Controls Go High Tech
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littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi
Nov 23, 2009, 10:43:51 PM11/23/09
to randon
Interesting gadgetry for a control / adventure race / tracking system:
http://www.sportident.com/
Doubtful that it will ever replace a brevet card... but for larger /
longer events it seems like an interesting approach. I found the link
through a series of adv. racing posts... so not bike specific.
http://www.sportident.com/
Doubtful that it will ever replace a brevet card... but for larger /
longer events it seems like an interesting approach. I found the link
through a series of adv. racing posts... so not bike specific.
cmorse
Nov 24, 2009, 3:04:55 PM11/24/09
to randon
SportIdent (SI for those that use it regularly) is a timing system
used for orienteering which I do quite a bit of. Very robust system,
easy to use. Finger sticks (punches) are very small and do not require
batteries or anything like that. My only concern for brevet use is
that the control units aren't cheap ($80-100 ea US I think) and so you
want to make sure they are secure. When setting orienteering courses,
we generally don't hang the controls near trails or in other obvious
spots until just before the meet to avoid having them disappear due to
vandalism. On a long event like a brevet you'd need to put it
somewhere secure (inside a store) or hide it somehow in which case the
riders would have to 'find' it before they could punch and move on.
But it makes tracking splits very easy and will quickly identify if
controls are missed or are taken out of order - though I doubt that
happens too often in a brevet. It makes the possibility of a long
distance bike orienteering / brevet hybrid event where controls are
placed in a geographically more constricted area and the 'course'
could cross over itself any number of times without worry about folks
taking controls out of order.
On Nov 23, 10:43 pm, "littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi"
used for orienteering which I do quite a bit of. Very robust system,
easy to use. Finger sticks (punches) are very small and do not require
batteries or anything like that. My only concern for brevet use is
that the control units aren't cheap ($80-100 ea US I think) and so you
want to make sure they are secure. When setting orienteering courses,
we generally don't hang the controls near trails or in other obvious
spots until just before the meet to avoid having them disappear due to
vandalism. On a long event like a brevet you'd need to put it
somewhere secure (inside a store) or hide it somehow in which case the
riders would have to 'find' it before they could punch and move on.
But it makes tracking splits very easy and will quickly identify if
controls are missed or are taken out of order - though I doubt that
happens too often in a brevet. It makes the possibility of a long
distance bike orienteering / brevet hybrid event where controls are
placed in a geographically more constricted area and the 'course'
could cross over itself any number of times without worry about folks
taking controls out of order.
On Nov 23, 10:43 pm, "littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi"
Charles Coldwell
Nov 25, 2009, 7:51:39 AM11/25/09
to littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi, randon
On Nov 23, 2009, at 10:43 PM, littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi wrote:
> Doubtful that it will ever replace a brevet card...
But it might replace the magnetic stripe cards on PBP.
> Doubtful that it will ever replace a brevet card...
--
Charles M. Coldwell, W1CMC
"Turn on, log in, tune out"
Somerville, Massachusetts, New England (FN42kj)
GPG ID: 852E052F
GPG FPR: 77E5 2B51 4907 F08A 7E92 DE80 AFA9 9A8F 852E 052F
kG
Nov 25, 2009, 2:11:14 PM11/25/09
to randon
Interesting, yeah... I'd been kicking around ideas from the Geocaching
scene, thinking of using for brevets and permanents. In this age of
photoshop and such, and the unknowns with regards to "that farmer
painted his barn last weekend" as it relates to information controls
on rural permanents, I've been wondering about a "better" way. It's
still hard to assume that everyone is going to ride with a GPS, or a
smartphone, or anything similar, though, to enable such things. You
have your techy rando guys, and your minimalist rando guys -- and you
can't tie such requisites to this route or that route.
It would be neat in a "someday" world to have position marking for
such things... "silent" controls... each rider has a RUSA-issued, or
club-issued (yeah, $$$$) GPS tag, and when they reach a certain point
on the route, it sends up a check-in and timestamp - without rider
intervention. The only thing remotely close is the "Spot" GPS xmitter/
messenger. This Sport-Ident thing seems pretty slick. Cost
prohibitive for smaller clubs, tho.
Keith Gates
RUSA #1445
www.commuterDude.com
scene, thinking of using for brevets and permanents. In this age of
photoshop and such, and the unknowns with regards to "that farmer
painted his barn last weekend" as it relates to information controls
on rural permanents, I've been wondering about a "better" way. It's
still hard to assume that everyone is going to ride with a GPS, or a
smartphone, or anything similar, though, to enable such things. You
have your techy rando guys, and your minimalist rando guys -- and you
can't tie such requisites to this route or that route.
It would be neat in a "someday" world to have position marking for
such things... "silent" controls... each rider has a RUSA-issued, or
club-issued (yeah, $$$$) GPS tag, and when they reach a certain point
on the route, it sends up a check-in and timestamp - without rider
intervention. The only thing remotely close is the "Spot" GPS xmitter/
messenger. This Sport-Ident thing seems pretty slick. Cost
prohibitive for smaller clubs, tho.
Keith Gates
RUSA #1445
www.commuterDude.com
littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi
Nov 25, 2009, 6:30:40 PM11/25/09
to randon
The endurance MTB crowd is using SPOTs and web based tracking pages
for race tracking. Pretty sure some of the events let you rent a unit
for the race. I'm probably getting one from the wife for XMas after
one too many rides with 6+ hour gaps in cell coverage...
trackleaders.com is one website that comes to mind for the endurance
MTB thing. Was thinking about something similar as a phone app on last
years fleche..
for race tracking. Pretty sure some of the events let you rent a unit
for the race. I'm probably getting one from the wife for XMas after
one too many rides with 6+ hour gaps in cell coverage...
trackleaders.com is one website that comes to mind for the endurance
MTB thing. Was thinking about something similar as a phone app on last
years fleche..
Bill Gobie
Nov 25, 2009, 7:56:27 PM11/25/09
to littlecirclesvt.com, randon
On Nov 25, 2009, at 3:30 PM, littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi wrote:
> The endurance MTB crowd is using SPOTs and web based tracking pages
> for race tracking. Pretty sure some of the events let you rent a unit
> for the race. I'm probably getting one from the wife for XMas after
> one too many rides with 6+ hour gaps in cell coverage...
canyons defeat it. Sometimes I can't say why it didn't work. I would
be much happier with mine if it gave feedback. As it is, you don't
know whether a message was sent successfully.
Bill
Peter Noris
Nov 26, 2009, 3:41:08 PM11/26/09
to randon
I'm not really sure what the attraction here is. Is there massive
cheating I'm not aware of ? And if there is, who gets hurt? There
seems to be much more attention paid to ensuring EFI gets ridden than
is reasonable for a recreational sport. Maybe I'm missing something,
but last year the desire to have courses that can't be shortcut led to
huge delays in getting routes approved; I heard of discussions over
whether staying at a friend's house on the route is "fair" - why
don't we just ride?
cheating I'm not aware of ? And if there is, who gets hurt? There
seems to be much more attention paid to ensuring EFI gets ridden than
is reasonable for a recreational sport. Maybe I'm missing something,
but last year the desire to have courses that can't be shortcut led to
huge delays in getting routes approved; I heard of discussions over
whether staying at a friend's house on the route is "fair" - why
don't we just ride?
littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi
Nov 27, 2009, 6:43:11 AM11/27/09
to randon
Ummm..... I thought it was interesting tech that semi related to a
sport requiring one to verify location at a given point at a given
time.
That is all.
I didn't know there was a ton of 'cheating' (although I've witnessed
course cutting on a 200k brevet when a turn was missed - the folks
still finished AFAIK), nor that there were issues with shortcutting...
But I was dizzy with trying to figure out extra controls on a dirt
road route I've submitted...
But - if we just wanted to ride - we really wouldn't care about any of
this - no? And you'd be posting to 'Solo Long Riding Without Rules,
Time Limits, or Tradition Google Group' - no?
;)
sport requiring one to verify location at a given point at a given
time.
That is all.
I didn't know there was a ton of 'cheating' (although I've witnessed
course cutting on a 200k brevet when a turn was missed - the folks
still finished AFAIK), nor that there were issues with shortcutting...
But I was dizzy with trying to figure out extra controls on a dirt
road route I've submitted...
But - if we just wanted to ride - we really wouldn't care about any of
this - no? And you'd be posting to 'Solo Long Riding Without Rules,
Time Limits, or Tradition Google Group' - no?
;)
Donald Perley
Nov 27, 2009, 6:51:08 AM11/27/09
to littlecirclesvt.com :: mike beganyi, randon
> Peter Noris wrote:
>> I'm not really sure what the attraction here is. Is there massive
>> cheating I'm not aware of ? And if there is, who gets hurt?
Even with that view, an RFI tag could help in events with long waits
>> I'm not really sure what the attraction here is. Is there massive
>> cheating I'm not aware of ? And if there is, who gets hurt?
checking in (maybe just PBP on that count), or in eliminating the need
to deal with paper and pen in the dark, rain, & wind.
Eric Keller
Nov 27, 2009, 3:57:38 PM11/27/09
to randon
That's the sort of question that you have to ask yourself when a 200k
permanent has more controles than the PBP
Eric "I don't usually stop so often" Keller
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permanent has more controles than the PBP
Eric "I don't usually stop so often" Keller
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