Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

> And by the way, are there
> many deaths...and is it something that CAN be dealt with or is it just an
> acceptable risk inherent in dealing with live competitors?
Well, that's the $64 question.  We'd ALL like to know how many of the
current deaths were attributed to preventable causes, and how many were
relative to natural causes or accidents.  That's why we're having this
discussion in the first place.

No, there AREN'T many deaths these days compared to "the good old days"--not
if you look at them relative to the number of riders and the number of
rides.  Furthermore, the ones that involve overriding are sufficiently rare
that there is a major roast on every Internet list relative to the sport
when they DO occur.  And sometimes there is a major roast even when the
death is clearly attributable to an accident--which is a shame.  Did I
recall the figure of 8 deaths being mentioned from last ride season?  In the
entire nation??  Heck, 15 years ago, I can remember 2 deaths following one
NW ride alone, which was one of the last times that a 68 pulse was used.
Funny, riders then even protested how HIGH the pulse was, and argued at the
pre-ride briefing that there would be trouble if the pulse criterion was set
that high.  They'd already experienced the decrease in treatments and deaths
from having rides run at 60.  They were right!  And talk about rider
responsibility--the vast majority of riders that day made sure their horses
recovered further than the criteria set.  But two riders didn't know any
better.  I also know that in all of the rides I've vetted over the years,
the only death following one of my rides that was due to overriding was back
in the early 80's when 68 was still the norm.  Since I've run rides at 60,
the only deaths I've had to report have been due to either natural causes or
accidents.

Why do we run rides at 60??  Because IT WORKS!

There are still a few deaths, I'm sure, that could be prevented.  Not
everything is due to non-recovery.  But non-recovery to 60 and elevated
CRI's pick up MOST problems.  Now we are trying to figure out how we can
pick out the ones that aren't detected by diligent use of those two tools.

Heidi


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