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Re: [RC] Ride your own ride - Joe LongOn Thu, 27 Jan 2005 09:51:24 -0700, "Sisu West Ranch" <ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: "...Surely riders of the caliber we expect to have on our team are skilled enough to pace their own horse?...." When we were at the Pan Am's in Washington, we saw lots of riders who did not pace their horses properly. I suspect that Art set up the rules as he did for good and sufficient reason. I said I'm sure they had their reasons, but especially considering the result I doubt the reason was either good or sufficient. If we have riders on the team who cannot be trusted to pace their own horse optimally, I'd say we should reconsider our team selection process. Some things are undeniable: 1. If the team rides together from start to finish, they will all have the same finishing time as that of the slowest horse/rider on the team. 2. If the team rides together from start to finish, unless they are remarkably compatible horses one or more (probably two or three) is not being paced properly. 3. As it is minimum total team time that determines the winning team, success depends on having the lowest total time for your team. You achieve that by having each team member perform at their best. You cannot achieve that when you force horse/rider teams to take longer than they could have, had they paced their own ride instead of having to stay with the other team members. I will grant that having them all ride together may increase the odds of finishing at least three team members ... essential for success ... but IMO it is a strategy aimed at "not losing" instead of winning. It increases the odds of finishing three team members at the cost of assuring that the team cannot win the Gold. If this report is accurate and our team was required to ride together, our team was beaten before they ever crossed the starting line. -- Joe Long jlong@xxxxxxxx http://www.rnbw.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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