Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

An interesting viewpoint from a very long-standing and accomplished rider 
(Joe.)  As a matter of logistics for us as ride managers, we originally put 
on just the 100. After a few years, we realized there weren't enough riders 
attending to make it worth the huge amount of work we put into it, so we 
added a 75. It was easy to do...we just short-circuited the trail in a 
couple of places to reduce the mileage. Our trails are primarily on private 
land, and even the parts on state park land were not maintained by the state 
but by the very few horsemen who used it, and by us. So we had a massive 
amount of trial maintenance to do every year. Since the trails are primarily 
in forested areas, there were always winter downfalls to be cleared...some 
small, some very large trees.  And always encroaching brush.
For us, the extra 25 miles was a lot of extra work of trail clearing.  But 
even the 75 was a lot, too. And one extra contact point where offering water 
was necessary. And keeping vets and P&R people up all night.  Etc., etc..... 
So, for us, putting on a 75 only would have been much less hard work. 
And...a chuckle here...our head vet always assigned the younger vets to the 
last VC on the 100, as they were able to take the fatigue better. I'd bet 
our vets would have appreciated going to bed at 11:30 rather than 5:30 AM 
the next day.

Barbara

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joe Long" <jlong@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Ridecamp (E-mail)" <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, November 17, 2009 8:00 AM
Subject: Re: [RC] 75 Mile Ride Informal Survey


> I've always liked the 75-mile distance but have had few opportunities to
> ride it.
>
> A 75-mile ride is a genuine endurance challenge, certainly more so than
> 50 miles, but easier logistically for both riders and ride management --
> in particular, no one needs to stay up all night.
>
> I hope the new point structure, which recognizes the additional
> challenge of the 75, brings about more 75- and 80-mile riders and rides,
> so that I can get to ride them.


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