Ridecamp: [RC] LD's and the Land of Stan

Howard Bramhall hwb67@xxxxxxx
Well, today is my birthday, so I feel that I'm allowed to come out of the closet today, just because one should get something special to do on their birthday, even old farts like myself.  I will probably repeat this act on American Holidays and all religious ones (since that seems to be the issue that got me in so much hot water on my beloved Ridecamp), and any other day where I can come up with an excuse to make a post.  haha

I must keep this endurance related or I feel Steph will find a way to boot me off the guest posts somehow.  First of all, Limited Distance Rides.  I've talked about this before, but I'm not embarrassed to repeat myself (you know Guest posting doesn't have a spell checker, we must look into this).  It ain't broken folks, leave it alone.  Yes, it's become something quite different than originally intended, but, as some of ya'll have pointed out, it's intention, as defined by AERC, isn't quite clear anyway.  But, guess what?  The riders have decided what it would be, and that is what it's turned into.  And, most of them like it just the way it is now.  Don't try and fix something if it ain't broken.  Don't try and take away their top ten awards; you will regret it if you do.  They'll start voting with their feet/hooves, and guess who will end up picking up the bar tab instead of the LDers, who are paying it now?  If they leave, the fees for the 50s will go up dramatically.  You don't want to go there.

You could probably say that the LD is a race, but, they're all races these days.  Doing a 100 miles in 7 and one half hours is a race.  Doing a 50 in less than 4 hours is a race.  So, why do we slam the LDers?  Well, take me out of that we group, cause since I'm looking at the big "five OOOOO" next year (actually I plan on being 49 for ten years), I think my returning to doing only LD's isn't that far away.

Keep in mind, the LDers have a better completion rate than the 50 and 100 milers, they rake in more money, per mile, for the Ride Managers, and at most of the rides I go to there are more LDers than there are 50 and 100 milers combined.  Like I've said before, keep kicking sand in their faces and they will leave us and form their own organization.  I do believe this could happen if we keep letting 50 milers pass them in the long vet lines and do other things to make them feel second rate.  As, has been said before, there are tons of reasons why a person does an LD.  They are not all out there on their very first ride on a green horse.

Man, did you read this month's issue of Endurance News?  FEI and the Sultans of Swing are everywhere in that issue.  I am so happy the Board is taking a stand there.  Some of the very topics that have been discussed, here on Ridecamp, were covered in this issue.  Ridecamp is the cutting edge of information, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.  It's why I will always read all of your posts, no matter what my personal status on here is.

Finally, I'd like to mention Debbie Parsons.  She gave me the OK to post her email address on here, and I'd like to think some of ya'll will write to her.  Let's see if we can flood that military email account in her name.  Debbie is a Capt in my beloved Air Force, she's a board member of FERA, and is the nicest person you'd ever want to meet.  She's non offensive, and why she even talks to me once in awhile defies explanation. I hope she doesn't stop doing this after finding out I'm the most offensive person you'd ever meet, face to face. All I can say is I am glad she does.  Anyway, she's over there, somewhere in or close to the land of "Stan," and, she is there for you and for me.  There's no other way to say it, she is protecting us and our freedoms, and, as a fellow endurance rider, I hope you will post her and tell her how you feel.  All I can say is this woman is my personal Hero and I will make sure we throw her a really big party when she gets back, which should be around Christmas.  Her address is: parsons@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

That's some email address, don't ya think?

That's all for now; cya on the 4th.


cya,
Howard (don't ever forget our men and women over there; they need to know we love them)


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
 Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-