Letter from Hugh Jones to Tom Riegel
Dear Tom,
I have just got back from the Faeroe Islands (62degN, on the way to Iceland from here) having done my first overseas measurement with your counter (as you may remember, the counter didn't fit the spindle of the bike I had in India). I only needed to ride 20 miles to do this latest measurement (including calibrations) as it was a 10km loop and 16km out-back which only required measurement in one direction as the entire width of the road was available in both directions (given the unusual combination of a complete road closure and not that many runners).
That brought my total mileage (roughly calculated) up to about 530 miles with the counter attached. Relatively little of that has been actually measuring, although last week I did two half marathons, two 10km races, a 5km and a 2 mile race. I will be measuring another Marathon in Tromso this coming weekend.
After 850km/530miles the counter is in very good nick. Very slight imprints in the delrin from the steel teeth, and very little wearing away of the rotating disc at the centre,which is where all my JO counters and earlier models eventually failed. I suspect this might be where the wear eventually shows up on the JR, but at current rates of wear it could be 1200 miles before this becomes significant. I hope you haven't designed such a hard wearing product that your turnover suffers.
Best wishes,
Hugh