200k, GPS vs cue, thoughts and thank yous.

[Dan Shinnick]

First I wanted to thank Steve, his lovely wife, Dan, Bruce and all the volunteers for this past Saturday's 200k.  And also Pamela, whom I understand had a heavy hand in the design of the route.  What a great ride!

The change in temperature really caught me off guard and made things a bit miserable when the noon time sun coincided with the meat of the course's climbing.  But otherwise today I'm looking back on it favorably as having been a wonderful experience.  So again: Thank you, all.

This was my first 'long' ride using a GPS.  The past few seasons I've gone exclusively cue and I noticed that using the GPS doesn't give me the same satisfaction of checking off turn by turn page by page, the course info.  Rather the GPS seems to make the ride seem a bit endless.  With the cue there is a sense of accomplishment at every page and a small amount of elation when I arrive on the last page.   I'll still use the GPS.  But I think psychologically I will need to use the cue.  So much of these rides seem psychological too, eh?  When alone on a road never seen before hoping the bread crumb trail home hasn't been eaten by birds.  When flat (special thanks to Mike for sticking with me on that one).  When people pass on a climb and the thought that they are probably not on this same ride nor on their 84th mile but rather their 12th, doesn't occur to us until after the fact.  It's a wonder we don't end up talking to ourselves out there.

On the other hand if my measure for a ride's enjoyment is the proximity to it's end, I could be in this for the wrong reasons I suppose.

Thanks again to everyone.  Hopefully we'll see each other for the 300.

-Dan 

#6773

[stevew]

Thanks, Dan.  It was a pleasure to provide support for all the riders.  Congratulations to all who came out!!  Being a first time ride organizer, I was a little worried and stressed about the whole thing, but I think overall the ride went well. 

There were 59 riders who started, and we had two DNFs.  For several, this was the longest ride they had ever completed, and it was great to be at the finish when they came in.  It made Jane and me super happy to see their success.

I hope to see you all out at the 300 - especially the 200K first timers.  C'mon, it's only another 60 miles.

BTW, I talk to myself quite a bit out there.

Steve

[Dale Lougee]

I find I must take the direct opposite feeling on the use of GPS.  I can never remember more than 3 or 4 ques at one time which meant all too many stops to look at the sheet to see what was next.  To me, this was a lot of wasted time.  I agree with the idea of needing to have psychological landmarks for the sense of progress but to me this is simply making it to the next control or maybe a Dunkin Donut or mini-mart I know about in between controls.  Also, how many of us have missed a turn in the middle of the night.    Dale L

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[li...@jkassen.org]

What I frequently do is ride with a GPS in map only mode and follow the cue. When I get scared that I
missed a turn or I'm off track (once every few minutes) I can look down at the GPS and see I'm still on the
correct road or I can look ahead to see just how far away the next turn is. But I too greatly enjoy mentally
crossing off each line of the cue and knowing I'm closer to the finish.

The 300k is going to be fun so I'm glad to read people talking about it! I'll post the cue sheet soon but the
online maps are already available on the NER site.

Jake

> -------Original Message-------
> From: Dale Lougee <dhlo...@gis.net>
> To: tdrsh...@gmail.com, ne-rand...@googlegroups.com
> Subject: Re: [NER] 200k, GPS vs cue, thoughts and thank yous.
> Sent: 06 May '13 17:05
>
> I find I must take the direct opposite feeling on the use of GPS. I can
> never remember more than 3 or 4 ques at one time which meant all too many
> stops to look at the sheet to see what was next. To me, this was a lot of
> wasted time. I agree with the idea of needing to have psychological

> landmarks for the sense of progress but to me this is simply making it together

> the next control or maybe a Dunkin Donut or mini-mart I know about in
> between controls. Also, how many of us have missed a turn in the middle
> of the night. Dale L
>
>

> FROM: [LINK: mailto:drshi...@gmail.com] Dan Shinnick
> SENT: Monday, May 06, 2013 7:56 AM
> TO: [LINK: mailto:ne-rand...@googlegroups.com]
> ne-rand...@googlegroups.com
> SUBJECT: [NER] 200k, GPS vs cue, thoughts and thank yous.

> Visit this group at [LINK:
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