Having just done a popular Audax, I found that the route sheet was the worst one yet.
No, not the route; on the contrary, it was a well planned & justified route, & well upto expectations. It was the turns & distances that were in doubt, almost from the start.
At one point it says take a 2nd R after a specified place name, yet it really meant a 1st R since all & sundry were going up there anyway. Distances to the turns were all falling short between 0.7 & 0.9 kms & that was near the start in an early stage. Later, things only got worse when, at an instruction to "continue around" 1 km to Control, when in-fact it was well over 2.8 kms (i.e. around 3.0) kms!! Not exactly what you'd expect when you'd be looking for something of say, + or - 0.1 km ("around"). So from the return leg to this same point now gave "around" 5 kms extra. So one had to read + 5 kms on all turns from now on. It didn't stop there though, since for all the paper-carrying afficionados there was a deceptive & final twist in this final leg. A sign had blown down or been knocked down & as I anticipated there was a turn at that junction, but didn't stop to check the fallen sign. Now this lesson could've saved me an extra 15-20mins & 4kms more, to add onto the already tiresome calculation of + 5 kms. When confronting the rather "Blase" Controller/Organiser with all this, well then all that he could utter was "well it takes a lot of time to do these route-sheets! Well, why the heck did you bother to do it wrong in the first place for all of us to follow!? I thought it was my wheel diameter that gave me doubts but after checking the track it made upon one revolution then that ruled that out.
I strongly believe until proven wrong, that most controllers don't check out the actual turns & write them down, but commit to memory which is folly on their part. So it might take a might bit more time than just riding the route & enjoying the scenery, but for one & for all why cann't "they" get it spot on for all who'll follow their routes & avoid many dismayed riders, most not voicing their ride so as "not-to-rock-the-boat", & it'll be alright until next time. No it won't! The same mistakes are there & glaringly stare out at you each time the same ride is done. Real actions & not just words are called for now.