Getting Lost/Cutting Trails

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Heather Watson watson1@gv.net
Just a thought about the cutting trails/cheating issue.  Assuming
that you've done MORE miles than everyone else just because
you made a wrong turn on the trail is not always the case, though
probably likely.

I was on a ride once where there was a rider in a 
very distinctivly colored shirt.  I remember passing this person
early on in the ride, and never being passed again.

Later on in the ride, we saw a pack of three or four riders
come up to the water stop, bitterly complaining about all of the 
extra miles they'd done and how they'd gotten lost, etc. They'd
approached the water stop from a completely different direction
than the rest of us.  I saw the shirt, and recognized him as 
the rider that was at least 20 horses behind us.

My friends and I were thinking, Hey!  You've caught up with us
now, so it can't be all that bad.  We ended up in the Top 10,
but they did not.  I later heard muttering at the awards
dinner about how that they would have been higher up had they 
not gotten lost... Truth is, they were fortunate that they
finished as high as they did, and probably at the expense
of other riders that had followed the course.

Granted, I can honestly say that each time I get lost I will
probably assume that I have done AT LEAST a full 20 miles
more than I should have, but that is just my own personal
tendency to exaggerate.  I'm sure there are times that getting
lost may be a benefit.  OF course, the moment I don't see those
ribbons, I turn right around and back track, rather than
forging along into the wild blue yonder.  And staying on course
is part of the sport...probably just as important as the physical aspects.