Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Lisa, you misunderstood me.
1) I have no objection to voicing opinions.  I just didn't like how some people
were denigrating the riders without knowing them.  If they were fellow
Ridecampers, we would call that flaming and consider it in poor taste.
2) My note was not an endorsement of the Mongol Derby.  It was a protest against
the knee-jerk, emotional, condemnation of that event.  If the riders start out
trying to gallop the first 40 km, as Angie pointed out, either they'll find out
they can't or yes, the horses will suffer, perhaps die.  I truly hope that
doesn't happen.  What I was objecting to was the attitude by some posters that
they KNOW the riders will do this when there is absolutely no basis for that
assumption.  Comparing this event to Catoosa is an example of the kind of
rhetoric I was protesting.  The two are nothing alike.  Catoosa was a come one,
come all invite to every yahoo in the country to race 15 or 25 miles for a
relatively large cash prize.  Today's international elite could cover the 15
mile course in an hour.  The Derby is going to take about 2 WEEKS, not one hour.
 Almost anyone could convince themselves that they could ride a galloping horse
for an hour... but 2 weeks?  The people in the Derby are risk takers and as Kat
said, risk takers don't generally trash their only mode of transportation when
they are out in the middle of nowhere.  "I am not sure how you can assume that
all of the participants will be prepared."  I don't.  So how can YOU assume that
all of the participants WON'T be prepared?  Both are presumptuous because we are
sitting here at our computers and don't know what the riders in Mongolia have or
have not done to prepare for this race.
3) I did not say that Endurance riders were more experienced than LD riders.  I
said there were more inexperienced riders in LD than in Endurance.
Given:      Most people's first few races are LDs, not 50 milers
Given:      If it's your first several races, then you are inexperienced at

            doing distance racing
Conclusion: There are more inexperienced riders in LD than Endurance.



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