Concrete Roads

Calibration courses on concrete roads are best made irregular lengths, so that they can lie between two permanent fixtures (drain edges, pavement cracks etc).

I've heard of people using a concrete drill to make holes in which to put PK nails. I won't do this, as I rarely put in PK nails at all, except perhaps on bike paths in the middle of unfeatured woods, or on calibration courses on asphalt roads. Too many of the courses I measure change from time to time, and if I had been nailing I'd have them all over the place.

Lately I have taken to photographing the splits and giving a photo CD to the race director. I have found that this serves to refresh my memory too.

A hammer and a concrete chisle is a good solution for marking the ends of a calibration course. If the calibration course has a curb it is a good idea to mark either the top part of the curb and/or the vertical part of the curb as well as on the chisle marks of the ends of the calibration course so that you can find the ends of the cal course easily. Then you can look for the chisle marks. If you are lucky you may even see some of the paint in the chisle marks.


Bernie Conway

I hadn't thought of the concrete chisle idea. I'll give that one a go. Yes, I agree with Pet, where the opportunity arises it's obvious to use a drain edge or pavement crack but other than for a cal course this often is not an option in my experience. Usually the RD's here want the start and/or finish is a particular spot.