this AR the Adventure Racing thread

[Shebeen]

But consider the epic-ness of sleep monsters while paddling Loch Ness?

this one seems to fit a few more of the family holiday criteria

 

 

and probably a sandbag to get some decent ARWS points too

[Chris_]

What do you guys do for watches for these multiday events?

 

Assuming you use GPS watches, or do you track and time using GPS handhelds?

[dave303e]

What do you guys do for watches for these multiday events?

 

Assuming you use GPS watches, or do you track and time using GPS handhelds?

 

Take it off and leave it in a safe place...

 

GPS watches and hand helds are illegal in AR as they can be used to navigate and navigation must be done with a Map.

 

estimate distance on foot and we can use manual non gps odometers on the bike.

 

Biggest hassle is getting the watch tan area sunburnt.

 

On the smaller races where a watch would last you can start it and have them seal it in a bag till the end of the race for you so you can track your route. For me some of the fun is mapping the expected vs taken route on a map anyway and most of the trackers used can give you a kml for the route the tracker tracked.

[Pigeon]

Suunto Core is the perfect AR watch.... 3 functions - time (with alarm), altimeter and compass (though this is used as a guide more than anything else).

[Chris_]

Haha ok, easily enough answered.

 

Maps! now I'm even more jealous/impressed

[Shebeen]

What do you guys do for watches for these multiday events?

 

Assuming you use GPS watches, or do you track and time using GPS handhelds?

no GPS, but altimeter is a very important tool to have.

 

hard finding a decent watch with barometric altimeter but not GPS.

the Suunto core is the one that ticks this box, otherwise if you can get hold of an old top of the range pre GPS one like the polar S720, then you're in luck

 

https://www.bikehub.co.za/classifieds/341534-sold-polar-720i-polar-s410-hr-belt-t34/

[dave303e]

Tend to disagree on the altimeter front, if you are referring to an altimeter you are already lost or losing time figuring out where you are...

[cat-i]

Tend to disagree on the altimeter front, if you are referring to an altimeter you are already lost or losing time figuring out where you are...

 

Probably depend on navigation style? 

I had a Suunto (can't remember the model) with a fairly accurate altimeter. Although I never learnt to navigate, my task was very often (and always when we were on foot) to watch the ascent/descent and alert the navigator if we get to a certain level or counted certain intervals.

 

We had a brilliant navigator (Yoshimi, from a previous lifetime before the Kinetic era), so he must have used the info for something ... or otherwise he was just giving me something to focus on in an attempt to keep me awake

[Jewbacca]

Tend to disagree on the altimeter front, if you are referring to an altimeter you are already lost or losing time figuring out where you are...

It often depends on what sort of terrain and what time of day it is as well.

 

I use the altimeter a lot at night and on really hilly/mountainous sections. 

 

Pretty essential if you are at 500m and are going to top out at 3400m with several tricky path junctions and your head torch light is limited. 

 

I definitely don't think one uses them as a last resort. 

[Pigeon]

Tend to disagree on the altimeter front, if you are referring to an altimeter you are already lost or losing time figuring out where you are...

In Scotland when the mist suddenly closes in and you cannot see your mates having an altimeter and a the ability to follow a bearing will save you.

 

Itera Ireland that is the only way we could navigate for the first day in the mountains due to the rain and mist.

 

It also is great for your own personal use when you are begging for the top to arrive and you have no idea when the switchbacks will ever end ????. That kept me sane one or two times in Réunion

[dave303e]

In Scotland when the mist suddenly closes in and you cannot see your mates having an altimeter and a the ability to follow a bearing will save you.

 

Itera Ireland that is the only way we could navigate for the first day in the mountains due to the rain and mist.

 

It also is great for your own personal use when you are begging for the top to arrive and you have no idea when the switchbacks will ever end . That kept me sane one or two times in Réunion

 

If you are on a mountain in the mist you are already losing time to all those not on that mountain at that time, the thing is 90% of the time you can get away without it, you do need on for that just in case but you see guys referring to altitude every time they look at a map when really it is not needed.

It is also something not to be dependent on, for example some maps have 50 or 100m contours so multiple path junctions close together up a mountain will be between 2 contours easily. I know in India the viability of 20m contours is useless in some places as the whole map will be a solid contour so a lot of maps there are 100m contours.

AR is changing, the pace is getting quicker and the nav recently has been fairly easy so it is more about the pace of nav than the real challenge.

[Shebeen]

Tend to disagree on the altimeter front, if you are referring to an altimeter you are already lost or losing time figuring out where you are...

 

compass

altimeter

eyesight

 

All pretty handy nav tools, have their pros and cons.

 

You definitely won't use all of them all the time, but it helps to have them when they are required. I often use altimeter at night, go grab a handle rail up a slope and watch the height, when at your chosen point, to leave handrail you can use compass. At the same time i can do a race and never need it.

 

I get your point about races becoming less nav challenging. I hate this trend. Come do my A1 race in March, it won't be a test of just your VO2 max!

[dave303e]

Hope you lot are all glued to the trackers for Godzone, 

Jabberwock is sitting top 20, had a bit of a wobble in the last 45 mins and think they may be having a roadside nap mid 160km cycle leg...

[Pigeon]

All over it... Not sure there will be much work this week. FOMO is real

[dave303e]

All over it... Not sure there will be much work this week. FOMO is real

 

What team do you usually race with locally?

 

Also getting little done, luckily my job is making maps and working with GIS data so a tracking screen is often passed as work

Edited March 11, 2019 by dave303e

[Kenty]

OH BOY!!!...@ dave303e...Jip that wobble got me in a wobble...I HOPE Craig was NOT irritating Cobus with his talking ...hehehe...I did send him a message before they left to leave Cobus alone as he will be VERY busy DEEP in his maps...hehe..

 

BUT now I see Cobus is almost taking a mini tiger line to that TA 4...I really hpe they can get there by , say 05h00 and have at least a 2 hour nap before the window to the river opens at 07h15...coz tomorrow is the last day to go on the river then it closes and all other teams will be short coursed...