Slower LD's

["Linda Hedgpeth" <lth@thegrid.net>]

I moved to NE CA last May and found that the LDs are a little different up here from what I had seen in Central CA.  I attended the Palomino Valley ride and the Comstock ride - both in N Nevada.  Both of them have you doing 20 miles and then coming into camp for a vet check, then going back out and finishing the remaining 5 miles.  I personally feel that 20 miles is too far to go before a vet check, especially when those rides "reward" fast finishing times.  There are people out there riding like hell for an LD top ten.

 

I attended the Lassen Challenge (LD) where the vet check was out on the trail about 10 miles, but the vet didn't even show up in time for the front and middle runners.  We were going moderately slow and when we got to the check, he had just shown up and told us that vetting in was "optional" because he had missed the others.  So - many riders did the whole LD with no vet check until they returned to camp after the ride.

 

It's too bad that the rides aren't more consistent.  I liked the structure of the southern rides better.  I also like the vet checks in the middle (of the LD) so if a horse is having a problem, he isn't ridden for twenty miles before a vet can see him.

 

Linda Hedgpeth
Janesville, CA
lth@thegrid.net

----- Original Message -----

From: sshaw@pacbell.net

I can think of a number of ways to slow the LD's.
There is usually a vet check in the middle. ADD some PR gates along the
way. Maybe one more and lower the Pulse to 56. Lower the pulse at the
vet check. Keep the end pulse criteria 60.
STeve Shaw