Re: RC: LDs and 50's

[David LeBlanc <dleblanc@mindspring.com>]

At 01:50 AM 5/5/00 EDT, Howard4567@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 5/4/00 10:29:26 AM !!!First Boot!!!, rides2far@juno.com 
>writes:
>
><< No LD's passed me that day, but a few sure blew me off the
> trail at Hahira.  Santini and I decided to just take to the woods till
> the 10 or so front runners had charged by.
>  >>

>I think I actually have a solution to the mixing of 25's and 50's.  What if 
>the LDs started 90 minutes sooner than the 50's?  What a concept!  My guess 
>is it would eliminate the gaggle at the vet checks cause the 25's would be 
>through the first vet check by the time the 50's came in from their first 
>loop.

The problem isn't so much who starts first, but the lag time between them.
The 90 minutes here is the key, and it depends on terrain. Here's the
numbers - a really slow-moving rider is running about 5-6 MPH.  That's your
tail end riders.  Go much slower than that, and you won't finish on time.
Your fast riders are moving anywhere from 10-15 MPH (though that's
extreme). If a 6 MPH rider starts an hour ahead of a 12 MPH rider, then we
can expect the faster rider to catch up with the other one as so:

distance = speed * time

which means that when they catch one another, the distance is the same, so:

12*t = 6*(t+1)

which reduces to:
2t = t + 1
t = 1

or for this case, the fast rider will catch the slow one in an hour at
about 12 miles out. If the fast rider is only moving at 10 MPH, then
they'll catch up in about an hour and a half, or 15 miles out.

Once everyone gets into the vet check, they tend to spread out, and it
isn't as big a deal.  Also, the more time you spend between the start and
when you head out, the sooner they are going to catch you.

So, moral of the story is that ride managers ought to either start
different distances on different loops, or increase the amount of time
between starts.  If you're a rider who wants to go slow (I did last ride),
then it is probably a good idea to keep a reasonable pace (not too slow)
the first loop out so that people don't catch you.

David LeBlanc
dleblanc@mindspring.com