A couple of years ago I was out mountain biking with a friend from work. She had asked me to lead because I knew the area better than she did. It was meant to be a fun ride, on relatively flat terrain, so we chatted as we rode.

Somewhere in the conversation it came out that she had been a world champion female triathlete. I had been aware that she was extremely fit, but had not realized that she had been an elite athlete. When this came out, I protested that I couldn't possibly lead the ride, because after all, she was a champion athlete and I'm just a reasonably fit person who rides for fun.

She insisted that I lead, insisted that she was having a great time, and pushed off any notion that she holds her riding buddies up to some sort of elite athletic standard. She was so good natured about it that I immediately lost any worry that I was holding her up or ruining her ride. We had a great time and rode together a couple more times before she moved away.

I have another friend who competes in events like Primal Quest, and have acquaintance with a number of other elite mountain bikers. In my experience, the true elites like to see anyone out there enjoying their sport, at whatever level they can manage. If they're planning to do a serious training ride, they will the slowbies know that they will be left behind, but when they're out to have fun, they are able to have fun without poo-pooing the efforts of their less gifted friends.

And, aside from McClelland's bad attitude, his argument doesn't even make sense. How could recreational runners possibly cause serious runners to go more slowly? Maybe they could if they put the slow runners out in front and the fast ones had to get past them, but we all know that's not how races are organized.

I train for hours and hours every week. I lost 100 lbs and still have some to go. I hope to finish a late fall marathon in 5:15. But since I am ruining the sport, I quit. Thank you for helping me to see the light.