ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: What happened at Malibu?

Re: What happened at Malibu?

Cathy Pritchett (danugna@teleport.com)
Fri, 03 Oct 1997 09:19:20 -0700

At 11:28 PM 10/2/97 -0700, K S Swigart wrote:
>Am I the only one who thinks that the apparent trend of making rides
>easier (here I am speaking generically rather than about Malibu
>specifically) is "ruining" the sport of endurance?
>
>Am I crazy, is the trend entirely in my mind?
>
>kat
>Orange County, Calif.
>

Hi Kat,

I don't know if it is a trend or not. Our club puts on two or three rides
a year, one of them is the Limestone Challenge. It is a tough ride, a true
challenge. There are people that come once and say it's too hard, they
will never come again. There are also some people, apparently like
yourself, that love the challenge and come every year.

I was talking to the ride manager the other day and she was talking about
finding ways to make it easier. The turn out was low this year and there
were people there complaining about how tough it was. It's in challenging
terrain and there is little that can be done and believe me, they've tried
most every thing. The ride just broke even this year, whatever that means,
because that doesn't take into consideration the many hours of volunteer
labor from the club and the absolute dedication of the two women that
alternate as ride manager. With out their work and dedication, the ride
would be history. There just don't seem to be enough people that enjoy a
true challenge.

Our club sponsors these rides and gives any "profits" to charity. There
was a bit of a deficit this year and we had to be satisfied with the
knowledge that the many hours of trail clearing that we did was a public
service. If we could attract more people by making the Limestone just a bit
easier, yeah, we'd probably do it.

So folks, do you prefer those 50 milers that get you in before lunch or do
you like a bit of a thinking ride, one that requires strategy, but takes a
bit longer?

Cathy in Southern Oregon

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