Absolutely love your videos!! I have watched them all. I just signed up for my first 8 hour race and I will be rewatching all of your videos again as it get closer! Thanks!!
Really loving these videos as we prepare for our first 12 hour race. Commenting because my wife has a question that we haven't been able to figure out a good answer for: How do you handle having poor eyesight on a long adventure or expedition race? She wears contacts normally, and everything is blurry beyond a few feet without those or her glasses. Do you buy expensive RX sports glasses, take spare pairs in hard cases, or somehow try to keep single use contacts safe and sanitary on the trail? How do you deal with rain, fog, and so forth? Very curious to hear your take!
Hehehe, good question. I saw someone else raise this on FB not long ago and there were a ton of responses. For me, my eyesight isn't terrible but I wear glasses almost all the time. Normal pair of varifocals, nothing special. Sometimes a spare pair in the gearbox but never needed them. Also, I can trek/kayak with mine around my neck if I need to. It's the MAIN reason I wear mine on a cord. very practical for me. One of my teammates has eyesight like your wife, I think. He's done exped races, including paddling at sea, with the same logic - his regular thick glasses. No contacts. He just wipes them and keeps going ;) He's a good nav but that's one of the reasons he doesn't do the nav on the bike - it's too much trouble in the rain etc. I know some people swear by using contacts in races, though you probably want to get the disposable kind / change daily. I don't think you want to leave the same pair in with all the mud and dust you encounter.
I’m really enjoying these videos - some excellent information and insights. In this video though, I am curious why you did not mention that some compasses allow for declination adjustment, e.g. adjustment of the orienting lines on the housing relative to the base plate, usually through a screw mechanism. You dial it in before the race and just forget about declination. One of the first things I look for on a new compass.
Well, I could have mentioned it but literally forgot. I guess it depends on where you live, i.e. how much a factor declination is a factor in your every day. Here in the UK I never have to consider it, only when I race internationally, and none of my 4 or 5 compasses have it. I talked about it before putting out the video with a teammate, as well as some other technical points, but in the end just decided to go with the video. It's never as simple behind the scenes. Thanks for the question, though :)
It depends on context. Across a desert, even a few degrees can cause a disaster. In highly featured terrain, like mountains, then you have more leniency because you can recognise those features, which will keep you accurate. Generally I don't bother with much less than 5 degrees, I'd say, unless it's dark/bad visibility in which case I'll be very strict. 🙂
Absolutely love your videos!! I have watched them all. I just signed up for my first 8 hour race and I will be rewatching all of your videos again as it get closer! Thanks!!
Hehehe, very nice of you. More is coming soon, but have just had to take a break to focus on other stuff. :)
Really loving these videos as we prepare for our first 12 hour race. Commenting because my wife has a question that we haven't been able to figure out a good answer for: How do you handle having poor eyesight on a long adventure or expedition race? She wears contacts normally, and everything is blurry beyond a few feet without those or her glasses. Do you buy expensive RX sports glasses, take spare pairs in hard cases, or somehow try to keep single use contacts safe and sanitary on the trail? How do you deal with rain, fog, and so forth?
Very curious to hear your take!
Hehehe, good question. I saw someone else raise this on FB not long ago and there were a ton of responses.
For me, my eyesight isn't terrible but I wear glasses almost all the time. Normal pair of varifocals, nothing special. Sometimes a spare pair in the gearbox but never needed them. Also, I can trek/kayak with mine around my neck if I need to. It's the MAIN reason I wear mine on a cord. very practical for me.
One of my teammates has eyesight like your wife, I think. He's done exped races, including paddling at sea, with the same logic - his regular thick glasses. No contacts. He just wipes them and keeps going ;)
He's a good nav but that's one of the reasons he doesn't do the nav on the bike - it's too much trouble in the rain etc.
I know some people swear by using contacts in races, though you probably want to get the disposable kind / change daily. I don't think you want to leave the same pair in with all the mud and dust you encounter.
I’m really enjoying these videos - some excellent information and insights. In this video though, I am curious why you did not mention that some compasses allow for declination adjustment, e.g. adjustment of the orienting lines on the housing relative to the base plate, usually through a screw mechanism. You dial it in before the race and just forget about declination. One of the first things I look for on a new compass.
Well, I could have mentioned it but literally forgot. I guess it depends on where you live, i.e. how much a factor declination is a factor in your every day. Here in the UK I never have to consider it, only when I race internationally, and none of my 4 or 5 compasses have it. I talked about it before putting out the video with a teammate, as well as some other technical points, but in the end just decided to go with the video. It's never as simple behind the scenes.
Thanks for the question, though :)
Thanks! At what scale can magnetic declination be neglected?
It depends on context. Across a desert, even a few degrees can cause a disaster. In highly featured terrain, like mountains, then you have more leniency because you can recognise those features, which will keep you accurate.
Generally I don't bother with much less than 5 degrees, I'd say, unless it's dark/bad visibility in which case I'll be very strict. 🙂