Speed

Well, this Sunday may be a no show for me. Which is a shame because we are only 1 point from being in 3rd place in the overall standings. You get 1 point for just completing so if the 3rd place person no shows and I do we will be tied. Also, it is at the trails I ride solo, so I know them well and it is only 20 minutes away. Plus, it is a fundraiser for the trail system. But....I'm sick. W is sick. And I am sure the hubs won't be far behind.  Such is life.

I ordered a new girth Monday. Yet another new girth. I don't like the rubs I'm getting and need to do something. Its a beautiful Mohair girth and since I needed to custom order the size 18" I went ahead and had them make it black and tan. It is going to look sharp. The mohair is soft, flexible and low profile so hopefully it helps eliminate the issue. I got it from Moss Rock Endurance and the lady there has been very helpful.  It should be here by the end of next week.

But... that has nothing to do with the title, now does it? Nope. But I thought I would add that in anyway. Topic for the day is speed. More specifically why Gem lacks it. She is putting out 18 minute miles. I  run faster than that. In fact, when I got off her to run some on the way back Saturday we put in the fastest time of the entire ride. Ridiculous!!

I know she can do better. She doesn't have a 10 mph trot, but we did complete our 25 mile rides in just shy of 4.5 total hours with a 50 minute hold which puts us at 3 hrs 40 minutes-ish moving time. If I was good at math I could figure out the pace, but I know it is better than 18 minute miles! That's what? around 8 mph? Maybe a little less? Way better than the 3 mph I've been getting out of her.

I need to figure out why. Part of the issue is that I let her walk a lot. If I trotted the entire thing it would be better, but she moves soooo slowly. Even at a trot she is going slow. Well, maybe it is because we are going solo? But we aren't averaging much better on our hunter paces with Pete along. We are still around 3-4 mph. So what gives?

I don't know. If I hadn't had that LD miles to look back on I'd think she wasn't able to do it and I picked the wrong sport for us. But I know she can do it. Next time I go out I am going to make her trot for an entire mile without stopping. I will then be able to see our pace for that mile and get a better idea of what we can do if we don't walk at all. We need to average 6 mph to finish a 50 in the allotted 12 hours, but I would hope to finish closer to 10 hours. I like having a cushion. Also, you need to take walk breaks and time to graze etc...so the trot has to be higher so you can account for this.

Anyway...I can't wait until I can get to a 25 mile ride and see how things go so I have a good idea of what to expect from her. I just need a little more oompf out of her!