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>  The concept of a 'de-elevator' is no different from 'elevator' - you do your 
> 100 mile ride 50 miles at a time, either way. Either way, at 50 you can say 
> enough. 
Nope, not the same at all.  When you enter an elevator ride, you "put
your money where your mouth is" to do 50 miles.  When you've finished
that 50, you can say, "I think I can do more," and you give up your 50
completion and head on down the trail toward the 100-mile goal.  But if
you "de-elevate" you have "put your money where your mouth is" and have
said, "I can do 100 miles."  But then when you get to 50, you say,
"Nope, I don't think so--I quit."  

Going further than you thought you could and quitting before you reached
what you said you'd do are dead opposite in my book.  And the psychology
behind them is completely different, too.

I don't have a thing against elevator rides--but over the years, it has
simply been the case that very few people elevate.  I've seen a few
elevate from LD to 50, but not enough to make it something to need to
push.  I think I've maybe seen one elevate from a 50 to a 100.   

There is something about putting your money where your mouth is right
there at the entry table and saying, "I'm gonna do the 100 today," that
is a necessary ingredient to riding 100.  I can think of several of the
100s that I've done that if quitting had been an option, I surely would
have.  But I persevered because I was committed and there was no
"half-way out" on which to fall back when I got tired, or it got hot,
or the trail got long.  And pushing through that barrier is a part of
the thrill of it.  You get past that, and then you find new rewards out
there.

I can remember riding Gail Williams' Renegade Rendezvous 100 the year
the 10-mile loop (that we did twice) was long.  There were times on
that ride that I thought I was gonna die.  I had gone to ride the 75,
and had gotten talked into riding the 100 instead.  And when my riding
buddy Sara Miller (who HAD entered the 75) quit at 75, it was really
hard to get back on and keep going.  But I had put my money where my
mouth was, and had committed myself.  That is what 100s are about.  So
I crawled back into the saddle.  And I had the most wonderful night
ride with Len and Philip Fox--looking back, I wouldn't have missed it
for the world.  But looking ahead from the 75-mile point, it seemed
unbearably difficult.

Heidi


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