Re: Re: Lewis Family Response

["Kristine Hammond" <tinka@reno.quik.com>]

Good response Cliff!!!!
Kriss
-----Original Message-----
From: KKLLFARMS@aol.com <KKLLFARMS@aol.com>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 9:21 PM
Subject: RC: Re: Lewis Family Response


>Well, here I go. I don't read Endurance News or Ridecamp because it
>frustrates me to read so many opinions and advice from people who have
ridden
>2 or three rides and have become authorities on everything.  Instead of
>learning how to ride and about horses, they are fresh out of the sandbox,
yet
>want to educate others on the college level
>Kathy has been giving me printouts of Ridecamp postings.  I wish I hadn't
>read them, but its too late now and I can't stay out of it.
>My son Tom and I have very close since his birth.  He has always wanted to
go
>everywhere with me.  In 1974 when he was 3, I had a riding stable at the
>Mount Rose Ski Lodge in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.  At this age he rode
>into the mountains with me, taking people on fishing trips to Price's Lake.
>Soon he was accompanying me on long training rides as I conditioned
endurance
>horses.  It was much more fun than the baby-sitter.  His first endurance
ride
>was the Endurance Digest 35.  He had just turned 5, but it was not a feat
to
>see if he could do it, he had already done it in training.
>When it came to the Virginia City 100, it was the same.  We had already
>ridden all day long many times, and all night long on several occasions.
When
>we finally did the ride, he had the same problems we all experience.  After
>riding 84 miles and sitting in a comfortable chair with a turkey sandwich
for
>an hour, he fell asleep.  But sleepy and tired as he was, there was no
doubt
>he wanted to finish.
>Little Cliffy also wants to go everywhere with his dad.  In order to take
>Cliffy with him as he went out walking and jogging in the mornings, he put
>him on old Spiderman and took him along.  That's how Cliff got his start.
>Soon they began short training rides.
>The base camp of the Comstock ride is only about a mile from where we held
>the Endurance Digest Ride (Tom's first), and where we lived at the time. He
>knows every inch of the trail like he knows the back of his own hand.  On
the
>Comstock 25, Cliffy never went for more that a few miles without seeing his
>mother waiting for him in the pickup.  Tom and Cliffy went slow enough that
I
>was able to finish the 50, and be there to see them cross the finishline
side
>by side with huge smiles on their faces.  I was so choked up, it was hard
to
>keep from breaking down in front of everyone.  It was wonderful beyond
words.
> Cliffy was on cloud nine the rest of the day as were we all.
>To come home and read some of the mean spirited trash put forth by Karen
>Sullivan and others was hard to take.  I doubt they know much about the
>sport, horses, riding or anything else.  If they did, they would be out
>training their horses to compete with us rather than leaning on a computer
>running their mouths,
>My son and I have about 25,000 miles of competition experience.  My son
Tom,
>Cliffy's father, has earned a 1200 mile buckle from the Virginia City 100.
>When he won his 1000 mile buckle at the age 15, the youngest person to have
>accomplished that feat at the time was 35 years old.
>In closing I would like to say that I have been around since before the
AERC.
> Phil Gardner and I were partners in a snowmobile rental business and we
had
>often talked about starting a national endurance organization.  We started
>with only 5 sanctioned rides, and things do not seem to have improved by
>adding more.  It does seemed to have driven off so many real endurance
riders
>and replace them with wannabe lawyers.  Every time something new comes up,
>these people want a new rule.  That is how THEY win.  If you drag everyone
>else down to your level and eliminate the ones you cannot drag down using
>multitudes of rules, you haven't really gotten very high, it just looks
that
>way!
>Sincerely, Cliff Lewis
>
>
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