Reply to "Marathon Measurement Plan"

Sorry your co-rider experiences have not worked well. I just measured the Colfax Marathon last weekend, and it was great. I was the lead bike, so I went to each split point (miles, and 5K multiples). I would mark the point, roll forward 5', set a GPS waypoint, and record the location description. By then, Cliff arrived, and he recorded his click count. We compared, to make sure we were accurate, then I left. He stayed and took the photo of the point and wrote his count down. Repeated along the entire course.

We finished the entire course, including calibration rides and driving to an from the course, in 7.5 hours. It would have taken me that long for one ride, then I would have had to go back for my second ride. I will use a co-rider for every Marathon course, and most Half-Marathon courses. (This was a loop course, so we were basically back at the Start when we finished.)

Good luck with the measurement. It is a big help to have the mapping tools available now, so you can work through most of the issues before going to the course.

Oh, I noticed "an interesting conversation...". Isn't the prescribed proceedure to have each rider ride separately, so each can take their own "shortest possible route"?