So, I wrote a long blog entry last night only to run into internet problems that prevented me from publishing it. I fell asleep and have just read Bill's entry and I can safely say that he totally plagiarized my work. Which is cool. We're a team after all.
I woke up 10 minutes ago and have 30 minutes to eat breakfast, pack, and be sitting in the truck ready to go. But, I wanted to answer this most commonly asked question: "What the heck is a TSD?"
TSD stands for "Time-Speed-Distance" and its basically a moving math problem. The simplest one is this: Start from a dead stop and drive for 120 miles at 60 miles per hour. So, you're supposed to average 60 miles per hour for 120 miles. Imagine that someone is standing at the 120 mile mark (at the "control") with a stopwatch. You're "perfect" time is 120 minutes (simple math- 60 miles per hour, 120 miles - perfect time is just 2 hours or 120 minutes). If you arrive early or late, you take "points". Points are measured in seconds.
So that sounds easy, right? Imagine this simple modification: It's that same 120 mile stretch, same 60 MPH average, but now there's a stop sign at the 60 mile mark. No problem, right- You just stop at the stop sign and continue... but you still need to be averaging 60 MPH over the distance, so you have to adjust your speed by going faster than 60 MPH at some point to hit that overall average. Making it more interesting, the controls could be anywhere- not just at the 120 mile mark. And you don't know where they are. Oh, and the surface could be covered with snow and filled with switchbacks. Good luck maintaining 60 MPH! :)
To keep on "perfect" time, I have pre-calculated what our "perfect" time should be every .5 miles of the TSD sections. So, we have had 5 TSD's so far. When we aren't doing TSD's, we are just "transiting"... There are no controls at all and we're free to do what we want, but we do need to get to the next hotel in time for a driver's meeting each night.
OK, so that's TSD 101 from a guy who has a cold and is in a hurry. Let me know what questions you may have.
:)
Doug
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5 comments:
Very good explanation of TSD. I knew you took all those math classes for a reason. :)
Denny's sounds like the place to be for breakfast up there in Canada, eh?
I've looked at your points/score on the official site, and think you guys are doing a great job. Keep it up.
Hope your cold gets better soon.
Will look forward to later posts today.
Love ya,
Mom
Just a little automotive humor for you guys:
A few days ago I was having some work done at my local garage. A blonde came in and asked for a seven-hundred-ten.
We all looked at each other and another customer asked, 'What is a seven-hundred-ten?'
She replied, 'You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine, I have lost it and need a new one..'
She replied that she did not know exactly what it was, but this piece had always been there.
The mechanic gave her a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like.
She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710. He then took her over to another car which had its hood up and asked 'is there a 710 on this car?'
She pointed and said, 'Of course, its right there.'
If you're not sure what a 710 is, here's a photo: http://www.hotautoweb.com/cogifs/710.jpg
Enjoy! Dan
Hey Guys, Just did some web research on whitehorse: they are having a snow carving festival the weekend of Feb 20-23, teams flying in from Alaska, all over canada. So since your return includes Whitehorse: there should be some snow statues/carvings to see. And the weather said 60% chance snow for Saturday. love the pictures, have been reading other blogs: gives the sense of great comraderie and teamwork. xo momo
Doug and Bill,
So far it's a tie in my mind for best blog in the Alcan (this should be an official catagory) between you guys and the Mitsubishi camp. But it takes 6 of them to equal your two guy's blog!
Keep us entertained, drive safe, be on time and don't eat the yellow snow.
John Elkin
I see you're having an exceptionally long day today with over 900 miles to go, if I read that right. You're going to be tired puppies. Hang in there.
Mom
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