pedometers/mileage

[Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com]

S. Willis" <smw@sos.net>  said:

>I've been lurking quite some time now and have yet to see a post
>concerning how you measure the miles you ride for conditioning. I know
>some of our local riders have there own conditioning trails and have the
>mileage marked, but if you don't know the mileage of a particular trail
>how do you find it short of having someone on a motorcycle follow you
>the entire way? Do you just average your horse's travelling speed - ie 7
>miles per hour equals 21 miles for a 3 hour ride? How do you come up
>with the base travelling speed?...

I use two techniques:

1.  Count Strides

My horse is stabled at a Standardbred training barn
with a half mile track.  (It's plowed in the winter,
which means I always have someplace I can ride.)  From
many, many circuits of this track I know how many
walking strides = 1/4 mile, how many trotting strides
(in two speeds) = 1/4 mile, and how many canter strides.

Once I had this down, I made what I call a "node map"
of my local trail network.  I counted strides between
every junction (node) on the local network.  To figure
out how far I'd gone, I'd just add up strides of all the
nodes I'd passed through.

I still use this technique when I am on a trail I do
not know. It's not completely accurate, +/- about 20%
depending upon the terrain, but it does give one a
pretty good sense.  And it gives you something to do
besides sing.

As you imagined, when you get more experience you come
to know how far your horse goes at his "cruising"
combination of gaits and can then guess with rough
accuracy how long the trail is just by the time it takes
to complete it.  The biggest error comes from using
time without taking into account how the terrain
(rocks, for instance) can slow you down.  My horse
normally walks at 4 miles per hour.  Picking his way
over heavy duty rocks it's more like 1.5 miles per hour!

The first thing I noticed was how short so many of these
pleasure trail rides really are.  The worst was a "25 mile
ride" that was only 12 miles!  The 25 mile CTRs are much
better at accurately measuring their trails, undoubtedly
because it is a competition.


2.  Use Topographic Computer Software

There are two consumer-level packages out there that I
know of that contain digitized topographic maps.  Both
include a "distance tool."  You draw your route on the
map with a mouse and save it.  The software calculates how
far the trail is.  They also generate very nice elevation
profiles that show you not only how far you've gone, but
the amount of climbing and descending you're doing and how
steep the trail is.

I'm skeptical about how accurate the distance tool really
is, however, particularly in the Topo! package.  I've traced
almost identical trail routes multiple times and gotten
figures that varied by as much as 2 miles over a 10 mile
distance--no better than my stride counting technique!
It seems to be even less accurate if you end a trail and
then come back and try to extend it.  It could just be my
quavering hand, but I think the accuracy problem is real.

Still, they are marvelous tools.

Web pages:

Topo!:  http://www.topo.com

MapTech:  http://www.topomap.com

And when push comes to shove, one can always just use a
ruler on a topographic map where you've done your best
guess mapping of your local trails.


Linda B. Merims
lbm@ici.net
Linda_Merims@ne.3com.com
Massachusetts, USA



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