Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Diane Trefethen wrote:
> Truman - you have been making a lot of snide remarks during this 
> discussion, remarks that fan the discontent of some and in no way 
> contribute to the understanding that SHOULD be the goal of a 
> discussion as serious as this one.  This is your latest:
>
> > Hopefully the LD riders remember who supported them and who didn't
> > over the next couple of years.
And what is wrong with that?  Why should riders not spend there limited 
income on rides with ride managers that support them? Why should I (any 
rider) spend my money with a ride managers that don't agree with when I 
could spend it with one I do agree with? I am the consumer - it's my 
choice and that choice is to me made to maximize my utility funciton 
(whatever that may be).  It's call the capitalist system. The reality 
that is coming across in all these post here is there is an issue with 
RM and maybe ever riders in the West with respect to LD riders. I also 
see endurance riders are going to have to adjust to a new reality - 5 
bucks a gallon diesel this year and probably 7.50 a gallon next summer. 
I expect we are going to see some rides suffer because of it. I expect 
some in a year might really welcome local riders doing LD's.  I would 
also suggest that maybe if those local riders feel snubbed by one rider 
manager and not by another they support the one who they felt didn't 
snub them. Personally I'd sure go support a rider manager that I thought 
were more supportive of me desires.

> This remark is also a threat.  "Give us what we want or we'll boycott 
> your ride and you'll be through!"
How the hell am I going to "threaten" a RM in the West - give me a 
break. However, as one whose family marched on the front line in the 
Civil Rights movement that forced change and I am damn proud of them and 
as one who marched in the front line in the 60's I do believe in 
organizing and standing up for your beliefs. That is the American way 
after all. That is best done when you have the biggest impact. I would 
suggest if there is a down turn and rides aren't filling and LD riders 
feel they have been treated as "second class" then it might be time for 
them to flex their collective muscle. Again that's not blackmail - 
that's the American way.
> I hate blackmail and blackmailers.  If a rider thinks that an RM's 
> reasons for failing to have a BC are invalid, sure, he can vote with 
> his feet and ride elsewhere.  But if the rider can understand WHY the 
> RM does what he does, why should he boycott an otherwise great ride, 
> ONLY because it doesn't offer a BC?
Voting with your feet, not buying a product, not supporting a sponsor of 
a TV show you don't approve is uniquely American and is a collective way 
to put force in place of enacting change. Call it blackmail if you want 
I call it the right and responsibility of every American.
> The bottom line for a great many in the West Region is that if AERC 
> would just remove the requirement that LD BCs use Endurance rules, 
> including only the Top Ten, they would be happy to participate in the 
> national program.  It is the racing aspect that scares them.  Remember 
> all you newbies, American Endurance started out here.  We made all 
> those darn mistakes first and in spades.  We KILLED HORSES, far more 
> in just a relatively few *races* than the HWC dealt with in any of the 
> last few years.  And we DO give BCs, just not Top Ten BCs.  So you 
> see, it is AERC that is refusing to give our region's LD riders 
> recognition, not our RMs.
>
> As Bruce said, know the history, and you may realize that "progress" 
> is sometimes just a path already taken, perhaps unsuccessfully.
If you don't give Top Ten BC's you do not give BC since you are not in 
compliance with the AERC rules.

The unfortunate thing is what happened in the West in the 70's is 
irrelevlent today. I do know the history of what we saw in FL since the 
mid 80's when endurance started here and the SE - that's not it. Maybe 
you and Bruce should learn more about what happened here before you 
start pontificating about racing LD's killing horses. If you Killed 
horses maybe you should understand why you killed horses and why we 
didn't kill them in Florida.  We race them in the hot and humid SE in 
LD's - the horses do fine. So what were you doing wrong in the West? 
Maybe that should be the question you ask.

Cheers,
Truman






--

“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a 
monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also 
into you.”  Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

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!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=