Re: Re: EHSC mishap

["Joan Ruprecht" <jruprecht@reninet.com>]

Well said
----- Original Message -----
From: <guest@endurance.net>
To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 22, 2001 2:34 PM
Subject: RC: Re: EHSC mishap


> Jim Mitchell navion2@pacbell.net
>    I came across the mishap just as it cleared, so I will have no comment
> on that event.  But it will give me a forum to discuss trail manners at
> rides with lots of riders and narrow, single track trail.  If you are
> riding and somebody catches you from behind you should pull over at the
> first opportunity and let them pass. If you do this at every chance there
> should never be longer lines than 5 horses.  At EHSC there were lines of
> 20 horses being held up by a slower trotting front horse. At narrow stream
> crossings in the first 20 miles you should avoid stopping unless there has
> been no other water. At EHSC there was a trough at 6 miles so I feel
> riders should not stop again and block a trail until at least 12 miles,
> and at 12 miles there was a lake with lots of room.  There were also
> streams later in the ride and you could move down or upstream and not
> block the trail.  If you are caught from behind by another rider, they
> must be going faster than you, let them pass. Then everybody can ride in
> relative solitude, dust free, and more safely than the scenerio that
> caused the accident, lots of horses too close together.
>    I asked twice in the first 12 miles for people to let us pass, maybe
> one party thought I was rude, although I try to ask very nicely and say
> thank you mutltple times after they let me pass. But I will not eat dust
> and ride "dude ranch style" because somebody else doesn't understand this
> basic idea. It is impossible to all start in the correct spot so that no
> passing is necessary, but some concern towards avoiding packs can make the
> correct speed order get worked out pretty quickly and we can all have a
> safe and rewarding ride.
>    I try to always be aware of somebody catching me from behind and I pull
> over immediately and let them pass. Then the continue to move away from
> me. At this ride a nice group (the fallen rider included) let us pass near
> the waterfall, they jokingly said "now we will eat your dust"  and I said
> "no we will be gone"  and we were, the never saw or caught us again.
>    Sometimes I play leap frog with other riders, one may go faster uphill,
> the other downhill, and in that case we trade leads for awhile, but it
> isn't hard to do.
>   At Tevis in 99 I was stared at for yelling up to the lead rider of a
> group of 20 to pull over. It was harder to be nice when yelling from 150
> feet back (20 horses at 7.5 feet each)  I could tell some thought I was
> very rude, but I can't believe all other 18 riders thought it was being
> nice to continue to eat dust and ride dangerously. When the lead rider
> moved we quickly broke up into packs of 3 to 5 then even smaller. Until we
> caught the next slower rider.
>    At the start of a narrow ride this can be a difficult time, as everyone
> is together. If I start in a pack I tend to ride faster than I want to.
> Then if people stick with me I pull over at 1 or 2 miles and let them pass
> and slow down to my desired pace, then they pull away, and I have a nice
> gap to ride in. After that if anyone catches me I immediately pull over.
> This works quite well in handling mass starts on narrow trails.
>
> Jim Mitchell  5000+ miles AERC #13117
>
>
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