Pete, re: your metric/Imperial 2 measurement technique for cal courses. I guess this qualifies for 2 measurements as much as 2 done in the same units would, but I'm always leary about mixing the two units (and I'm sure Bob Baumel is positively apoplectic in reading this, hence his lack of reply - he's probably sitting paralyzed in shock at his comuter).
I work solely in metric untis (since the mile is officially defined that way, it's not hard to figure out, but quite another story going the opposite direction). I've measured a couple times w/ guys who work in Imperial, and I always feel like an American astronaut working w/ a Russian counterpart on the Int'l Space Station - we're not really talking the same language. It's like apples and oranges. It really gets to be a pain when doing a marathon or half marathon, and they're trying to figure out the 385 yards byond 26 miles, while I've got my 42,195m easily calculated.