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RE: [SPAM] Re: [RC] AERC Directions - 1 Day 100's - heidi

Again...you have to consider ALL of the regions.  I lived in upstate New 
York for several years.  At the time there wasn't an endurance ride in the 
state.  I had two rides about 5 hours away, 1 about 6 hours and everything 
else was at least a 10 hour drive.


I'm still in the same region as I was when I managed to get into the
AERC Top 25.  At that time, I did have the good fortune to have several
close rides.  But now, I'm on the remote edge of the region, I have two
rides about 4 hours away, a handful 6 hours away, and the rest a lot
further than that.  My husband and I recently hauled up to BC to ride
(not the furthest from us in our region, by ANY stretch)--it was a
15-hour drive, plus the time for a border check.  (Yes, we took 2 days
to drive.)  It is STILL easier to ride to the points system on a given
year than it is to get the time off of work and away from the ranch to
go halfway across the country to a "National Championship" ride.  And
once again, why did AERC have to destroy one kind of competition to
start another kind?  Diff'rent strokes for diff'rent folks. 
Eliminating the points championship effectively cut off the preferred
sort of competition for a segment of our membership.

BTW, the way that the points system helps to encourage participation in
100s is that not only do you get the triple points, but for us po'
workin' folks who can't take all that much time off, we can get twice
the riding for our travel in ONE day.


I agree you don't have to be first across the finish line to accumulate 
points, but if you aren't pretty high in the finish order you'll have to do 
more rides to catch up with those that do.  I'm not talking about having a 
fancy rig.  The simple economic fact is that the more rides you do and the 
further they are from home, the more it costs and the more time you are away 
from work...assuming one works.  Again leaning towards those who are more 
financially independent will have a significant advantage over those that 
have to work for a living.


That's true in all of our sport.  But again, the average working guy has
a better shot at getting to rides over the course of a year than he does
of making it across the country the year he happens to have the top
caliber horse and the ride is on the opposite coast.

Heidi


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