Personally, I hope AERC
never comes to this. Most of the riders I know do enough 25+ mile rides on
their own in tough country and are fully prepared for their first 50 without ever
having to do an LD. AERC
has enough educational material available, as well as the Decade Team, and 100
Mile riders interviews, that has enough information to teach if one has the
desire to learn.
It was my perception after reading tons of material that
the recommended time off after a ride was roughly 1 day for each 10 miles, so 5
days rest after a 50, 10 days rest after a 100. This varies greatly from what I’ve
seen posted recently. Will a horse ever be prepared for a 100 with such a heavy
layoff schedule, a week off for a 30, I think was mentioned? What do the more
experienced 100 riders think of this? I know every horse & rider have their own program and preferences, but you do have to push a
bit to get up to 100, or even 50.
Once again, I really think newcomers and those
wanting to “move up” to 50s or 100s should READ
the Decade Teams and 100 Mile Riders interviews. There is a wealth of
information on conditioning, lay-off, feeding, etc. Also, the mentor list on AERC.org
indicates what type of mentoring the rider is willing to do (50s, 100s,
juniors, etc).
Kathy
Grass Valley,
CA
Steph
wrote:
Also many nations have, or plan to have, step-up
qualification requirements - you and/or horse must do x number of 40km rides
before you and/or horse is qualified for 80km rides
