Waaaay back in the '70s, the cycling club at Ohio State started a new Century in late April as a 'warm-up' or conditioning ride on the rural roads north of Columbus a few weeks before TOSRV. I remember quite vividly going out the week before in my car with a gallon of traffic paint to mark the road with yellow 'Dan Henry' route arrows. Ours were a 8" diameter ball, with a stalk and arrow head to show direction -- or a bent stalk if a turn was coming up in a few hundred feet, a sideways-pointing arrow at the turn, then a confirming arrow a few hundred feet after a turn. Fool-proof, huh.
The ride went well, with about 60 riders. Not bad for a first-year full-century ride. 7am start, with a projected finish of 3pm, dinner went on until 5:30. Yes, we had roving SAG support van, sponsored by one of the local bike shops. Two water/fruit stops, plus a lunch sandwich stop, and burgers/hot dogs/and chili at the finish. At the end, we did a sweep of the entire 100-mile route (again in my car). No stragglers. Great. We went back to the dorms... An hour later, we get a phone call from one of the riders -- back in the era of pay phones!. It is now dark and he is MILES off our route's course. Of course, he's cussing us out -- because he got lost -- by following another organization ride's white arrows. First off, they were white - ours were yellow, and the other arrows were even a different style of arrow. So much for fool proof... SMH...