Re: Sponging Clinic

[rides2far@juno.com (Angela C. McGhee)]

>Last time I used
>your sponge with that piece of thread you have hanging from it,

Yes, tell them why you were using MINE.  It was because she was in the
North American Championship...didn't think it was important to have a
spare...rode right by a mudhole and threw her sponge (rope and all) at it
without ever putting the wrist loop on!  Lucky for her I brought 2 of
EVERYTHING!

 I 
>spent more
>time trying to keep the *%$#@ thing untangled each time I hauled the 
>blasted
>contraption out of the water. 

Hauled it out?  No wonder you need a rope.  If ya wanna sponge to pop
back like a yo-yo.  You need a yo-yo string.  

 Plus, there's no weight behind the 
>throw!

I suppose my superior upper body development may give me some advantage
here >eg< but let's talk physics.  You throw the SPONGE, that rope you've
got on there is just a weight that slows it down!  Not to mention, I'd
get THAT  thing confused with my reins.


>Go to Wal-Mart 

Ah Ha!  The true reason behind this post.  I let Lynda proof my Nov./Dec.
"Lighter Side" for Trail Blazer and she suggested THERE that I change the
word K-Mart to Wal Mart!  She's being paid!  Just for eveyone's
information, I don't like Walmart because they discriminate against short
people by putting everything I want about 20' off the ground.


>P.S. -- Nylon won't come untied if you apply a lighted match to both 
>ends of
>the rope and let it melt a little.

Not "un-ravel"  UnTIE.  the knot around the sponge itself slips when wet.

I actually had a sponge with an elastic strap about 1/2" wide for awhile.
 Someone lost it at the Chattanooga Challenge and I considered it my
prize for pulling down markers.  It was rather interesting.  They had
left one of those plastic slip adjusters on the strap so you could adjust
the length easily.  It was really fast for sponging while standing in a
creek.  If you got the strap the right length you could get in more dips
and sponges per minute with it than anything else...boing, boing, 
However, if you forgot to get it wet before you got on, you couldn't
throw it hard enough to make it go down to the water.  When you tried to
sponge on the fly with it the elastic let it go WAAAAY  behind you, then
it hit the ground on it's forward swing...however, if it was just damp,
you could throw it and hit another rider in the back of the head and have
it back in your hand before they could look to see who did it. ;-)

 I will admit Lynda taught me to sponge, but I feel "little grasshopper"
is ready to take on her mentor in a duel!


By the way, someone said my picture is in the Distance Rider's Journal
this year.  That's me, the lady on the gray Arab, black tights, white
helmet...and a SPONGE in my right hand.

Angie  



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