Randonneuring

I recently posted this in a forum thread about randonneuring:
"I will help anyone start participating in randonneuring, but there is so much potential for suffering that I would never try to recruit anyone into randonneuring. I have ridden myself to the verge of tears more than once, and probably will again. "Epic is not a synonym for stupid""

Funny thing is, I wasn't thinking of Endless Mountains.  I got a little anxious about time during EM, but never really felt miserable.  I have more to say about this and what I think beginning randonneurs need to know.  That's a post for another time.