Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Thoughts

On Sat, 12 Oct 2002 17:15:40 -0400, "goearth" <goearth@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>...What i would really like to know is why you 2 Ladies,  Julie and 
>Barbara don't approve of weight divisions?  I see the NC's as 
>somewhat watered down in all these winners.  The only winner 
>i saw (not meaning to demean anyone) was Jan Worthington.  
>She did it 2 days.  To me,  the AERC NC's has a lot to be desired 
>of producing a TRUE NC unless the intent is to make as many 
>winners as possible(10).  Tell me Ladies, perhaps you could 
>sway my opinion, and others as well looking for answers.  tom sites

I'm not one of the ladies, but I'll chime in here.  I don't like
weight divisions either.  I supported them as a Director because the
membership wanted them, but I opposed the expansion from three to four
divisions.

I believe that we simply don't have enough riders at most events to
support so many divisions (five, including Junior).  When everybody is
"First,"  "First" doesn't mean very much.   When competing I don't pay
much attention to my placing in my weight division, I try to do the
best I can against all Senior competitors (I don't compete against
Juniors because, with their sponsorship rules, that is truly a
different division -- and often I was sponsoring the Junior!).  I
honestly can't even approximate how many Weight Division wins Kahlil
and I had, I only know it is more than 50 because we were First Place
(senior overall) about 50 times.

I personally believe formats like the Race of Champions, with a
minimum weight carried and ONE "First Place," is more meaningful.  The
Tevis had a great approach, no one was required to carry weight to
earn a buckle but if you wanted to compete for the Tevis or Haggins
cups you had to meet minimum weight.  And the Tevis does not award
*five* Tevis Cups!

As Julie said, the majority of AERC members like weight divisions so
I'm not suggesting that we get rid of them.  We must always keep the
overall competition and placing as well, so those of us who find that
more meaningful can still compete for overall placing.  I would very
much like to see the number of weight divisions reduced from four to
three, though, I really believe it would make for better rides and
better competition (as well as more meaningful awards).

An interesting anecdote:  just before the Board debated the increase
from three to four weight divisions, proponents of the change passed
out a flyer about "change."  It depicted how change was embraced by
intelligent, open-minded people -- and how change was resisted and
feared by parochial, closed-minded people.   Then we began debating
the weight division increase.  As sat down from finishing my talk
opposing the increase, and giving my reasons, somebody said "see,
there's an example of someone afraid of change."  I've always wondered
if that whole "presentation" wasn't put out to help the weight
division increase pass.

-- 

Joe Long
jlong@xxxxxxxx
http://www.rnbw.com


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