I’ve found that riding with another measurer usually doesn’t save me time. The reason is that on the first ride of most courses it takes one complete course ride just to find what’s there, and adjust it. Then a second ride is needed. It doesn’t help me any to have two rides of the initial exploration, as I must do another one anyway.
Of course, it’s generally more fun to have company.
In 1999 I measured the course of the inaugural Flying Pig Marathon, in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was fortunate to have Mike Wickiser available as a second rider. Although he lives near Cleveland, he was visiting his daughter in college near Cincinnati. We rode the course together, stopping every so often at reference landmarks. This gave us two complete measurements of the unadjusted course.
At that point Mike went home and I finished the job myself on subsequent visits to Cincinnati. With the landmarks accurately known, I worked out final locations for start and finish.
The splits were easy to locate, as each one was no more than a mile or two from an accurate, certifiable reference point. All in all, with changes of RD mind involved, it took me five trips to Cincinnati to get the job done. I wasn’t happy about this.
On the Earth Day Marathon, with everything being out-back, I figure the job will involve less than 30 miles of riding. Each “out” segment will get its second measurement on the “back” ride. Doing it with two people would save me, at best, about five miles of riding.
Disadvantages are:
1) I don’t have a local friend to help. I could find one I suppose. There are one or two local people who could help.
2) When measuring with others, there is always extra time taken with meeting up and having to pre-plan. When I measure by myself I can wake up and see what kind of a day it is, and measure on my own schedule. With others involved I have less flexibility.
3) When riding in company I tend to make more mistakes when I am the lead rider. Sometimes an interesting conversation gets me sidetracked.
4) This is not a disadvantage, but the biggest help of a second person is in laying out the calibration course. I plan to do this solo. I hate to use inexperienced people at the other end of the tape.
Present status of the job is that I dropped the price a bit because the race is so small. The RD says she will be seeking to get funding from her Board. Maybe it will happen, maybe not.
If she can’t get funding I have offered to coach her, or her surrogate, in doing it themselves. I hope I don’t have to do this, as without a Jones counter presently available I’ll have to first educate her on setting up the electronic option, and then going on to actual measurement. I suspect this will be too tough for a newbie, especially as it’s a full marathon course.