American River Classic 50th Anniversary Endurance Ride
- Lily
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
Nothing quite compares to the feeling of zipping through dense trees on horseback with the knowledge that there’s over 60 more excited horses chasing your tail. As my fiery red mount wound through narrow singletrack trails, my attention was consumed with dodging and ducking low hanging branches, rather than focusing on the fact that nearly every rider attempting the American River Classic 50 mile endurance race was behind me. Within minutes of the race starting, the front runner was already out of sight and I found myself aboard SS Calypsos Sherman leading the charges. Other groups of riders began establishing their pace within a couple of miles, but I’ll never forget the sensation of so many pounding hoofbeats behind me. Empowered, laser-focused, and ever so slightly afraid, these are the emotions that make endurance riding so exhilarating.
2025 marked the historic American River Classic Ride’s 50th anniversary. With the original starting line at Cal Expo in Sacramento, the ARC has changed locations over the years, but continues to draw a crowd of ambitious endurance riders and fast horses. Now held in Cool, CA, the ride was very close to home and I had the pleasure of taking Sherman for our second 50 miler together. We would be riding alongside Sherman’s owner, Jenna, and his brother, Cardamom. The two geldings make the most excellent team, with matched paces and complementary personalities.
I had the luxury of arriving to set up my camp and vet the horses in, then returning home to get some chores done before heading back to ride headquarters to attend the ride meeting and babysit the ponies for the night. Mellow to begin with, when Shermi and Card are together, very little bothers them and I enjoyed taking the two out for a leg-stretch around camp at dusk and tucking them in for the night.
I was up at 5:00 am to prepare some mash for the boys and finish getting everything in order for the day. The starting line was around a quarter mile out of camp, so at 6:15 we hopped on board and headed out for the 6:30 start time. In honor of the ride’s anniversary, management had only organized a 50 mile course, rather than an additional LD distance. We handed over our start cards and headed out at the front of the pack as soon as we heard “Trail is open!”.
This was the first ride I have done two years in a row, and although the loops differed from my previous LD in 2024, my knowledge of the trails made it a very different experience than other rides I have attended in locations I had never visited before. Besides putting in many conditioning miles in Cool, the Olmstead trail network is one of my favorite areas to trail run. Having a sense of where I was at all times throughout the ride was novel and comforting, making it easier to focus on my riding posture and how my horse was feeling.
The trail was very well marked this year, with plentiful ribbons. Unfortunately, the number of hikers and other trail users in the area has contributed to ribbons being mistakenly pulled down in the past. Markers were hung high in many places to avoid unintentional trail sabotage and we were able to stay on course the entirety of the ride. The popularity of the area on a beautiful spring Saturday was one of the biggest obstacles of the ride, particularly on the first loop which began by taking the Salt Creek trail down to the American River and back up, then crossed the notorious No Hands bridge that took riders over the river and up to Auburn for the first vet check. We had to be very mindful of all the pedestrians and cyclists on trail and were grateful for the state park workers who were helping out in several highly trafficked sections. This ride requires a confident horse accustomed to seeing other folks out and about and who is able to rate their speed quickly when they come around a corner to a large group of hikers. No matter the terrain, rides always present some form of trail obstacle and it’s been a great opportunity for me to continue expanding my list of things to prepare my horse to encounter.
We arrived into the first vet check around 9:00 and had pulsed down to 60 bpm as soon as we came in, vetting through with great marks. We were very lucky to have crew support from Katrina and the horses settled in for the remainder of their hour hold, refueling with hay, mash, watermelon, probiotics, and electrolytes.
Heading out of the check, the second loop took us back across the river from Auburn to Cool. Climbing up familiar trails, the boys remained motivated and tanked up with water from the numerous creek crossings. Jenna and I alternated leading and came into base camp at 10:45. Sherman had already pulsed down to 44 bpm and once again scored nearly all A’s from the vet. The horses went back into their electric fenced pen to chow down before the last leg, which would be the flattest and fastest loop yet.
As our hour hold drew to a close, we tacked the horses up for the final time of the day and trotted out for the remaining miles of the ride. I had unfortunately smashed my left knee into a tree early in the day when Sherman had taken a corner too tight, and just as it was starting to feel better, I got scraped on the same knee by a second oak trunk, the force of which sent the cap of my electrolyte bottle flying in the air. Luckily, both impacts had been to the side of my knee rather than directly to my kneecap and I immediately could tell that no substantial damage had been done aside from some bruising which would leave me a bit stiff for the following days. Minor as the injury was, it was a good reminder to stay vigilant at the end of the ride when my horse and I were both distracted by the approaching finish line.
Riding back into camp together, Jenna graciously let Sherman and I lead in for a 4th place finish, and 5th place for her and Cardi. We pulled our tack to get weighed and cooled the horses before pulsing and presenting to the veterinarian for our completion exam. Both geldings looked fantastic, highlighting their fitness as their endurance season begins to ramp up.
After we attended to the horses and got camp packed up, I had the chance to chat with several friends and hear about their rides before making the quick drive back home, incredibly grateful for another successful ride with an excellent group of riders and horses.
Huge thank you to Jenna for her continued support and for another fun day riding together, to Katrina for taking care of us at the check, to ride management and volunteers for making the ARC happen, and most of all, to Sherman for being the best little powerhouse out there!
