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RE: [RC] Early morning ride start times - heidiHaving a "flexible" start for a ride is a great idea if you have unlimited light. However, if you plan on starting a ride at 7AM because the sun is just rising at that time, then you know the ride will be finished by 7PM, before it gets too dark to see. At least in the spring time in Maryland. So you're working with available daylight, and only those times will work. Flexible start times would mean having a supply of glow sticks and a different trail marking scheme ready to go "just in case" you change the start time - all of which adds up to extra cost. So it's a good idea for the cold muscles of horse and rider, but a bad idea for the cash-strapped pocketbook of the ride manager. And, unfortunately, money talks. Good point, but there are other ways to cope with this problem than glow sticks. First off, the majority of the riders will finish well ahead of the 12-hour elapsed time cutoff, unless the trail is unusually difficult. Second, trail design can assure that the last few miles of trail are easily negotiable in the dark, in most places. Have your last few miles along a good jeep road or a dirt county road, or some other easily-traversed trail. Mark your intersections heavily with gypsum, which will pick up even the most residual light. This was standard for years for marking 100-mile trails in the pre-glow-stick days. If you lose entries because of your start times, you will also be hit in the pocketbook. Just one entry lost would more than pay for a handful of glow sticks, if need be. (And they will keep indefinitely in your freezer, if not used.) The way the AERC start times work, you can start LATER than your advertised time, but not earlier. And I think you'll find that the riders will love you for it if you are flexible in giving them half an hour of sunlight prior to starting if there is ice on the water buckets... Heidi PS: I've ridden 50s over Thanksgiving weekend here in the NW where I Top Tenned in the dark... But they finished on negotiable roads, so it was no big deal. For those of you who do Death Valley, what time do those rides start? I'd suspect that if a person took all 12 hours on those, one would be in the dark, too. Do they glow-stick the ends of the trails? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 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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