How's that working out for you QG?
What's your DNF vs validation rate? How many GPS devices have you bought to work this fantastic method? I think you're up to 4 now, is it?
So far:
- DNF (aborted - Too cold) - 200km BRM Feb 2018
- DNF (overtime - puked following swallowing a fly) - 300km BRM April 2018 - Finished in 21 hours 06 minutes. 150km on an empty stomach.
- DNF (not fit enough) - 600km BRM Jun 2018
- DNF (Knee problems, at 210km mark) - 300km BRM Mar 2019.
- DNF (Neck and saddle pain @ 20% distance) - RatN - May 2018
Events completed:
- 2018 - 4 x calendar 200km BRM, 1x calendar 300km BRM, 5x 200km DIY - Total 2100km
- 2019 - 1 x calendar 300km BRM, 5x calendar 200km BRM, 5x 200km DIY - Total 2300km
- 2019 - Race around the Netherlands, 1897km - 199 hours 50 minutes, 2nd placed woman.
Since I started audaxing I have purchased the following cycle specific GPS devices:
- Wahoo Elemnt Bolt - Purchased 2019-05-08
I have another Wahoo Elemnt Bolt, Purchased before I started Audaxing in November 2017.
I also own a Garmin e-Trex 10, but I haven't used it for cycling for over 2 years, and never for an Audax. I purchased it originally for geocaching, and then as a nav device for touring on my Brompton.
I also own a Garmin inreach Explorer+, I use this as a tracking device, and while it is capable of being used for navigation due to having map functionality, I do not use it as such.
I have not had a single ride DNF or DNV due to a navigational device failure. When my Wahoo died on RatN, I fell back to my phone, in a waterproof case, with the GPX trace in OSMAND. Whilst this would be enough to get me home, I decided to throw money at it and get a new wahoo, I'd need one anyway. Fortunately my dead wahoo is alive again, so I now have a spare GPS device for the TCR. Ultraracing is not audax, and the approach of multiple gps devices that I have taken here is not one I think is relevant to an Audax, an audax you are allowed outside assistance, you can ride with other people, and the route is often not mandatory.
Does that answer your question? Do I meet your requirements and approval to be able to have an opinion on this? I know I'm a relative beginner, I know I've only completed 21 Audax events, and 1 ultra race across 3 countries. But is that enough?
I never said anything about elastic bands- we once rode in a group containing a guy who stopped pedalling every time he looked at the route sheet banded on his arm. I was tempted to put a pump through his wheel.
This works. Without a GPS, you've room on the bars.
Where the bloody hell will that go on my bars? it would get in the way of the aero bars...
And while you may not have been the person to suggest that elastic bands for the route sheet, it *HAS* been said in this thread.
The stream of perl you've printed is user error. Routesheets are words. The organiser went to the effort of checking a routesheet that doesn't just show you a line to follow, it tells you what/ how far the next turn is, so you can ignore all the turns for about 10km, and erm, focus on getting those km under your legs.
From one event I did last year:
1,1 (VKL) RD-R Schuinrechts éénrichtingstraat / sens unique (Godetialaan)
From another:
0,8 B/R Vilsteren 7 (fietspad links) 17,0
VKL's tot voor brug
I dunno how yacf will cope with the special characters, thats a smily face, and a right arrow for the first instruction, and a up arrow for the second one.
Everybody thinks the way they do it is the one true way.
It's not. Just like your bike is not the one true bike.
Excellent, I do love it when people make my point for me. Providing a GPX and a route sheet makes it accessible to those who want to use a GPS, and those who want to use a route sheet. Providing only 1 of them makes it complicated for which ever is left out.
As a newbie, who's started recently, I think that using a bike computer like a wahoo or a bike specific garmin is incredibly easy to use, in fact even using a mobile phone (suitably weather proofed) on a handlebar mount is incredibly easy for most people. A route sheet may as well just be perl as far as I am concerned.
Now, seeing as you have had the audacity to challenge my palmares, to make me justify my point of view, I have questions for you:
How many ultra races have you managed to achieve a podium finish on?
What's the coldest Audax you've completed? How many toes have you had frostbite in?
What's the strongest headwind you've had on an Audax?
How many different countries have you completed an Audax in?
J