Re: What's your toughest ride?

["Robert Morris" <bobmorris@rmci.net>]

This subject is very interesting. My first question to Joe is why does a
very low completion rate equate to a tough ride?? A flat fast ride can
produce the same results!

A few years age we put on a 50 that took over nine hours to complete for
the winner!! We had better than 95% completion and no one was over time for
the finish but it was one of the toughest rides put on in the Northwest. 

Sorry Joe, I cannot equate low completion to tough ride. Remember that the
concept of endurance riding is completion and not elimination. In fact one
of the rides Joe mentioned was designed expressly for elimination and not
completion.

Tough is just what it means. Tough does not mean stupidity (<<The first
running in 1980 was
> during a severe heat wave -- there were livestock advisories out, 
farmers were losing stock in their fields.>>) It means a trail that proves
the training and conditioning of each particular horse as compared to that
of all the others under reasonable conditions. Tough is enduring not
eliminating!!!  

Bob Morris
Morris Endurance Enterprises
Boise, ID

----------
> From: Joe Long <jlong@mti.net>
> To: ridecamp@endurance.net
> Subject: What's your toughest ride?
> Date: Saturday, September 05, 1998 11:24 AM
> 
> Some of the talk about heat & humidty, altitude, east-west, and such
> got me thinking.  What is the toughest ride you ever rode?  A specific
> running (year), not overall?
> 
> For me, choosing the "Top Three" was easy:
> 
> #1.	The 1980 Heart of Dixie, Alabama.  This ride is normally about
> a seven or eight on a scale of ten.  The first running in 1980 was
> during a severe heat wave -- there were livestock advisories out,
> farmers were losing stock in their fields.  A horse standing quietly
> in the shade of a tree would be wet with sweat.  This was before the
> days of fixed time limits, so the 50's were allowed 15 hours -- none
> finished in less than twelve.  The 100, though, was a one-day ride and
> so could not extend the time.  It had six starters, one finisher (me)
> in 23:39 (including four hours of vet checks).  Completion rate:  17%.
> 
> #2.	The 1987 Race of Champions, Utah.  A combination of extremely
> high altitude (base camp at nearly 12,000 feet), lots of elevation
> gain, and unusually hot weather resulted in only 16 finishers out of
> 88 starters (all experienced 100 mile horses and riders).  Completion
> rate:  18%.
> 
> #3.	The Old Dominion (I don't remember the year), Virginia.  It's
> the Old Dominion.  Under a "Bermuda High."  Completion rate (that
> year):  29%.
> 
> I'd be interested in hearing some other folks "Toughest Ever Rides."
> 
> -- 
> 
> Joe Long
> jlong@mti.net
> Business Page  http://www.mti.net
> Personal Page  http://www.rnbw.com
>