Wow!  I just looked at the new course legs and ran the mileage totals.  By my calculations there is a 56.95 mile difference in mileage from van 1 (132.15) to van 2 (75.2)

CAN SOMEONE ELSE VERIFY MY MATH?

Van 1 vs. Van 2

Van 2 gets 7 legs shorter than 4 miles while van 1 gets 1.

2 legs in a row (32 and 33) at 2.2 and 1.9 miles?  We've been caught in traffic in past RTBs and on 2 occasions didn't make it to the TA before our runner.  I can see that these legs will require special planning between the vans so that doesn't happen here.

Van 1 better rest while they can.

Don't get me wrong.  I'm not complaining.  I cannot fathom what the boys go through to set the course up for this fantastic race.  But team captain need to be aware and plan for the difference in the mileage.

Thanks again to the RTB staff for allowing us to share in this adventure for yet another year!!!!

my numbers aren't rounded but I got 113.6 vs 93.3 with the following totals by runner

21.2, 20.8, 20.6, 14.9, 17.0, 19.1, 18.3, 18.0, 12.7, 12.3, 17.1, 14.9

My numbers are close to what idutri's values- 115. 52 for van 1 and 93.46 for van 2. The difference is 22 mi.

Those two short legs are definitely going to be a logistical nightmare, especially since they're at the end of the race and there are 450 teams this year. 

Yeah I just redid it and had runners 7 added in to van 1 my mistake. Dooh!!

What a dumbass!

SORRY SORRY!!!

Please ignore the idiot!

Yeah it's going to be interesting to see how they handle the addition of so many teams, if the wave start times will get expanded to 5, 6 pm and if the finish area will be allowed to stay open later. Those 2 short legs late in the race will definitely be a problem that will hopefully be addressed before the race starts and not as it's in progress.

 Fellowship of the Bubblewrap: Year 7

I told my team that I want whoever is running those short legs to try to beat the van to the TA!  It wouldn't be the first time we let a runner out 30 seconds before their run!  (Okay, that only happened once -- we had an eleven person team and van 2 got mixed up at which TA was the VTA, and realized their mistake just in the nick of time.)

We're actually thinking of ways for Van 1 to become more involved in advancing the next runner, either having Van 2's goal those last few legs be to get the next runner in place and making Van 1 be sweeper for the runner on the course, or grabbing the next van 2 runner and leapfrogging forward TAs so that the next runner's in place, either way making Van 1 more involved where normally they'd just drive to the finish. Essentially forcing yet one more van into the melee which you would think should be the last thing the organizers want to do in the field that already seems to big to handle the course.

Fellowship of the Bubblewrap: Year 7

Our first year we drove right to the finish and felt like we were missing some of the action.  The following years we provided backup support to van 2 and had a blast doing it.  Last year, however, the race directors made it very clear that van 1 is not to be on the last six legs of the course, period.  I expect them to mention it again this year at the pre-race orientation.  (A couple of years ago one of our runners had to put in an extra mile or so because van 2 was stuck in traffic and couldn't get the runner to the transition area.  That happened at the Vo-Tech in Laconia as well.)

FYI, I've got a measurement for leg 1 of somewhere between 8.25 and 8.30.  Not a huge discrepancy (3%) and explained by the fact that the first few miles follow the recreational trail not the road.

I only mention it because some people are REALLY particular about mileage (like myself), and that .25 mile will translate to a roughly 15 second/mile difference in pace, and to some people that's a lot.