Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Gee I don't know about that - Carl Lewis sure got a lot by going 100 
meters. Maybe the greatest track athletic of his day. Then follow that 
by Michael Johnson the greatest of his day. Heck he did go further - all 
of 200 meters and 400 meters. Does anyone call any names of any to US 
marathoners during the mid 80' to 2000? If the logic below holds - then 
the Marathoners would be the guys with the big shoe deals, etc. - I got 
news for you folks it is not, that's not the case.

The point I think some are trying make is they feel the ride managers 
are accepting their money - in many cases as much as the longer 
distances and then they don't receive the benefits as spelled out in the 
rules, e.g. the chance to stand for BC. I can basically guarantee you 
that you won't here the complaint about ride managers and LDs in the SE 
region. The LD has been an integral part of endurance in the SE for a 
long time. I expect the MW and CT regions are much the same.

If we are going to take full dues from people that choose to ride LDs 
and charge them fees the same as the other distances I would suggest 
that we provide them with the same quality experience as the other 
distances. The way I read it that was all that was asked for.

I will close with one incident I saw some years back. We had a rider in 
the SE that was the prototypical professional LDer. He had a great horse 
- the horse was 8 or 9 at the time of the incident. The horse was in 
great shape and he rode the horse to win - and did most of the time 
along with BC. One day after the ride another rider comes up and says to 
him that his horse is obviously good, why is he messing around with LD's 
why isn't he doing real endurance. My mouth fell open since I knew why. 
The rider answered it in what I though was a gracious manner, a lot more 
gracious than I would have been if it had been me. He said "well I love 
to ride and would like to be able to ride further, but you see I took 
some rounds in my lower back in Vietnam and at about 2 and 1/2 to 3 
hours in the saddle my left leg goes to sleep and I even have a 
difficult time walking so I can only ride 2 1/2 to 3 hours and that is 
an LD." The woman that asked this question seemed somewhat miffed at the 
answer and turned and walked away. I consider her to be have been just 
down right rude and some might say she was treating this particular as a 
"second class citizen."

If this sport wants to lay claim to being a "big tent" and welcoming all 
- then it needs to act like it since LD is defined as part of the sport 
in the bylaws and has it's own set of rules.

Truman

Bruce Weary wrote:
> Those who want "more for less," and by that I mean wanting more 
> opportunities for winning, BC's, points, recognition, their name in 
> lights, bragging rights at the water cooler at work, etc., for only 
> having only gone half to one fourth (or less) the distance of what our 
> sport has defined as an endurance ride, are going to have to realize 
> that in life, recognition and praise are generally in proportion to 
> the effort given.


--

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a 
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also 
into you.” Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil


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