Lap Alerts - how to notify your team

ian220476

Hi,

I'm trying to think/come up with a way of notifying my enduro team mates that I am within a certain distance of the finish so that they can be ready and waiting for handover.

The principle would be to pick a spot on route circa 4km from the end that I could trigger an alert to them. The question is how and what?? In the middle of the woods with no ability to use digital radios limits options i.e. I can't think of any!

Last year we ran a race and roughhly knewwhat sort of time to go out and meet the incoming rider, but one big accident or a mechanical throws it all out of kilter and the poor guy waiting is getting colder; unsure when to stop/start stretching etc.

How do you guys notify your team?

Anonymous

Hand grenade in your pocket? easy enough to pull the pin out with one hand, and throw it into the bushes, the BOOM would alert your team mates.

The Northern Monkey

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Air-Zound-Recha ... B002JE6Z0O

kinda falls to pot of another team have the same idea though

Anonymous

Oooh, Flare gun?

M1llh0use

Poor guy asks a serious question and you clowns turn up.....










Loving the had grenade optioon though!!!

ian220476

mmmm - might put this thread to bed and try elswehere........

chedabob

If you could get phone signal, SMS message or Runkeeper Live?

njee20

What if the puncture or big crash is in the last 4k though? You've already alerted your team mate.

A few years ago walkie-talkies were all the rage, not so much now though, and to be honest they were used exclusively by the weekend warriors, the quick guys are content to just assume there's not been a problem! Take some warm clothing to transition and it's fine, a solution to a bit of a non-problem IMO.

ian220476

Like the idea of using the runkeeper or some king of phone/GPS type thing - signal as you say though could be the issue.

njee20 - it may well be a non-issue from your perspective but having struggled with this over the last few years (hand over speeds drop considerably as you battle with jumpers and trousers; stretching done too early/too late resulting in small muscle pulls; somebody puts in a blinder of a lap and arrives earlier than expecetd to see the good work undone) it is somethingg that I wanted to explore.

Granted if somethig happens in the last 3 or 4 km then you could easily send another signal, but you would at least have coverd, say, 75% of the lap to minimize the potential risk. If it is something that there is no real answer then fair enough it just seems at the races that there seems to be some very strong organisation around some of the handovers and just trying to work out how that happens.

njee20

it just seems at the races that there seems to be some very strong organisation around some of the handovers and just trying to work out how that happens.

Just about proper planning IMO, perhaps it's easier with quicker riders, as people don't really put in 'a blinder of a lap', they know how quick they'll be to the nearest 5 minutes or so.

Knowing what time to expect riders helps, stupid as that sounds, a whiteboard and a clock, so you're all working off they same time works well, get into the discipline of coming in and writing on the board what time you finished, who's out, their ETA and the next rider.

I've done dozens of 6/12/24 hour races, and never missed a changeover, although you do always see it happen!

ian220476

we don't to do badly. I should clarify blinder. We expect to put in just over a 10.5 mile lap, at night in around 45 mins. We normally allow some for hold ups, blockages at the holes/drops etc but its those laps where it comes together and the hold ups don't happen you can be 5 minutes or so faster - it is easily done.

As you rightly say, you do always see it happen. We're looking to make an assault at the very sharp end this year and I'm looking to eek every advantage that we can.

njee20

Well the Gorrick 12:12 course was just under 8 miles, and the quickest lap was Ben Thomas from Torq with 33:35 in broad daylight, so to do a 10.5 mile night lap in 45 minutes you'll be at the very sharp end anyway! Assume you're looking at D2D more specifically?

It really needn't be too much of an issue, particularly if you know to within 5 minutes when they're going to get there, thermal jersey on (unzipped) in transition (or a coat or something!), something like Nature's Kiss Hot Stuff on the legs to keep them warm if you're worried about it, stretch appropriately if that's your thing, then just make sure you stay warm while you wait.

Always be optimistic with your estimates of lap times, don't assume there'll be hold ups, better to be 5 minutes early than late after all! You'll warm up pretty quickly once you start anyway, it's the same for everyone, those first couple of minutes are a bit grim!

At the end of the day... just enjoy yourself! I've been on all steps of the podium across Mayhem, SiTS, 24/12, Torq 12:12, Bristol Bikefest and D2D in a mixture of teams, pairs and solo, and the biggest thing is to have fun, I've done well in races in bad conditions and been really miserable, I've done badly in races and had a great time, and I know which I'd rather be doing!

Anonymous

How's about, a turbo trainer at the change-over point, so whoever's about to step up can warm up before hand?