Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At the last SERA board meeting we were talking about this. We are not sure
we can do anything to stem the tide but I guess I would like to try - at
least for the SE. Your comments on JD's is very telling. We have seen the
number of 100 mile rides decline in the SE. We have seen the total number
or riders doing 100's decline and we have seen the average 100 mile ride
size decline in the SE. In fact this pretty much holds for all regions excpet
the west which is flat. there is no growth anyplace in 100s. We have a 100
mile ride manager talking about dropping the one day 100 and do a two day
100 this year. 

As far as the completion rate - one word: speed. As far as where did they
go and why, that's the 64 dollar question.

Truman

goearth wrote:

 

 

Dag Gone if that wasn't a small grenade.  When the Modern Day Sport of Endurance was created by Wendall Robie, it was a one day 100 miles and they called it Endurance.  When FEI took it up on the International level it was a one day 100 miles.  Looking at the Newsletter of the Carolina 100 results... i see that there were 17 starters w/ 5 finishers and that is one of the easier managable courses in the country and there used to be 50-60 starters.  Looking at the graph of my first 100 in 1977 the OD i see that there were 46 starters and 32 finishers and lately the OD hasn't even had that many to start.  So when we were dumb and didn't have the selection of horse or tools like heart moniters, gps, electrolytes, saddles or shoe knowledge the OD in 1977 had a 69% completion ratio while the Carolina in 2002 had 29%.  The AERC membership has more than doubled during that time.  So my questions are?  Where did those 100 milers go and why?  What do these #'s say about the Sport of Endurance today?