Thanks guys for making this class a success. I'm pretty sure there will be another NAV 101 class in the future, but it all depends on demand. I'd like to set up a few day run with support through a couple of Scott's stages for training late in the summer because I want to do them too. The navigation thing is not just for racers as it is a fun way to build and plan rides for even regular guys as well, but as everyone learned, it takes a lot of work. What will really make this class take off is participation from regular guys so it does not have to be so expensive for the racers, but I suspect it is a lot easier to just learn by sitting behind a computer instead of actually going out and doing it once or twice. And I don't know anything about what the JCR guys are up too, they are just learning in case something comes up. JIMMY
Jimmy, there are over a dozen stages in my roadbook catalog that you haven't done. The six "Pahrump Loops" that you used in the class make up only ONE stage. There's tons of stuff out there that a bunch of guys could really have some fun with, especially all the guys that just went through your class and now know how it's done. Gather half of those guys, plus some new ones and have a blast!
You talked me into it! I was just on the phone woth Jim Stoddard and we're hot to figure out a way to do this in the eastern woods. I really enjoyed the making of the roadbook excercise.
With trepidation I'm posting my first 'edited' video ever. It sucks the sweat from the testicles of a leathery Sheri's Hotel security guard, but at least it might be interesting to someone. As a taste of the challenge of navigation you can see me blow a turn in an area that has multiple options, and you can see it in the tulip as well. A quick check of the Cap heading fixed my error, but these kinds of challenges were the norm. My favorite was the second to last and last stages. Jimmy covered up parts of the mapbook and had us navigating with partial info....excellent. The last stage was just fun. Oh, you can also see my degrading nav setup with my electronic Odo dying on day one which meant I had to slap on a mech odo and move my GPS (for CAP) into a very sub par location. But as Jimmy kept reminding us...adapt. At one point on the first day I was riding partials only since my odo kept resetting. I had to try to force it to reset at every important turn. Fun fun! Oh, and the fact that Johnny, David and Colton just happened to be there hanging, learning and participating for 3 days turned it into something really not describable... <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RBg68EftWMM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Thanks Jimmy, Johnny and the rest of the guys.
Nice vid! That crappy sandwash near the end is 30 yards right of the faint road you were supposed to be on. No big deal, lots of people fall in there. At least the heading is right on! That remids me, I forgot to attach this VIDEO (snapshots). The first half has a lot of terrain from the challenging Pahrump-Jean Loop. Nobody has ever finished that one in one day, including Jonah and Quinn Cody, so you know it's good! The second half has a huge mix of stuff from our past rides on these routes. You may notice it goes back a few years, but it captures a lot of the fun we've been having with these roadbook rides. Talk to Jimmy if you want to ride this stuff!
I told Kevin (in the video) I would get some footage of him so I was following him around trying to catch a good section. I knew I was a little off, but I was having too good of a time tracking him down! Finally I caught him after sucking some dust on the dirt road...then he got a flat. Short of having another tube, those giant zip ties are the trick for keeping a tire on the rim a little longer.
Nice video , Phil! Youre the second guy ive heard use those giant zip ties, im going to have to get some :) I was following colton and daves tracks in that wash i think, haha! I might even be able to find the same yellow ranch on my video somewhere
Guys, There is a strong possibility we will be offering this class again in late October, early November... round up interest...
I used the last 3 giant zip ties the mechanics left on my bike to hold my GPS on the final stage in Mongolia when the mount broke at km 9
I have some rental bikes set up for this class but they may already be spoken for. I will know more in a few weeks.
Now it is looking like the dates will be August 27-31. I'll be making a post soon with the specifics for the class. This will be very similar to the one we did earlier in the year but we will finish it with some longer stages, maybe a couple over a couple of days. If you want to skip the earlier training and do some stages, we may make that an option. JIMMY
