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Re: [RC] racing ettiquette, is there such a thing? - Joe LongOn Fri, 28 Apr 2006 18:07:56 GMT, Ridecamp Guest <guest-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: Please Reply to: Lisa Salas jsalas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Joe, You are right that just because someone stops to help, doesn't mean the person they helped can't try to beat them in the end. But then, why should the person who stopped to help, do it in the first place? It's a race! That's one of the nice things about our sport. It's not unique, participants in other amateur sports help each other while competing with each other, but it says something really good about most endurance riders that we will help those we are competing against, on the trail, during the competition. And it works both ways, you may help me today and I'll help you tomorrow. You see, if you were laying there with the wind knocked out of you, and I just kept going past you, what would that say about me? If I did stop and stay until you could get back on, and then you took off like a bat out of hell to beat me, what does that say about you? What if you had to get off to tighten a girth and your horse wouldn't stand still for you to get back on? So I come by, you ask me to help you back up and I just take off. It is a race. Well, I wouldn't just "take off" the moment my butt hit the saddle, but I would still race. As I expect anyone I help in similar fashion to do. If someone expects me to stay behind them if they stop to help me, then I absolutely DO NOT WANT THEM TO STOP. At the 1987 Race of Champions, another rider and I were sprinting in for 5th and 6th place. We were running along a road shoulder, I couldn't pass without going out onto the pavement which I wasn't about to do at a sprint, and I hoped I'd have enough distance to pass after we turned off into the finish area -- only a couple of hundred yards from road to finish line. Well, the rider ahead of me missed the turn off the road! All I had to do was cruise on across the line to an easy "win" of our sprint. But I pulled up and hollered at the other rider that she'd missed the turnin, and only went back to sprinting as she came back to the turn. I resumed sprinting because I did not expect her to just stay behind me because I'd called and waited for her to come back around. I honestly don't know if she did try to pass me again or not, I was focused on the finish line. Yes, it IS a race. However, if you need help bad enough for me to stop,(broken tack, broken bones, whatever) something else comes into play. I think it is called sportsmanship, but I could be wrong. I see stopping to help a rider in need as good sportsmanship, WITHOUT expecting a quid-pro-quo in return. In the Biblical story of the Good Samaritan, what made him "Good" was that he not only stopped to help the injured traveler, and take him to shelter and arrange for food and lodging, but that he did so with no expectation of payment. If a rider stops to help another with the expectation that the rider being helped will now stay behind and not finish ahead of the rider who stopped, that is an expectation of payment. Of course, a little communication goes a long way. If both parties agree that they want to continue to race, may the best rider win. Chances are, if the one rider was hurt but able to finish without any help, they wouldn't mind the rider who stopped to continue on without them. Well, it's been my experience over 12,000 miles of rides that riders who stop to help a rider who's fallen, or needs to tighten a girth, or who's horse is still drinking, don't expect that rider to not race them because of it. This discussion is the first time that I recall having encountered it anywhere. Personally, I believe that the best thing to do is to help each other unselfishly, not expecting payment in the form of not racing later. I have had a rider ask me to wait for her at the last vet check of a 100, when my out time was several minutes ahead of her, because she didn't want to ride alone in the dark. She promised to stay behind me at the finish. I thought that was a reasonable arrangement, so I waited for her, and she didn't race me at the end. But that was her request. Why is it proper ettiquette to stop while someone eles's horse is drinking if it is a race? I never understood that. It's part of taking care of our horses, and not just our own. I would never want to win a race by depriving another rider's horse of drinking as much as it needs. -- 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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