It would be difficult to get from one place to another without directions or a map. Add to the equation: 14 crew members, 4 riders, and 4-5 vehicles and things can get pretty interesting.
RAAM provides each team with a "Route Book" - a 1.5 inch thick, spiral bound navigational bible that serves as THE definitive word on getting from Oceanside, CA to Annapolis, MD. What about using GPS? That's fine but if there's a discrepancy between the Route Book and your GPS - paper wins.
On first glance, the Route Book is quite intimidating, with line by line instructions and directions traversing 3,000 miles across mountains, cities, corn fields, and rivers. So what better way to prepare Team Ride Red than to create our own route books for our training rides, patterned after the RAAM Route Book!
So for our first training event last November, Fred, MJ, Leary, and I drove the 100 mile loop we intended to use and as a result, our first team route book was born. Of course we had a few snafus along the way, like not realizing our odometer switched mid way though from miles to kilometers which goofed up our cumulative distance, or when we would miss a turn and have to back up and then subtract .75 miles from every distance calculation thereafter (or however far we overshot the turn). But by the end of it all, we had a nice route book complete with maps and line by line turns formatted in RAAM Route Book fashion. But did this prevent people from getting lost before we even got out of Old Settler's Park? Nope.
Our second training event is coming up this weekend and of course, we are fully prepared with another route book. This route covers 200 miles and even though the distance is double, the route book is actually smaller. We were a little smarter this time, choosing a route that had a lot fewer turns and "special features" (like a bazillion cattle guards, dry low water crossings, or a port-a-potty sitting in the middle of a corn field). Fingers crossed no one gets lost again!
