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Right on, Heidi!  Exactly the point I was trying to get across.

Barbara

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <heidi@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Steph Teeter" <stephteeter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2006 9:25 AM
Subject: RE: [RC] de-elevators, elevators


> >  The concept of a 'de-elevator' is no different from 'elevator' - you do 
> > your 100 mile ride 50 miles at a time, either way. Either way, at 50 you 
> > can say enough.
>
> Nope, not the same at all.  When you enter an elevator ride, you "put
> your money where your mouth is" to do 50 miles.  When you've finished
> that 50, you can say, "I think I can do more," and you give up your 50
> completion and head on down the trail toward the 100-mile goal.  But if
> you "de-elevate" you have "put your money where your mouth is" and have
> said, "I can do 100 miles."  But then when you get to 50, you say,
> "Nope, I don't think so--I quit."
>
> Going further than you thought you could and quitting before you reached
> what you said you'd do are dead opposite in my book.  And the psychology
> behind them is completely different, too.
>
> I don't have a thing against elevator rides--but over the years, it has
> simply been the case that very few people elevate.  I've seen a few
> elevate from LD to 50, but not enough to make it something to need to
> push.  I think I've maybe seen one elevate from a 50 to a 100.
>
> There is something about putting your money where your mouth is right
> there at the entry table and saying, "I'm gonna do the 100 today," that
> is a necessary ingredient to riding 100.  I can think of several of the
> 100s that I've done that if quitting had been an option, I surely would
> have.  But I persevered because I was committed and there was no
> "half-way out" on which to fall back when I got tired, or it got hot,
> or the trail got long.  And pushing through that barrier is a part of
> the thrill of it.  You get past that, and then you find new rewards out
> there.
>
> I can remember riding Gail Williams' Renegade Rendezvous 100 the year
> the 10-mile loop (that we did twice) was long.  There were times on
> that ride that I thought I was gonna die.  I had gone to ride the 75,
> and had gotten talked into riding the 100 instead.  And when my riding
> buddy Sara Miller (who HAD entered the 75) quit at 75, it was really
> hard to get back on and keep going.  But I had put my money where my
> mouth was, and had committed myself.  That is what 100s are about.  So
> I crawled back into the saddle.  And I had the most wonderful night
> ride with Len and Philip Fox--looking back, I wouldn't have missed it
> for the world.  But looking ahead from the 75-mile point, it seemed
> unbearably difficult.
>
> Heidi
>
>
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