$20 Fee for National Championship Ride

[guest@endurance.net]

K S SWIGART   katswig@earthlink.net


Jim Holland said:

> This is the ONLY ride that provides something for ALL Endurance Riders,
> not just the 100 milers and the International Riders. I don't think the
> BOD realizes how important this is to our membership.  In fact, the 50
> milers created the most excitement at the ride, had a better completion
> percentage than the 100 milers, and demonstrated that, yes, we ARE a
> vital part of AERC.

I beg to differ.  The National Championship ride under this format does
not provide "something for ALL endurance riders," but rather for a very
small portion of the membership who chooses to attend (which can be said
of most of the individual rides that the AERC sanctions).  This year I
think it was, what, about 200 riders, which comes out to about 3.5% of the
total membership.  It would be slightly inaccurate to say that it serves
all the membership.  As near as I can tell from the reports, there was but
one rider in the 50 mile ride from the Pacific South, the West, the
Northwest, the Southwest, or the Mountain Regions (can’t tell for sure,
since I don’t know which region the Canadians were from).

And while I cannot speak for everybody, I consider it unlikely that even a
small percentage of the bulk of the riders that make up the hundred or so
that attend every ride in this region would go out of their way to attend
a ride that is half-way across the country—no matter what title they
bestow, and no matter how swank the awards and no matter how much the AERC
spends or asks for in promoting it.

The fact is there is no one ride or one ride format that provides
something for ALL endurance riders.  Jim just thinks this one does because
it provided something for him.  This year for me, it was the XP (and there
were lots of people there and lots of people had a good time and "if you
didn’t attend this ride, you missed a 'happening'").  However, I am not
naive enough to think that this is within either the realm OR the interest
of ALL endurance riders; nor do I think the AERC should have been
promoting or funding it.

> I want every company and organization that is in any way associated with
> Endurance to be clamoring to be part of our NCR....so many we're turning
> them away.  I want it to be even bigger and better next year.  I want so
> many riders to attend that each weight division starts at a different
> times...and maybe even on seperate days.  I want it to be so big that
> the local Porta-Potty company runs out of Porta-Pottys.  I want it be
> bigger and get more publicity in EN than ANY International Ride.

And you have just described a ride that I wouldn't attend if it was an
hour's drive away and you paid me to (well...maybe if you paid me to :)).
One of the reasons that I go to endurance rides is that it is a chance to
get AWAY from all the people!!!  A big ride is NOT my idea of a fun ride;
(and that is one of the reasons that Tevis isn't REALLY high on my list of
priorities, but I am still more interested in going to Tevis than I am in
going to the NC ride).

But that is just me.  I can understand why it is that some people like
rides that have different formats than the rides that I like.  By all
reports from the people who did attend the NC ride this year, they had a
good time (and I may be wrong, but I find it hard to believe that getting
a canvas bag for an entry packet instead of the typical manila envelope
made any difference to how much participants enjoyed the ride, but as I
said, I could be wrong).

> Most of all, BOD, I want AERC to CONTRIBUTE to this ride, not CHARGE the
> Ride Manager for the use of OUR name. Note "OUR". I propose charging
> NOTHING for the ride, and I would support adding $.50 to my dues for a
> NCR.

While it may be YOUR ride, it certainly wasn't mine.  And I know plenty of
people in my region who had as little interest doing in this summer’s XP
as I had in doing this fall's NC ride.

So, since there does appear to be some people in the AERC who are
interested in this ride and this ride format, I see no reason that the
AERC should ask for an extra $20 from them to attend the ride (having
different sanctioning fees for different rides doesn’t strike me as
particularly "fair"). However, spending upwards of $6,700 in awards for
the tiny fraction of the membership that attended one ride out of the
hundreds that were held this year doesn't strike me as particularly fair
either.

Rides that want to present nice awards for the people who attend their
rides can do so.  I am no more or less appreciative of the managers of
this year's NC ride than I am of the ride managers of Tevis and the
Biltmore (both of which, I believe had more attendance), the Duck and
Randy Eiland (both of whom probably also had more people attend their
rides), the Old Dominion, the Big Horn, but also the Far Out Forest, the
Chicken Chase, the Texas Bluebonnet and every other local ride whether it
has 2 or 200 attendees.

THESE are the rides that are the backbone of OUR sport, that serve ALL the
membership. Not just one publicized ride.

For me, the year end awards that ARE funded and presented by the AERC are
those that go to endurance riders and endurance horses who best endured
for the entire year.  The people who attend and support all the rides, who
exemplify the AERC’s motto "to finish is to win."  And while the current
year-end award program is not perfect, I think, with all the options that
it provides, it does a pretty good job of just this.

It is true, there is no year-end award for 50 mile rides ONLY (like there
is for 100 milers and for LD rides); but I do think that most of the
regional and national mileage awards go to people who predominantly attend
50 milers…but if somebody can come up with a good way of structuring a
year-end award for 50 milers only, it might be worth considering.

> I will do my best to UN-ELECT any BOD member who does not support this
> ride. LOTS of us will be watching to see how you vote.

I will do my best to UN-ELECT any BOD member who uses extra AERC funds for
supporting one particular ride (no matter who manages the ride and what
the ride is called). :)

So, I will make everybody in the AERC a deal.  I won't ask for special
funding, promotion, and awards for the rides that I prefer to attend if
you don't ask for it for your preferences.  Understanding that endurance
riding is many things to many people and not all people share my
preferences.

kat
Orange County, Calif.

p.s.  There does appear to have been some misunderstanding for this year's
event as to just what the responsibilities of the ride managers was and
what the responsibilities of the AERC was; and that is unfortunate (and
probably reflects the fact that, indeed, the NC ride is not a ride for ALL
AERC members, or it wouldn’t generate such controversy as well as
ambivalence and inconsistency in determining what is the "right" thing to
do).  There is no way to have one single ride that serves all the members.