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Subject: Re: Wine Country Trail Markings
Author: Jessica Tuteur <jessicat@napanet.net> at Internet
Date: 6/10/97 2:18 PM
>Reply-To: "Joe Long" <jlong@mti.net>
>References: <19970610194527734.AAA70@[208.14.164.42]>
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>
>I have no knowledge of the Wine Country ride, the response below is
>general and applies to all rides.
>
>On Tue, 10 Jun 97 13:55:48 -0500, ROBERT J MORRIS <bobmorris@rmci.net>
>wrote:
>
>>Many riders want a "no brainer" when it comes to trail marking, they expect
>>to be able to follow a cross country trail at a gallop. I thought this was
>>ENDURANCE RIDING?
>
>Bob, I agree with most of your post but I must take issue with this.
>One thing every entrant at a ride has a right to expect is a
>well-marked trail. It is very frustrating to travel a long distance
>to a ride, and pay the cost of vacation time, fuel, and entry fees
>only to get lost or slowed down by poor trail marking.
>
>Endurance rides are also races. If the locals and people who've
>ridden the trail before can just truck along, and everyone else has to
>slow down or stop and play "ribbon, ribbon, does anyone see a ribbon?"
>at intersections, it's just not a fair race.
>
>I've been a ride manager many times. I've tied ribbons all alone in
>pouring down rain, and on rides where I expected to lose money (out of
>my own pocket) I still bought enough glowsticks for the night portion
>of the trail. I believe every endurance ride trail should be marked
>well enough so that the front-runners do *not* have to slow down, let
>alone stop, to figure out which way to go. There also should be
>enough "confidence markers" so that the riders know they're still on
>course. It's really not hard to do, even if landowner restrictions
>allow only ribbons. The AERC Ride Manager's Handbook has excellent
>methods for marking.
>
>It's also to the ride manager's benefit to mark the trail thoroughly.
>There are two sins which will keep many honest-to-God endurance riders
>from returning to a ride: bad vetting and bad trail marking. Poor
>marking can kill a ride.
>
>Yes, ride managers and workers are volunteers, God bless them, and we
>wouldn't have a sport without them. But once someone decides to put
>on a ride, that manager owes certain things to the people who come to
>ride. Not a "boulevard" trail, not dinners, not showers, not fancy
>awards. But IMO they definitely owe good vets and a well-marked
>trail.
>
>--
>
>Joe Long
>jlong@mti.net
>Business Page http://www.mti.net
>Personal Page http://www.rnbw.com
>
>
*****************************************************************
Jessica Tuteur
J-M Ranch
1393 Green Valley Rd.
Napa, CA 94558
(707) 258-1937 tel & fax