Ridecamp: [RC] Jerez - a few thoughts

> I'd love to hear what in your opinion is the safest way 
> (metabolically for the horse) to get through the "sub-10 hour 100s"
which seem to be  the goal .

Dabney,
Who am I to tell how to get through a sub-10 hour 100? I've never done
one.  But I wouldn't have wanted to do a 100 with only 4 stops of 40 min.
(Isn't that what it was?) at the speed *I* do 100's. Much less the speed
they go.  

When I've managed a 100 miler one of the big worries is how to get the
riders through the course after dark.  The biggest reason to limit hold
time is to help the riders get farther along *before* dark.  That doesn't
seem to be an issue here, so I don't see a good reason to go to extremely
short holds and long loops.  I wasn't the only one who commented *before*
the ride. Read Steph's post from the night before. She said the loops
were long and the holds were short. (that's from memory, but I think
that's what she said)

Even on a 50 miler, I like at least one 1-hour hold.  When you have 25
mile loops, and things happen like, you squirt your electrolytes all out
in your bag, or the syringe breaks, it's a long time till you get another
chance to give them.  It seems that most 100's have 6 checks, not
counting the pre-ride check. (At least that's always the number of
squares on the rider card)  That has seemed to work well to me.  If
there's a sudden hail storm like in the North American Championship in
Arizona and temperatures plunge, management can shorten the checks if
necessary. (so long as it's the same for all)

I just don't understand not wanting the horses to have more time to eat. 
Maybe some teams have figured out a way to keep the gut moving without
all that time to eat naturally and it's an advantage to have fewer stops.
 I'm curious, but not curious enough to make myself think real hard to
figure out how they're doing it.  From what I heard from the post ride
press conference, the concensus was this is *not* a spectator sport...so
why are we risking horses's lives trying to get spectators?

Angie

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