Ridecamp: [RC] Fw: failure notice/the stand-alone LD thread

My server said that RC didn't like this post first time around, so here it
comes again.... :-)

> > [quoting Nancy] "Historically in OCER it seems we'll have an influx of
> riders
> > who start in 25's, with fewer riders in the 50. By the next year most of
> > them move up or quit the sport, and the 50's have more entries. Then it
> > starts all over again."
> >
> > I haven't been around long enough to observe this, I'll have to take
your
> > word for it. But, at least at the endurance rides I've been to, the
entry
> in
> > the LD has been larger than the entry in the 50. That might be due to
the
> > difficulty of the terrain over which the ride is held near here vs.
where
> > most entrants can train (not very challenging terrain).
>
> This cyclic phenomenon happens all over the country.  Wherever endurance
is
> new, the LD entry is large, and the longer distances are small, until a
> steady ridership is built up.  Then the longer distance entries generally
> outnumber the LD's.  But there still seems to be the cyclic thing, where
the
> LD people kind of start in "waves" and then move up, and then another
"wave"
> of new folks start.  I've seen this over and over in several areas in the
> past 30 years.
>
>   > "Hiring a vet for 1/2 day 25 will cost just as much as a whole day."
> >
> > Maybe, maybe not.
>
> Maybe not, but it won't be only half as much.  The vet time is still more
> expensive the shorter the ride.  Having been on both the paying end and
the
> receiving end of this equation (been both ride vet and RM), I can assure
you
> that the longer the vet is there, the cheaper he or she is "by the hour"
so
> to speak.
> > OK, for the sake of debate, let's talk about a ride with an entry of 50
> with
> > 20 being 50 mile riders and 30 being LD. 2 vets can do this. 2 vets
would
> > have been hired for the 50 anyway. The order minimum for the completion
> > award was 50. Enough water in one tank for everyone.
> >
> > So everything that is in place for the 50 can be used for the LD. These
> are
> > fixed costs, they are sunk costs, meaning they must be paid no matter
> what.
> >
> > So tell me how adding the 25 adds more cost beyond the costs of
envelopes
>
> > and some baggies and the cost to copy a few maps? Time cost? You bet.
> > Adminstrative headaches. Yup! More newbies in the lower distances equals
> > more time and attention by staff, more heart palpations, more high blood
> > pressure. The attention needed for lower distances the day of the event
is
> > only slightly less per person averaged across the entire entry (some are
> old
> > riders on a new horse, some just showed up without a clue) when it's all
> > said and done than the 50's will likely require.
>
> And as to dollar cost, given this example, neither distance would likely
> survive financially without the other.  It is difficult to put on any sort
> of quality event without at least a ridership of 40 or so, no matter what
> the distance.
>
> Whoever said, "United we stand, divided we fail" was right.  We need all
of
> us, and segregation of distances could well cause the demise of
established
> rides that need ALL their ridership to survive.
>
> Heidi
>


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