Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

The first ride I did had 11 in the 25 and 4 in the 50 and it was in 1990!
Endurance got started late in FL. It was an easy jump from 25 to 50 because
you all hung around together and there was encouragement - "hey you've done
a couple 25's the last one in 2:30, it's time to move up to a slow 50". Same
was true for 100's. Most everyone wanted to "give it a shot." Now in FL a
small ride is 60 people and we have gone from three rides in 1990 to 9 or
10 next year.  Most are running close to 75 and 100. When they were small
we had more people doing 100's than we do today! We have lost that community
we had just 10 short years ago. 

Like anything there are many causes and it's more complex than just one thing.
However, the close knit family aspect of endurance riding is clearly not
what it used to be and I think it shows in a lot of ways - the decline of
100's being one. 

Frank and Terre we must be getting old, we sound like old farts sitting around
the campfire reminiscing for days gone by - and sigh, maybe never to return.

Truman

DVeritas@xxxxxxx wrote:
> In a message dated 7/21/2003 2:29:09 PM Mountain Daylight
> Time, tobytrot@xxxxxxxxx writes:
>  
>  
> > Back in "the good old days" riders were smaller, in general, and 
> >  'everybody knew everybody'.  Riders all gathered around a campfire at night
> >     
> >  and socialized.  
>   
>   
>      I remember at rides I'd be talking in a basecamp with other 100 mile
> riders, someone would walk up to the group, and before you knew it, we had
> talked them into entering the 100 in the morning.  That used to happen alot. 
>   
>      A rider, saying, "What the heck, I'll do the 100, too."
>      More times than not, they'd enter, ride it, complete it and we'd all
> have a late dinner together.
>      The bigger we grow, the more we seem to limit ourselves to the little
> areas we find comfortable, understandable and more easily managed.
>      Venture. 
>      -----Frank
>