Cycling Backups

[aphilso1]

I once heard Eric McCabe say that cycling discs means more than just cycling the discs in your bag -- it means also cycling your backups so that you always have a ready replacement for each slot. I've mostly followed that principal, and will rotate discs in and out regularly so that I have a pair of discs at a similar stability. That being said, I kept a relatively static bag for the latter part of 2020 and felt like I gained some added consistency.

So for those of you that cycle, do you:
a. keep the same disc in the bag until it becomes too flippy or lost
b. have a couple discs that share a slot and are rotated in and out of the bag
c. some other option that I haven't considered

 

[glassila]

I'm not a big fan of cycling backups.

 

[elmexdela]

i cycle but i dont rotate backups in and out

 

[Lurp Nuts]

Is it a winter month? Then I've rotated in some semi-permanent backups that I will season until lost.

 

[ThrowaEnvy]

Yup winter's a factor, I shelve my favourite Z glow Comet in favour of backups.. Go to a light esp comet... heavy up as the weather warms and the plastic becomes more flexible.

It's nice having a few in the wings I can substitute..

I try to focus on a few discs for yard rounds that I want to beat in.. I vary weights to catch em up faster. I've got my first 165 relay pfn that's great but we'll loved, it's backup is a 155 and I'm working on a slew from that to 169.. It takes at least two months to get some turn out of them

 

[DiscFifty]

I cycle putters only.

 

[wolfhaley]

I will change my bag up depending on the courses I happen to be playing that weekend or something. More open and windy vs. Tight and techy wooded. I also like to try out different discs so I'll slot some random ones in and out but my bag generally stays pretty similar.

 

[zontar]

I will change my bag up depending on the courses I happen to be playing that weekend or something. More open and windy vs. Tight and techy wooded. I also like to try out different discs so I'll slot some random ones in and out but my bag generally stays pretty similar.

this is kinda me. I throw in about 4 random new discs a month just to try something different. my bag changes a lot.

 

[Horsman]

I follow a pretty normal cycle in that I put a new disc in a usually keep it there until its lost too much stability. I dont cycle backups maybe how others do but I have a few free slots in my bag that I will fill with my backups and throw them along side their counterparts. I have my core bag and then work in others so that if I loss something I have a backup ready. I probably have 2+ backups for all 20 slots in my bag except for roller destroyers since super flippy destroyers are hard to come by.

 

[HyooMac]

I have backups of almost all my bagged discs, but they're generally not exact matches (plastics, weights). So I use them when doing field work, and am regularly testing "the guys on the bench" against "the guys in the bag." I guess this really isn't a pure version of cycling, but it reduces my fear of losing any one disc.

 

[swatso]

I swap out the entire contents of my 13-disc bag every 3-4 months, so I'll have multiple discs that perform similarly readily available - my backup depth chart runs about six deep for each slot.

Sometimes I'll create an only-new disc bag, play with it for a month (yes, my scores suffer a bit), to determine which new discs can be added into the rotation, and which become tradable.

I rarely play in tournaments, but if I am scheduled to do so, I'll create a best-of bag a week or two prior, and play with those discs leading up to the tournament.

 

[WD09]

I guess I do what you are describing. I keep multiples of every mold that I carry. If you consider a new disc to be at 10, with numbers decreasing as it wears, my go-to throwers for most slots in the bag are probably at 4-5 and I will sadly give them up as too flippy or move them to another slot when they get to 2. So I have a backup for each of those molds that is at 6-7 and hopefully one that is already down to at least 9. I play some rounds where I don't throw the 4-5s at all and only throw the 6 or the 9 for that slot, to keep the all discs progressing. I make that decision before every round by looking through what is in the bag and what is in the "box of 6-10s" in the back of the car and moving discs back and forth from the bag to the box.

 

[autocrosscrx]

I rotate putters. Some people have dedicated practice putters. I just grab 2 from my stack when I want to play.

For the rest of the bag, I don't really have backups. I'm still at a point where I'm growing into a lot of discs and throwing more and more flexes and forehands, so I tend to pull my most understable disc and replace it with something a lot more stable and move a disc or 2 down a slot in stability. I most recently replaced a DX Leopard with an F2. If I lose something, I usually try comparable discs from my bin. If that doesn't work out, I usually have something in mind to try.

 

[aphilso1]

I guess I do what you are describing. I keep multiples of every mold that I carry. If you consider a new disc to be at 10, with numbers decreasing as it wears, my go-to throwers for most slots in the bag are probably at 4-5 and I will sadly give them up as too flippy or move them to another slot when they get to 2. So I have a backup for each of those molds that is at 6-7 and hopefully one that is already down to at least 9. I play some rounds where I don't throw the 4-5s at all and only throw the 6 or the 9 for that slot, to keep the all discs progressing. I make that decision before every round by looking through what is in the bag and what is in the "box of 6-10s" in the back of the car and moving discs back and forth from the bag to the box.

Yeah, this is exactly the mentality that I've gone with! I bag 20 discs, and for probably about 15 of them I have an almost exact replacement. And for the other five, I've got something that splits the gap. So instead of bagging stability 10, 8, and 6, if I don't have another '6' then I will just bag a 9 and 7. So like a three-for-two disc swap, and in other cases the opposite (three discs needed to replace two).

BUT...I kind of went away from this in the latter parts of 2020 and just stuck with basically the same 20 discs. And bizarrely enough, I got more consistent. Which kind of blows my mind in a way. I felt like I knew all of my bagged discs (and all of my backups in my car trunk) pretty well. But not swapping out made me get even more comfortable with those subtle differences between a disc that is at a '6' versus say a '5' or even '5.5'. So now I'm considering changing how I cycle discs, and just stick with the same bag until lost or too flippy.

 

[aphilso1]

Thanks for all the comments everyone! I really am interested reading what other people do to manage their disc cycles. Loving all the ideas.

 

[WD09]

I agree that I am more consistent if I throw the same exact discs over and over again. I guess the practice cycling/working in backups, for me, is a preparation for losing the main throwers. It's much harder to transition from that driver that is at 4 to a brand new one (10) than it is to replace it with one that is at 7 and that I already have some comfort level with, especially if it happens during a tournament.

 

[aphilso1]

Is it a winter month? Then I've rotated in some semi-permanent backups that I will season until lost.

Even if I stop intentionally cycling backups, I do think I will continue to have a backup bag specifically for after a heavy snowfall. We also have a local course on a ball golf course, that has tons of water. I will likely swap a few key discs out on the rare occurrence that I play there.

 

[Three Putt]

When I was young and played all the time I had multiples in multiple stages of wear, but it wasn't due to a rotation thing. It varied from disc to disc, but most discs would beat out the LSS first, so the discs faded less and straightened out. Usually I would beat the LSS out of 2-3 more discs before the original one would lose enough HSS to be considered a turnover disc, so there was always a backlog of seasoned discs ready to go. Eventually you would beat enough discs into turnover discs that you would have a stack of those going as well. You just naturally ended up with extras that way, you really didn't have to rotate discs in and out specifically with the intent of creating backups.

 

[Moonshine]

I generally just leave my discs in my bag and add fresh ones as necessary. Don't know that I've ever had a disc get too flippy, I change my bag too much

Having said that, I do tend to cycle in backups for my workhorse distance and fairway driver molds. No real rhyme or reason aside from the fact that I tend to have the most backups for these slots, and it's fun to throw different discs as opposed to just leaving them in my garage.

I carry 20 discs total, but I will often bring an extra on casual rounds to test out. Sometimes the tester is a new mold, other times it's a new backup.

 

[aphilso1]

I agree that I am more consistent if I throw the same exact discs over and over again. I guess the practice cycling/working in backups, for me, is a preparation for losing the main throwers. It's much harder to transition from that driver that is at 4 to a brand new one (10) than it is to replace it with one that is at 7 and that I already have some comfort level with, especially if it happens during a tournament.

Yeah, I totally understand. That's the tough tradeoff. Consistency with a small number of discs, versus general familiarity (and easier replaceability) with a larger number.