Re: RC: Re: Re: Safe starts at races...

["B.E. Jackson" <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>]

Thanks for your great input, Whitney (and several others) Actually, my 
personal goal is to finish—ALIVE, but in the interest of researching a piece 
on safe starts at endurnance races, I'm following up on a lot of issues and 
considerations that have been mentioned to me. Particularly like one ride 
manager's idea of all following the truck until the group is past the tricky 
beginning to the trail. My most frightening scenario was the aspect of 50 
riders and 50 runners converging on the same starting line, which almost 
immediately dipped into a thirty foot wide gulley. Good times... ;-}

Bonnie in AZ


>From: "Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>
>Reply-To: <bass@bigsky.net>
>To: "B.E. Jackson" <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>, <ridecamp@endurance.net>
>Subject: RC:  Re: Re: Safe starts at races...
>Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 22:24:52 -0700
>
>
>You may not catch the front runners in the LD's, (we're talking about the
>first 2 or 3 riders, I assume), if you spend a few minutes extra before you
>start -- the shorter duration means less time you have to make up those
>minutes.  I don't ride LD, so I really wouldn't know for sure.  But I know
>that in most hundreds and fifties, those couple of minutes don't really
>mean a thing -- especially if your goal is simply to finish well (top five
>in hundreds, top ten in fifties) -- I've proven it time and again.  Don't
>get me wrong, there are a number of rides where you don't really have too
>much of a choice about whether to start with the group or not (Tevis being
>the first to come to mind).  So you need to have a horse that is trained to
>listen to your cues and requests even in exciting, stressful situations.
>And even though my horses tend to deal with these "stressful situations"
>very well, I do not ask them to "deal" with the starts of most rides -- it
>seems like there is no need.  Of course I don't ride to necessarily finish
>first, so if you're ride goal is to win, win, perhaps my strategy isn't the
>best for you.
>----------
> > From: B.E. Jackson <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>
> > To: bass@bigsky.net; riosanbravo@hotmail.com; ridecamp@endurance.net
> > Subject: RC:  Re: Safe starts at races...
> > Date: Saturday, January 22, 2000 8:51 PM
> >
> >
> > Well, that is good news. I've been told that in LDs, if you linger back
>too
> > long, you're likely never to catch the front runners. Any comments?
> >
> > >From: "Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>
> > >Reply-To: <bass@bigsky.net>
> > >To: "B.E. Jackson" <riosanbravo@hotmail.com>, <ridecamp@endurance.net>
> > >Subject: RC:  Re: Safe starts at races...
> > >Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2000 18:18:00 -0700
> > >
> > >The easiest way to have a safe start at a ride (I've found) is to avoid
>the
> > >start of the race.  I wait for most of the riders to leave (while I
> > >continue warming my horse up away from the start area), then I head 
>out.
> > >It seems to be easier on my horse (they don't burn so much needed 
>energy
>in
> > >the first 10 miles or so), and it's much safer because I avoid the
>majority
> > >of the "traffic".  And, yes, you can still compete using this technique
>--
> > >I rarely finish out of the top ten.  Hope this helps!
> >
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