Originally Posted by
unterhausen
What I have found is that RBAs are getting worse at making accurate cue sheets. Find out if the route designer rides with a GPS. Especially on something like a 1200k.
Originally Posted by
kingston
I can understand why someone might prefer the simplicity of cue sheet navigation, but it's becoming a very small minority, and making a good cue sheet is a lot of extra effort for the organizers compared to publishing a gps route. You have to pre-ride the course with the cue sheet, make notes along the way, update the cue sheet when you get home and print copies for the riders. With a gps route you can just drive the route to make sure no roads are closed and publish the route on rwgps. It's hard to justify all the extra effort for the cue sheet if nobody is going to look at it. I would definitely let the RBA know if you plan on using cue sheet navigation, and someone may put a bit more effort into it. I've done a lot of pre-rides and cue sheet updates over the years and don't mind doing it if someone is going to actually use it, but I'll skip it if I think everyone is going to use the gps route anyway.
I used cue sheets for a long time, then I got a gps as a back up and now I just use the gps. I thought I would miss the cue sheet navigation, but I really don't, especially at night.
Great points! I don't envy all the work that RBAs put into designing and running their routes, and try to show my appreciation whenever I can. My RBA has always had great cue sheets, and in the Before Times, he would give us a pre-ride briefing with any concerns/detours about the route. Between that and his minimal use of info controls (which were pretty much no-brainers), I've definitely been spoiled.
For last year's season, cue sheets and brevet cards were available with EPP as an option, but it's not clear yet whether he'll be using new routes this year or recycling old ones. He's had the routes available with RWGPS for years, so I suspect that's been his primary tool for a while. I'll reach out to him and see if anyone else has expressed interest in cue sheets. I certainly would hate to be the cause of unnecessary work...
@
unterhausen, free sounds like too good of a deal to refuse. I'll PM you; thanks for the offer!