Re: Wine Country Trail Markings

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On Tue, 10 Jun 97 13:55:48 -0500, ROBERT J MORRIS <bobmorris@rmci.net>
wrote:

>Many riders want a "no brainer" when it comes to trail marking, they =
expect
>to be able to follow a cross country trail at a gallop. I thought this =
was
>ENDURANCE RIDING?

Bob, I agree with most of your post but I must take issue with this.
One thing every entrant at a ride has a right to expect is a
well-marked trail. It is very frustrating to travel a long distance
to a ride, and pay the cost of vacation time, fuel, and entry fees
only to get lost or slowed down by poor trail marking.

Endurance rides are also races. If the locals and people who've
ridden the trail before can just truck along, and everyone else has to
slow down or stop and play "ribbon, ribbon, does anyone see a ribbon?"
at intersections, it's just not a fair race.

I've been a ride manager many times. I've tied ribbons all alone in
pouring down rain, and on rides where I expected to lose money (out of
my own pocket) I still bought enough glowsticks for the night portion
of the trail. I believe every endurance ride trail should be marked
well enough so that the front-runners do *not* have to slow down, let
alone stop, to figure out which way to go. There also should be
enough "confidence markers" so that the riders know they're still on
course. It's really not hard to do, even if landowner restrictions
allow only ribbons. The AERC Ride Manager's Handbook has excellent
methods for marking.
=20
It's also to the ride manager's benefit to mark the trail thoroughly.
There are two sins which will keep many honest-to-God endurance riders
from returning to a ride: bad vetting and bad trail marking. Poor
marking can kill a ride.

Yes, ride managers and workers are volunteers, God bless them, and we
wouldn't have a sport without them. But once someone decides to put
on a ride, that manager owes certain things to the people who come to
ride. Not a "boulevard" trail, not dinners, not showers, not fancy
awards. But IMO they definitely owe good vets and a well-marked
trail.

--=20

Joe Long
jlong@mti.net
Business Page http://www.mti.net
Personal Page http://www.rnbw.com

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