[gregsfc]

I went back and looked at the history of the mid-Ohio event, and it looks like to me that there was a big jump for just about everyone in 2013 compared to the previous two years, and then it sort of eased upward as one would expect after that; but the years bschloop was riding, Alan and Vic were not too far above 100 even after getting the Vetter treatment, and so 108 back then was a really good score, and Fred just blew everyone away, except for the one-year wonder who beat him in 2012.

The first two years, the ride was shorter; in 2012 it was very short, and that probably hurt most liquid fuelers. I see that in 2013, the distance used for calculation was at or about the same as it was the year I came and rode, and that was 154 miles. In 2015, it was listed at 140, and in 2016, I think the group got separated and there were two distances used depending on the rider and what actual route each ended up taking.

And in the interest of being transparent, I'd like to report that in 2014, my trip meter showed 150.1 (if memory serves). I rode only the event miles. I didn't ride from the fuel station to back behind the Inn before the ride started. It wasn't in the rules, but most riders rode around. I thought that odd for an FE contest, and I wanted to do my best and not handicap myself, and I didn't start up until I was told to after breaks. Others started up early and idled unnecessarily in my opinion. I didn't ride around anywhere like some riders did during breaks at fuel stations and stores and the museum, etc.. I thought it was odd that some riders did, even top contenders. After topping back off, Craig and his team were asking everyone what their odometers/trip meters showed and that they were going to take the average of everyone's or maybe the mode or median, but you get the point. Well this seemed odd, because, for one thing, some of the riders rode around some when they didn't have to like mentioned above, which I thought was a bad idea for an FE contest unless everyone was going to use their own calculation, which would also not be a good idea, and for another, I thought it was well-known knowledge that most Japanese and European trip meters tend to be a bit optimistic; especially the older ones. Anyway, my best guess back then and even now for my trip meter is 2.2% optimistic; and so for 2014, I did my calculations for myself and came up with at or 146.8 as my best-guess, actual distance estimate, and mpg at or about 96.9, and that's the claim I always make. My official score was something like 101.82; so that's about 5 mpg optimistic compared to my own record for fuelly, etc.

Now I'm not suggesting that we go back and change these numbers. Just like Sendler has written about the refuel inconsistencies that could or may exist from rider to rider and ride to ride, we're going to have some inconsistencies in the distance variable as well, but whatever distance is decided on, at least with this variable, unlike topping off, it effects us all equally, as long as none of us are riding extra or idling extra, but then that's on them in these events, and besides, my numbers may not be any more accurate than the 154 listed, and this wouldn't account for all the improvement anyway over the years. This would be bad for year-to-year comparisons also, because now we're coming up on year 5 since back when the winner was at or about 140ish and contenders were under 110, and I don't know if the errors are consistent from year to year; but I am suggesting that bschloop may perform a little better than he expects versus the other riders; especially if we're not going to use a 4 wheeler and a couple of GPSs to verify the distance, and if we do use a different measurement of distance that brings down the range, then it'll still affect us all equally.

I didn't expect to come anywhere near 97 in 2014, so for me, almost 102 was icing on the cake, but if we run either of the two proposed routes, we'll have a long ride, and I think that will be good for all of us. However, something that I think will hurt me personally is the long stops for recharging. My bike does much better fully warmed up, so a lot of stops, and especially if they are long, will likely hurt my score, but I absolutely support a ride that allows the e-bikes to finish, so I'm not against it as long as it's reasonable. Maybe I'll point the radiator towards the sun.