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Re: [RC] Multi-day rides in the East - Truman Prevatt

That's a good question. We have had a few tries but they just don't seem to draw for all the days. The Big South Fork was a three day ride for a couple of years and it was dropped back to a two day ride since the 3'rd day was pretty sparse. The Ft. Valley ride is back to two days after a few years as a three day. Probably had to do will aggravation of the third day vs. attendance.

The Gator Run had it's first year last year - with all the excitement of a new ride. It remains to see if it can sustain the staying power the others couldn't. hopefully it will. There is a new on tap one in southern IN this year and again we will see how it does as a 3 day rather than two day.

Except for one exception the track record so far is not that promising that the format will be in high demand. Here I'm not talking about people that say they want one, I'm talking about people actually showing up and having sufficient entries all days to justify it.

There are I think several reasons. Lack of large amounts of different trail, is probably one. Also time of year is one. The east (except up in the great frozen nawth), tends to have most of it's rides in the spring, winter and fall - not during the normal vacation time so there are the issues with getting off from work, school, etc.

The one exception is the Shore to Shore. But that is run in the summer in Michigan.

Any requirement of historic trails is not an issue even if it were a requirement. I suspect you can find as many historic trails or areas with historic trails in the east as the west. After all the population did move west from the east and they had to travel on trails to do so.

We have several two day rides and even on those the second day is not that well attended as the first.

For some reason the format in the east is not one that fits we well in the east. I think it's has a lot to do with life style than anything else. In the summer many easterners travel west to do a multiday rides. Many from the South head up to Michigan for the S2S. That seems to be sufficient to meet the demand. It doesn't look like the muiltday format is one that will thrive in the east like it does out west.

Truman

k s swigart wrote:

Truman mentioned that the reason he had no interest in the
mileage and pioneer awards was that these awards go to
people who do multi-day rides, and since there are so few in
the east, that such awards are totally out of reach, or more
accurately, driving distance.

I am curious:

Why ARE there so few multi-day rides in the east?

Is it because of lack of availabe trail?
Lack of interest on the part of the riders?
Because nobody thought of it?

Or because of the prior requirement (which no longer exists,
I think, but I wouldn't swear to it) that such rides needed
to be on "historical" trails, and all the historical trails
in the east have long since been paved over?

kat
Orange County, Calif.








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Replies
[RC] Multi-day rides in the East, k s swigart