Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

MtnRondi@xxxxxxx said:

> I don't understand how people can pay the money to enter, say how much they
love it, then proceed to complain about the rules and want to change the
rules. 

Maybe they like everything except that aspect of it. I can't think of
anything else about our sport in terms of rules that I dislike. Personally,
I think of standing for BC as a learning experience, and sometimes do it
even if I know I'm out of the running. If we think that LD is for learning
(IMHO, all rides are for learning and training, but that's my $0.02), then
that's the last group we ought to prevent from having a learning experience.
Here's a radical proposal that probably won't ever go anywhere - let BC
order determine the finish order for LD rides, and if you're not fit enough
for BC, you just get a completion.

> Maybe that's just me... if I don't like the rules of a game, I just don't
play that game. 

This depends on how much I like the game. I've been known to go to
restaurants with great food and so-so service, or great service and only
above average food. Even so, if someone asks, I'll certainly let them know
the parts I liked and the parts that could be made better.

For example, I think most of the rules of CTR are silly (like following too
close), and if I happen to show up, I'm not going to care whether I get any
points or not, but I might enjoy the people and the trails. And I think this
is part of the issue. Close to 1/2 our starts are LD starts, and I'd rather
all those folks kept playing our game. 

> (Personally, if I am riding a horse over 4 years old, I would just jump
into a 50... I can ride 25 milers for free at home.)

That's fine, but it's your choice. Plus, let's put the shoe on the other
foot. Think about how you'd feel if this were the conversation:

Rider 1: "Wow! I just finished a 50, came in top 10 and got BC!"
Rider 2: "You 50 milers are just overrunning your horses."
Rider 1: "But I had fun, and my horse is fit to continue."
Rider 2: "Don't you know that 50's are just meant to be training rides?
        REAL endurance is 100's. They shouldn't even have BC for 50s. It
        just encourages you to race."

I think that most of y'all would get pretty miffed if a 100 mile rider had
that attitude towards your running a fast 50 and finishing sound. Now what
makes you think a 25 mile rider is going to like that attitude any better
than you would?

I had this experience - I once was talking on this list about how happy I
was to have barely missed BC at an LD ride back in 1999. I came in 10th, and
took 4 hours to do it. Not exactly tearing up the trail, and I certainly
took care of my horse. The main thing I was pleased with was coming within 2
points of BC, but boy did I get an earful about how those idiot LD riders
shouldn't be racing. If I'd been talking about running a 50 in 8 hours, and
came in 10th no one would have blinked (well maybe - folks on this list can
argue about just about anything).

I'll go back to lurking on this one - even I get tired of arguing about this
topic.




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Many of the endurance riders in our top echelons of competition, now and in
the past, exemplify the 'common man' not the hierocracy. It is this
possibility, this chance to come to the fore, that makes endurance
competition of the Aussie/American type so much more desirable to part of
the world.
~  Bob Morris

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