samirsky

i had the same problem. It keeps saying "GC.com Username does not own TB. Check spellings. Please try again." but im pretty sure i own my travel bug. Thank you for telling me about this error. I was not aware of it. Of course, this functionality was tested and used to work. However, my server has had changes which affected other parts of tbrace.com. I was not aware the registration was affected as well. I will post an update here once it is fixed. Sam

The_Duke: I deleted your race id 28 because it started before you could add TB's. Feel free to create the race again, and let me know if I can help with pre-dating the start.

Brik: Your race start date and start miles has been fixed. Now the challenge is to change the website so you can do that for yourself. The_Duke: Your race ID 27 has been deleted. Your bugs can now be placed in your new race 28. Let me know if you want to adjust the start date back and give credit for all previously earned miles.

Brik, Thanks for the comments! I agree; the site certainly needs some improvements. I can certainly manually change the start date (give me a day or two to get to it). Also, did all of the bugs involved start the race with 0 miles, i.e. should they get credit for all of their miles toward the race? This points to my challenge in letting you pre-date a race. It could seem unfair. If you have a bug with 33000 miles, you could pre-date the race to make sure it wins. I don't know why someone would at this point, but as the site develops there might be prizes, icons, ranking, etc. And what miles should the TB's get credit for in a pre-dated race? It would be a significant effort for the site to figure it out. Perhaps as a first step , you can pre-date a race, and all of the bugs will get credit for all of their miles gained so far (this seems to be the most common reason why people want to pre-date a race.) This is also the same issue with letting someone change the date after the race starts. I am not sure the best way to handle it. Perhaps for private races, it should be allowed, and be considered a private matter to manage. For public races, it doesn't seem fair to let someone change the 'rules' (start date for example) after the game has begun. This is why I am not sure what to do. I certainly think the site needs the capability to change the dates before the race has started, in case of typos. As a first step, a confirmation page before 'submitting' the race to check for typos. End date blank: good suggestion. Other types of races: I agree as well. This thread has many ideas posted. My goal was to get the site working, and then add race types. I think the most popular other type of race is a race to a certain location (geocache). Right now, my plan is to make this the 2nd type of race. Have to agree again. It could use a lot of work to make it more usable. I am still going for functionality right now, and will fix these issues as I go. THANKS! ANNOUNCEMENT! I have had discussions with Groundspeak, Inc. and they have agreed to allow my site to continue. In fact, they were very supportive and encouraging. I have been in the process of starting a new job and relocating across the country. Between that, and the fact that the site (sortof) works, I was not very motivated to continue to develop it. After talking to Groundspeak, Inc, I have a new enthusiasm to make the site better. Thanks for all of your suggestions. Can do. Give me a day or two to get to it. Also if you want it pre-dated, let me know the start date and if the TB's get credit for all of their miles so far.

By accessing the geocaching travel bug database directly. Just kidding. I simply get the miles and location from the public bug page. My geocaching friends and I have had a great time with the concept of a TB race. Our original race has been a blast. One bug (Red Racer) was in last place for 6 months and is now ahead in the race by thousands of miles. It has been so much fun, I wanted other to be able to enjoy their own race, while at the same time promoting the sale of TB's to support gc.com - the site that has facilitated a hobby (ok an addiction) that my family and I love. Has gc.com considered incorporating such games into the web site?

The start date is the one you entered when you created the race. This is a mandatory field (it SHOULD be). Yes, there are improvements needed. I would like to make it such that if you are the owner of the race, you can change the details. However, it is a little complicated because it wouldn't be fair to let you change the rules after the game has started (esp for a public race). But alas, the reason the functionality hasn't been added is because I haven't gotten to it. At least there should be a confirmation page that lets you edit the details before creating the race. I can change it manually. Post the start date (in the past) of the race. Tell me if the bugs both started with 0 miles. If not, tell me the miles the bugs had at the start of the race that don't count in the race (miles to be subtracted from total). Also, you need to add your bugs to the race. After that I can manually make the changes above. Sam

There are 2 (relatively) new electronic caches in my area. They require a 9-volt battery, and are very different from each other. The owner has a vision to create a whole cache series you can do with a 9-volt battery, kind of a signature of his. They are: GC11CZN - Christmas Cache (night cache) GC11AT1 - Bear Proof (has electro-mechanical design. Very nice)

Crestview, United States of America (TB1BY35) made it to its destination on 2/18/07.

I called at about 10am on a Thursday. 850-883-1177. Try again Monday at 10am. Or maybe just try every hour on the hour starting at 8am.

This issue has been of great concern to me as well. I have placed many geocaches on Eglin, and was very disturbed by 2 recent logs (all my caches on Eglin now have links to those logs) indicating a guard was annoyed with geocachers. The 400,000 acres of Eglin property is a natural treasure that I enjoying playing in, and is GREAT for geocaching. Before a few weeks ago when the logs were posted, I had no idea it was a problem. In fact, I still have no way of knowing how big of a problem it really is. It is entirely possible that both logs were referring to the same guard, and his opinion is not shared by all who manage Eglin land. Or it could be a major problem, and they are planning to ban geocaching as we speak. I do not know. I have spoken to Erica Schnarr (850-883-1177) of Jackson Guard, Natural Resources branch. She is the one to contact to get assistance (dumpster) for a CITO event. She said she does not know of any problem with geocachers not getting passes. However, she also admitted that she probably wouldn't be the one told about it. She suggested I call the ladies that issue the passes. I called them at Jackson Guard and they said they didn't know of any problem, that I should call Range Patrol. This issue may be limited to one or two guards (maybe not), but at least it is not such a big problem that people all over Jackson Guard know about it. I tried calling Eglin Range Patrol and got no answer. I had not thought of the issue someone in this thread mentioned that cachers may be geocaching "blind", not seeing the cache descriptions (and therefore the permit requirement) before finding a cache on the Eglin Reservation. The only suggestion I have heard that would help with this situation is to make it a multi, where the first coordinates aren't on the reservation (maybe Jackson Guard where you get the pass, except for the cache isolation issue; maybe the closest road not on the reservation, again possible cache isolation issue but less), or to require some math or something where you add numbers from the pass (phone number to Jackson Guard? coordinates?) to find the cache coordinates. At least this would help with the people who cache blind (I do sometimes when I am out of town, and we get a lot of tourists here) and force them to read the description to find the cache. Of course all of these ideas create a "hassle factor". Some for the person hiding the cache, and some for the cacher finding it. But we definitely want to keep caching legal on the Eglin Reservation. And by the way, they can ban ANY activity they want on Eglin. If they do, you wont be allowed to post a cache through geocacing.com if the reviewer does his job. Many national forests have already banned geocaching. I agree that permit enforcement/fines are part of the answer, but I do not want Eglin seeing geocaching as the source of the problem. That is not good for anybody. Perhaps a CITO event would help build the positive image. Thanks to all who have given many helpful suggestions in this thread. Keep 'em coming. Sam

You can use TBrace.com to track the miles. Right now it does not offer other features, but I have plans to add other features. I am thinking of adding a race type to get to a particular cache (closest within the time limit wins). Try it out . Let me know what you think.

Here is a working link for Bicycle TB (mine ).

If you want, you can track their miles at TBrace.com.

My LGM TB has gone over 21K miles. It has gone to Japan and back and Hawaii and back. It has some great pictures too!

G'day I reckon a simple thanks wouldn't go astray. Can't do any harm surly? You don't have to say any more than that. I am rapidly coming to the view that maybe part of the problems we sometimes have with travel bugs moving or rather not moving is that owners so frequently take no obvious interest in their trackables until they go "missing." I have moved lots of bugs and coins and made a real effort where possible to meet the objectives. I have rarely received a thanks from an owner, yet is something that is cheap, easy and nice to do and would be encouraging I am sure. That said it hasn't personally stopped me from doing the right thing but then I believe in karma . I now make an effort to thank privately and publicly as appropriate cachers who move my trackables, who move them according to the objectives who and post photos. I actively follow my trackables. Just a thought. Glad your coin is back in circulation. Andrew I agree completely. I enjoy thanking other cachers. I thanked the cacher that grabbed my MIA geocoin in my reply to him. What I didn't do after it showed up is email the last cacher who had it for a year, who is NOT the same cacher who 'grabbed it' and put it back into the wild. I didn't see the point in that. I have thanked other cachers for moving my TB's, logging my caches, and trading-up so well. Just the other day a cacher from TX left a very flattering log which I felt compelled to email and thank him. As you, I also very much believe in giving praise (generously).

When it showed up again, I didn't say a word. I figured "What good would it do?" Make someone admit to collecting it, or that they forgot about it in the back of their truck? I didn't want to embarrass anyone, I was just glad it was back. The new finder emailed me and said he would be traveling to the coins destination goal soon. He asked if I wanted him to put it back in a cache quickly or hold on to it so it could achieve its goal. I wanted to see it travel, so I said "Set it free!" It has moved a few times since then. I wanted to share this success story with everyone.

PRAISE: I wanted to let you know that a geocoin of mine is back in circulation after MIA for over a YEAR! I am so excited. When new to geocaching, my first hitchhiker purchase was a few TB's and a few geocoins. The coins (2 of 3) quickly went missing. I guessed that many like to collect these coins, and they probably aren't the best purchase if I want to enjoy watching them travel. Perhaps that is not completely true, but it was my perception. If you have felt the same way, I just wanted to give you some hope. Christine 63 is back in action after being gone for over a year. cache on, samirsky

I enjoyed reading about these TB's. I recently started a TB which is quite large: a full-sized mountain bike. Bicycle TB It is not a bike I use with a TB tag on it. It is a traveling bug. I don't know how far it will go, but I thought it would be fun to try. So far it has gone to several caches and traveled about 13 miles. Here is a thread I started about it.

The site is typically updated once per day. However, remember that the gc.com site does not immediately update the TB miles traveled. Therefore, you can expect TBrace.com to show the correct miles the day after gc.com shows the correct miles. To expedite the process, you can manually force gc.com to update the miles traveled. Click on "Recalculate Distance" in the upper right corner of your TB page. samirsky

I live in FL, but can not recommend a cache in my area. I live on the NW part of FL (Central Time Zone), and cachers in this area are not as active as some other areas. I did just start a new website TBrace.com where you can track TB races. The site is new and currently only supports 1 type of race: which TB can travel the most miles from the start date to the end date. However, I intend on adding other types of races. If you give me the rules (starting conditions, restraints, requirements) of your race, perhaps I can add it to TBrace.com. Let me know if you are interested.

There is a new race "Happy Holidays" starting in a couple of days. Come join the race...all you need is a travel bug. TBrace.com

This is just the type of race you can track on my new website TBrace.com. Check out this forum thread for more info. Good luck!

Thanks and your welcome. Yes, nice artwork! Perhaps you could contribute artwork to my effort if you feel inspired.

Bentong, Malaysia 18 caches within 100 miles. Not bad...although 8700nm from here. Good luck to the TB and may it raise much awareness.

Anyone else out there who has written code on a computer knows when it is finished. It is finished when the deadline gets here. That is probably true of anything I write. Well, I had made a personal deadline of before Christmas, so let's start using the site. TBrace.com There are many more nice-to-haves I can think of for the site. Let's see how the basic functionality works and I can make improvements based on importance. As of today, here are the basic guidelines: 1. It handles 1 kind of race: The winner is the TB who travels the most miles from the start date to the finish date. (Miles before the start date do not count.) 2. You can only join a race before it has started. 3. Data is updated ONCE PER DAY (at most). 4. The miles are updated based on the Miles Traveled on your TB page. Therefore, you may want to use the "Recalculate Miles" button on the TB page as soon as it moves. Data should be updated the next day (see #3). 5. You need to use your geocaching.com username. You can make the password anything you want, and reset/change at any time. 6. You can only race TB's that you own on gc.com. 7. There is no need to use the 'secret' TB tracking number anywhere on the site, only the publicly visible TBxxxx reference. 8. A TB can only be in 1 race at a time. This site is meant to be another fun way to use your TB's. I hope that it will also compliment the gc.com site, and encourage the sale of TB's. When you start your own race for others to be involved, make sure you make the start date far enough in advance for them to join the race before it starts. If you make it a private race, only people whom you give the 'key' can join the race. If you are the race owner (started it), the key is displayed on the race page. For now, please post comments, suggestions, and bug reports in this forum thread. I hope it works and is fun for you. Enjoy! Sam aka samirsky