Following the CAP
What is a CAP? It is a heading provided to you by the author of the roadbook. Sometimes it is information you have to use to find your way to the next note. Other times it is an additional piece of information to help you verify you are making the right decision. In the roadbooks, the CAP is always highlighted in yellow.
It is helpful to start thinking about your direction of travel in degrees. North is 0 (or 360) degrees, East is 90 degrees, South is 180 degrees and West is 270 degrees. Your heading shows up in the Yellow box in the upper right corner of the TerraPirata RallyRoadbooks app. It may not show numbers until you are moving. An example picture of the instruments in the TerraPirata RallyRoadbooks app is in Image 1.
Image 1 - TerraPirata RallyRoadbooks app Instrument Bar
We use a few different types of CAP indication in our Roadbook Tours. We will introduce them from the more to less commonly used. Every roadbook author has their own style. If you are following another author’s roadbooks, you may find they use these differently. The information below our standard.
The Standard CAP is in the lower left corner of the After Box (right box) of a note. In our roadbooks, it indicates what your CAP is as you are leaving the tic mark in the tulip. If there is a Standard CAP available, it is a good idea to verify you are heading that direction as you pass thru that location. This double check can tip you off to a mistake you may be in the process of making. Once you leave the location described by the note, the road you are on may curve and weave on its way to the next note. The Standard CAP is only describing the heading at the part of the tulip leaving the tic mark, not the road between your current note and the next. Some examples of a Standard CAP are shown in Note 34 and 36 of Image 2.
Image 2 - Roadbook example
The Floating Cap is the next most common CAP you will see in our roadbooks. The Floating CAP is found inside the Tulip Box (middle box). It is only numbers. No letters. The Floating CAP indicates the heading you will be at when you are at the arrowhead shown in the Tulip drawing. Look at the Image 2 above and you will see an example of a Floating CAP in Note 35. You would find your heading to be 20 degrees as you ride along the gravel road at the location depicted by the arrow. Not at the Tic Mark. Don’t let the location of the Floating CAP in the Tulip Box confuse you. It could be positioned anywhere in the Tulip Box but it is always describing the arrowhead.
The CAPa (CAP Average) is not often used in our Roadbook Tours. It is the CAP from the current note to the next note. It is used to help you verify you are on the correct trail or road. When you see a CAPa, it will be somewhere in the Tulip Box. The CAPa can be a little difficult to wrap your head around. In general, it means you will need to make sure you are more or less following that CAPa heading to the next note. The road may meander around a bit as you make your way there or there may be parallel routes. An example of a CAPa is shown in Image 3 below in Note 53. In this case, you would average 13 degrees on your way to the Note 54.
Image 3 - Roadbook example
In HP (Off Trail) portions of the roadbook, the CAP is very important. HP is point to point navigation. You go at the specified CAP heading for the distance in the note to get to the location of the next note. When confronted with an HP section, the first thing you will do at the note is get headed in the right direction using the CAP and your compass. Then you choose a landmark on the horizon (or at least further away than you think the next note will be) to head to. Ride toward your landmark while verifying your compass is matching the CAP. Once you have covered the correct distance to the next note, you follow that note’s directions. Remember no hazards are shown in the roadbook for HP sections. You could be off the route. Keep an eye out for hazards and don’t ride outside your range of vision. Watch where you are going. Take a look at the HP section of roadbook in Image 4. Try to imagine yourself riding between the notes and what you would do. Which way would you turn? How far to the next note?
Image 4 - Roadbook example
It may be helpful for you to see what this same section of roadbooks looks like from higher up. Image 5 is a screenshot from Rally Navigator 2, the software we use to create the roadbooks. Normally this is not a view we share but it really helps to understand how HP navigation works. A satellite view of the route (North is up) is on the left side of the image with the roadbook on the right. Look at the roadbook portion and start at Note 59. Now find Note 59 on the satellite view. Try following the roadbook directions as you look at the satellite view. Scroll down below the image for a step by step thru the notes from the start of the HP section to the end of it.
Image 5 - HP Overview
At Note 59, the rider will leave the Tic mark at 154 degrees. They will travel at that heading until their tripmeter shows 127.74 km.
Now the rider will be at Note 60. They will turn right to 198 degrees and ride at that heading until the tripmeter reads 139.57 km.
The rider is now at Note 61. They will turn right to 233 degrees and ride at that heading until the tripmeter reads 146.63 km.
The rider is at Note 62 now. They will have come across a “less visible” 2 track and will turn left following it leaving the Tic Mark at 180 degrees (due South). They will follow this road until their tripmeter says 149.50 at Note 63.
You can see how important the CAP is for keeping you on the route. Sometimes you don’t need it to make the decision on which way to go at an intersection but it is always a good idea to check yourself. It is surprisingly easy to go the wrong way. Remember how each version of the CAP gives you different information.
Pick up a Roadbook Tour from the Northwest Roadbooks Store and get out following it today!