Cold as a Measurer's Jones

I measured OH86001PR, the Sawmill Athletic Club 10k, at zero Fahrenheit on New Year’s Day 1986. I was bundled up like the Michelin Man. It wasn’t pleasant. I only did it then because I knew I’d never find a less trafficky set of roadways. I’ve done some 5k’s in the twenties since then, but now that I’m in my dotage I try to avoid the really cold measurements.

When it’s cold out I keep my spray paint inside my jacket next to my body. If I don’t do this it won’t spray properly.

Memory is great but records are better. It wasn't zero F, it was 16 F. Just looked in an ancient notebook.

I think the hardest thing is keeping the feet warm. I would go with insulated boots rather than your fancy cycling shoes. I was measuring a course one time and hit a patch of ice on a corner and slid halfway across the intersection so take care.

Maybe your camera is better, but I have found that camera batteries tend to crap out at low temperatures.

Have fun.

I have measured in the teens (let's see, Ametrica, that would be 10 below, or so). I wear the thick cycling booties over my shoes (deductible business expense), and have some wind-proof ski gloves. After the first mile, I am fine. I have long cycling tights, and will wear thin long-johns underneath.

I also keep the paint next to my body (don't leave it out too long while marking, though. Cold when you put it back.).

I hope you charge a procrastinator's fee, since you are at the mercy of the weather on this short-notice. That makes it a little more bearable.

23 degrees F or -5 degrees C, a couple of Aprils ago.

Things had backed up so much over the winter that this was about our only shot at getting these two courses measured. I think it was the first weekend of the baseball season because I listened to the Cubs game on the way home.

Like Duane, I bundled up and wasn't uncomfortable but it is hard to write legibly and use a calculator with ski gloves on. This was also one of the first times I tried to use an electronic bicycle computer as a revolution counter, but the Bell model I was using simply didn't function at temperatures below freezing.

I'm not in a hurry to do that again, but as long as there's no snow or ice on the street, it really isn't all that bad.

First Pensacola Marathon course...in fact, first measurement job...27 degrees and wind out of the N at about 15 mph. So, to quote Jef Mallet, it was indescribably cold once you discard all of the classic descriptions. We were fortunate to have two people in a truck who did the count recording and split reference measurement.

(This beat an earlier measurement job, before I knew about bicycle measurement - walking a 5K/10K/half with a wheel in late December. Freezing, 20 mph winds, and the flu.)

Went out last weekend to re-measure Pensacola (changing to a two-loop half), not nearly as cold, but just as windy. Our challenge this time was getting a Sunday where it wasn't dumping rain; since the RD and I were both riding racing (triathlon) bicycles we were more scared of sliding on our tights.

Mike, I didn't realize there was a town named Pensacola in Minnesota, too

Looks like we're getting a heat wave end of the week - might go all the way up to 40. I'm getting out my sunscreen now.

Well, I lucked out. We had a one day "heat wave" on Friday as predicted - temps got into the upper 40s, maybe even a bit higher. A lot more pleasant to ride, although the course was more crowded with fair-weather joggers, walkers and cyclists, from whom I endured no small dose of enmity.

Calibrated at home, then went to the course after lunch. Met the race people and located the finish line, which was on an extension inside a two-plus loop. Then did the ride as follows:

Went to a point on the loop just beyond the extension, common to both (Point A). Rode the extension to the finish took a reading, then zeroed out my Protegé, which I used to lay out mile splits. Rode the course backward, laying out splits and taking readings at Point A and took a reading on the other side of the loop near where the desired start was - I just picked a point by an easily recognized lamp post and called this "Point S."

Then I rode to A, took another reading, for 1 complete loop.

Rode to S, took a reading, then rode to A & took a reading. 2 complete loops and 2 rides of all segments. I continued on to S a third time and took a reading.

After getting home and recalibrating, I figured out the total distance of extension, 2 complete loops A to A, plus one A to S. Came up 66.46m short of 21,097.5m, which I added the next day w/ a steel tape (and by which time the temperatures had dropped below freezing). By today it was even colder (12F at 7 AM) when the runners raced over the course for the first time. I heard that they actually had to break ice film that had formed on the cups at the water stations

Gee, Jim. Thanks for the boatload of sympathy. That's what two decades of living in FL does to you; makes your blood about as thin as a Pat O'Brien's Hurricane, I guess.