RE: Endurance as a team sport

[Sbeseda@aol.com]

Susie you wrote:

>There's a lot of strategy that goes into determining which riders should
>compose a team.  Teddy's referred to "rabbits", who are not chosen as team
>riders but whose job is to "lure" riders from other squads/teams into going
>faster than they should.

Interesting. But, if I knew that the rabbits were not part of a team and 
could not hurt
my teams standing if they finished ahead of me why would I be lured into
following? It would be a waste of my resources to compete with them.
Only those riders who are part of another team are worth the effort. 
Individual riders
are riding in a different race.

>It was noted in France that perhaps the USA has been too "individualistic"
>in their medal expectations the past few years... perhaps it's time to
>refine our team strategy!

I agree, but teams are not part of Endurance Riding today. I do not see how
we can refine our team strategy without practice. Maybe instead of selecting
individuals for a one time WEC team we could find a way to start several teams
at the beginning of a season and select one team for WEC competition. I 
understand
the French had been competing as a team before WEC.

Scott