As an AERC director, members talk to me more often than if I were just a regular member. As a result, I get to see two views of our membership. The first is just as another member. The second is as a director of AERC. Both views are useful but serve different purposes.

Here are some of things I've seen in the past year as a member:

-- I enjoy seeing families riding together, including both parents and children in age down to their 6-year-olds.

-- I see riders as young as a 4-year-old doing her first 50 and as old as a rider in her early 80s starting more than 350 miles last season.

-- I talk with riders who have diverse goals, ranging from being the first LD rider to complete 1000 miles in a season to reaching 10,000 miles on the same horse to simply riding for fun, the scenery, and a T-shirt.

-- Riders talk about their new horses, how to continue having fun with their older ones, and how to compete safely.

These people could have been doing something else less strenuous, less risky, less "enduring" with their time and their horses but chose our sport for the challenge and enjoyment of doing what we do all over the country.

As a board of directors member, I see a different view.

I hear concerns from long-time members such as when an "old" member is deeply discouraged about the direction of the sport, it becomes hard for them to mentor new riders. "I had fabulous mentors in the late '70s and early '80s," one veteran member told me. "They gave me a passion for the sport. They never made me think a ride owed me anything but a challenge. That's the kind of people I want to hang out with . . . even when I'm in a wheelchair and can only watch."

I hear other members saying LD is a growing part of our sport. It fits a more modern style of rider with less free time to condition yet a rider who still has a passion for long-distance riding. They feel that this group deserves more recognition than it presently receives.

Both are aspects of our sport today and will continue to reflect the broad spectrum of members we have. Both views are important to AERC and I hope these groups will still be part of our organization decades from now. Change while still maintaining tradition needs to be part of an organization like ours.

Other members are concerned about our trails and whether there will still be available places to hold our rides a decade from now. Some are deeply concerned with how we can lower the fatality rate in our sport and make competition safer.

Another concern is the rising level of litigation as our sport becomes more visible and grows.

And finally, members are divided on how fast AERC should grow and still maintain the traditions of endurance.

I see politics from members. People have agendas as well as goals. At its best, politics can be a way to achieve positive goals for members and the organization. It can also impede progress in other endeavors. It can divert time and resources from better pursuits.

Two major goals I see members interested in from the board are fairness and understandability in our drug rules and a more clear and concise set of rules overall.

These are a few of the aspects that have come to me in the past season from riding with and talking to members. We are making progress but it's never easy. Please keeping talking to me on the trail and by e-mail or phone. Mike