Re: RC: off trail, short cuts and cheating!

[RhndLev@cs.com]

I'm glad it's not just me who get ticked about these things!  On my first 
ever endurance (well, limited distance) ride, I was riding behind a person 
who has ridden and top tenned a number of 100 mile rides.  This person was 
riding with a junior for her first ride.  I thought that it would be a good 
experience for me to stay with these two and maybe learn something.

The ride was one long loop with a stop for lunch, and then ride part of the 
same loop again.  The ride manager was really clear about where the short cut 
was for the second loop, and that we were to take the short cut ONLY on the 
second loop.  Anyway, to make a long story a little shorter, the junior 
involved in the story was having a lot of trouble controlling her horse.  
Because of the problems, they were going slower than I wanted to (and too 
slow to complete the ride in time) so I passed them and continued on down the 
trail ahead of them.  These two riders never passed me on the first loop, but 
had already started out on the second loop by the time I finished the first 
loop.  I didn't see them use the short cut, but always thought, "HUH?  How 
the heck?"  

It burned me and bummed me out.  I had really respected this hundred mile 
person.  Now, whenever I hear about this person's "accomplishments" or see 
articles published by this person, I always think, "Well yeah.  It's much 
easier to appear to do things better than others when you cheat."

Rhonda and Special