Howard nailed a couple things on the head here for me. I competed in the 30
mile LD division at my first endurance ride this fall at the Pacific Crest
Ride in Oregon. I have competed over 1750 miles in NATRC rides, including
one championship challenge ride (2-40 mile days at 5 mph). I had great fun
at the PCT ride, and my horse did too. I was ignorant of the pulse down
criteria for LD, (it would have been a good idea for me to read the rules of
the game before playing it) and mistakenly thought I had crossed the finish
line (there was a white line on the road) and had been timed in. After I
had leisurely hand walked my horse into camp, stopping for water and a
little grazing, (the horse silly), a friend asked me if I had pulsed down
and gotten my finish time yet. No one else had come into camp since my
"crossing the finish line", and my placing wasn't changed by my ignorance,
but it was the moment of awakening to the confusion and magnified
stratification as she explained "when you do limited distance - this is how
we do it.....when you do 50's or 100's then we do it this way." Until Steph
posed this question and the discussion began, I didn't understand the
rational behind the difference. I am not an AERC member (yet), so really
have no say in the matter, just letting you know how it felt to me.
Beth Bliss
