Street scramble

In article <[email hidden]>,

Claire Petersky said:

We did a local street scramble (http://www.streetscramble.com) yesterday on
foot as a family. We had a blast, even if we didn't come close to winning. I
was thinking of doing it next year on bikes. Have other people here done
similar events?

No, but looking at the rules, I see that the best scorers are solo
cyclists, though the categories are all broken out, so there's no real
advantage to using one category or another.

At a guess, the only sneaky move possible would be for a pair of
experienced hands to race as a same-sex or mixed bicycle team on a
tandem: they should be able to be faster than any team on separate bikes.

The family bike division is scored with women and vets, but I bet the
unbeatable family bike rig is either a triplet tandem or a trail-a-bike
(the advantage of a tandem+trail-a-bike over a trail-a-bike towed by the
stronger adult and the weaker adult on a separate bike is probably
marginal if the adults are close in ability).

Also, series scoring is done by multiplying the score for 90-minute
racers by 1.5 when compared to 180-minute racers. Do a study to see if
this is the right correction factor, and choose the time limit that is
likely to produce the most points for you.

It's obviously an urban orienteering event, so brains in route planning
are probably as big a deal as the competitor's speed.

--
Ryan Cousineau [email hidden] http://www.wiredcola.com/
"I don't want kids who are thinking about going into mathematics
to think that they have to take drugs to succeed." -Paul Erdos

"Ryan Cousineau" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Claire Petersky said:

We did a local street scramble (http://www.streetscramble.com) yesterday
on
foot as a family. We had a blast, even if we didn't come close to
winning. I
was thinking of doing it next year on bikes. Have other people here done
similar events?

The family bike division is scored with women and vets, but I bet the
unbeatable family bike rig is either a triplet tandem or a trail-a-bike
(the advantage of a tandem+trail-a-bike over a trail-a-bike towed by the
stronger adult and the weaker adult on a separate bike is probably
marginal if the adults are close in ability).

We won't qualify for the family division next year, as our youngest will
then be 12 and over. The family division winners were running adults pushing
tots in strollers; it would have been very hard to win with kids walking.

However, I think if we did it as two tandem teams in the 90 minute category
(most bikes did 3 hours), we'd have a chance in terms of the competition.

Quoted message said:

It's obviously an urban orienteering event, so brains in route planning
are probably as big a deal as the competitor's speed.

The advantage I have is that I grew up in, and now live, in the general
neighborhood. I know every short-cut and informal footpath in the general
vicinity. I could smirk as I saw other walk out of their way as I knew that
if you just walked through a particular apartment complex, there would be a
hole in the fence at the back to get to the park etc. It would have been a
lot harder for us and the kids if it had been in a more unfamiliar place.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

In article <[email hidden]>,

Claire Petersky said:

We did a local street scramble (http://www.streetscramble.com) yesterday on
foot as a family. We had a blast, even if we didn't come close to winning. I
was thinking of doing it next year on bikes. Have other people here done
similar events?

Ryan had some good observations. Also, as far as bikes go, a "street
scramble" sounds like a milder version of some messenger races.

--
fneep