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RE: [RC] long /limited distance - heidiBTW, a GPS is accurate to a few feet in determining a single position. It isn't that good at determining the length of a squiggly path. I don't think they compensate for elevation change, and I know that when it can't read, it just assumes a straight line. John Teeter told me that he figured a GPS measured about 85-90% of actual distance, and where he lives tree cover isn't a problem. One ride I went to (name withheld because it was an otherwise nice ride) where the distances between vet checks were most screwed up was measured with a GPS and had considerable forest. That's why I don't like or trust GPS as a mileage-measuring tool. It is a great thing to "find yourself" and keep track of where you are, but give me an odometer any time for the actual mileage. It isn't that tough to check one's odometer so that one can at least adjust for its inaccuracies. And most rides can be measured that way to a large extent. A mileage wheel also works for the areas where one can't get with an odometer. I used to manage a ride that another manager is going to attempt this year--and in passing, when I mentioned the length of one loop, he said oh, no, that loop is only x miles. Well, it was measured numerous times with several mountain bike odometers, and it has both significant elevation change AND timber cover in spots. I suspect the new RM is using a GPS... Heidi PS: In reply to the poster who mentioned her husband being a pilot, and the GPS adjusting for the distance after it gets back out under the foliage, I had a mental vision of the pilot flying underneath the foliage--not a pretty picture! <g> ============================================================ Arabians were bred for years primarily as a war horse and those requirements are similar to what we do today with endurance riding. ~ Homer Saferwiffle ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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