ gate, I noticed the booster pump was running. Why would that be running? There wasn’t water on. Then I noticed the sound of water. Oh, no. I was pretty sure at that point what had happened.
I hurried over to where the pipe is. Yup, broke it. Water was gushing all over the driveway. I went over to the breaker box and turned off the booster pump, but that didn’t stop the water, just slowed it down. I pretty quickly realized it had to be pressure from the tank. I found the shut off valve on the tank, cranked it off, and put an end to the flood.
I was very lucky in that I had filled the tank in the horse trailer before I went out to ride. So, despite not having running water, I at least have enough to get by. I’d also filled the horses’ water tank the day before, so they’ll be fine. I just have to worry about the goats, whose bucket is not large enough for more than a one day supply of water.
So, I took care of the goats and horses, cleaned the pasture, fed the dogs, and walked over to the next door neighbors’. I knocked on the door, and asked could I please take a shower at their house? After explaining what had happened, I was, of course, granted my request. It’s always best to know the neighbors.
How has this affected training? My grand plan had been to take Hoss to Cuyamaca Rancho State Park and take a long, about 25 mile ride today. That has been derailed. I’m occupied getting the pipe fixed. I will probably get to do that ride tomorrow, as well as riding one of the other horses, so my friend will have a good ride with him on Friday. I had planned to use tomorrow afternoon to work on trails here, which will be pushed off to Friday now. I think I had planned to rest on Friday. When I will really get rest is a good question.
The water pipe got fixed, and the water’s back on. No more above ground pipe! But, I did decide that it was probably put in by the previous owners. It was right beside what I call the “overlook,” an area that has been set up in preparation for a grill and has a nice paved area to sit above the canyon. We figure the plan was to eventually put in a sink, so they’d left the pipe above the level of the driveway so they’d be able to find it. I did bury it. I doubt I’ll ever get so ambitious as to put in a sink at that location, but I know where it is if I do!
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