Discussion: Laramie Daze
in: 2013 Laramie Daze (Aug 28 – Sep 2, 2013 - Laramie, WY, US)
Aug 22, 2013 7:27 PM
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Preparations for the 2013 Laramie Daze are now entering the final phases. All course setting is complete, except for streamering of the Rocky Mountain Goat. Race info at the web site is close to complete. Crystals have been selected for prizes for the One Cowboy Relay. Cattle lacking natural longhorns have been outfitted with amazingly lifelike Styrofoam longhorns in order to make them look properly fierce.
A bull moose of medium size has been observed inhabiting the woods in the vicinity of the #10 control at Daze 5. Moose are locally classified by sex and size, with large, medium, and small being the usual size reference points for adult specimens. Though in truth there is a 4th size: extra large/massive, and the folks who say otherwise just don't get out enough and are probably the same types who get football and soccer confused. At any rate, this particular moose seems to be a pretty cool cat and not easily provoked, but still shouldn't be messed with. If you get into a stomping match with an adult moose, you will lose every time, guaranteed.
The 2013 Rocky Mountain Goat looks like it will end up at about 12.4 kms, with opportunities to wander off into some unmapped virgin base map which will be included on the race map, for those who might choose to do so (though this does not garner a recommendation.) The course will roll through a wide variety of superb granite landscapes with some inclusions of kimberlite terrain. It will be so fine that we fully expect that we will need to forcibly restrain the more enthused racers once they have finished, in order to keep them from re-running the course right away (a 5 minute minimum resting period will be mandatory before any re-runs will be allowed.)
You may be thinking at this point it couldn't possibly get any better, but you're wrong, because even though this the frontier we have arranged for a cart service to appear each day which will feature specialty coffees from Guatemala, a dizzying variety of petit fours made from scratch each day, and, of course, the ever popular, slightly under-roasted, delicious wichetty grubs flown in fresh direct from the Australian bush. Yum!
A bull moose of medium size has been observed inhabiting the woods in the vicinity of the #10 control at Daze 5. Moose are locally classified by sex and size, with large, medium, and small being the usual size reference points for adult specimens. Though in truth there is a 4th size: extra large/massive, and the folks who say otherwise just don't get out enough and are probably the same types who get football and soccer confused. At any rate, this particular moose seems to be a pretty cool cat and not easily provoked, but still shouldn't be messed with. If you get into a stomping match with an adult moose, you will lose every time, guaranteed.
The 2013 Rocky Mountain Goat looks like it will end up at about 12.4 kms, with opportunities to wander off into some unmapped virgin base map which will be included on the race map, for those who might choose to do so (though this does not garner a recommendation.) The course will roll through a wide variety of superb granite landscapes with some inclusions of kimberlite terrain. It will be so fine that we fully expect that we will need to forcibly restrain the more enthused racers once they have finished, in order to keep them from re-running the course right away (a 5 minute minimum resting period will be mandatory before any re-runs will be allowed.)
You may be thinking at this point it couldn't possibly get any better, but you're wrong, because even though this the frontier we have arranged for a cart service to appear each day which will feature specialty coffees from Guatemala, a dizzying variety of petit fours made from scratch each day, and, of course, the ever popular, slightly under-roasted, delicious wichetty grubs flown in fresh direct from the Australian bush. Yum!
Aug 23, 2013 3:42 AM
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pfc:
OK, no need to make fun of the people (meaning two or more, as I can attest) who left the comfortable confines of last year's Goat map - however accidentally - for long, rocky, and alarmingly vertical excursions toward Big Basin. We have learnt our lesson, and hereby choose to remain on one map at a time, however boring as that may seem to the uninitiated orienteer :))
Aug 23, 2013 4:22 AM
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I thought wichetty grubs came from Africa... what was the name of that guy who was interviewed in the Team News way back when? (I'm going to have to look that up, I fear.)
Aug 23, 2013 11:33 AM
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Google says I was totally remembering wrong. Or else that African guy was full of it.
Aug 23, 2013 12:49 PM
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feet:
You are probably confusing witchetty grubs with mopane worms. Or with any one of many other possibilities.
Aug 23, 2013 3:12 PM
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Actually, PFC, I was pretty surprised when a few people left the map last year. I didn't anticipate it, and I certainly wasn't trying to trick runners into going off the edge. With that in mind, and there being one control right at the very edge of the map this year, I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to essentially "widen" or backstop the map behind that control by adding in some unsurveyed basemap--hopefully that will keep folks on course and on map!
Aug 24, 2013 4:35 PM
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Long range weather forecast for next week is for warm weather. We shall see.
Aug 25, 2013 4:28 AM
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The registration list has been updated with registrations received today, and as of tonight 43 runners are signed up, which is quite an achievement. Some people might scoff at that, and wonder how such a small number could be considered an achievement of any sort. And, well, sure, if this were in Sweden or Finland or some place like that, this would be a pretty miserable showing. But this is Laramie, a tiny, remote outpost on the wild prairie frontier of Wyoming, with no other place nearby except for Bosler, and Bosler wouldn't even be a place anymore if it weren't for Jalan Crossland. So, put into proper perspective, 43 runners is pretty darned good! Especially if at the start of each Daze the real unknown is if anyone will show up at all.
Of course, it is true there are a few disappointments at names missing from the registration list. Charlie DeWeese is a man of perpetually good cheer, and it is said that nowadays he has perfected the art of being able to look a certain way at a tree and have it come right down, exactly in the intended landing spot--a skill that would surely come in handy, considering the vast numbers of beetle killed pine trees we have. And then there is Clem McGrath, a man whose heart resides sqarealy in the West if any man's ever did. He just doesn't know it yet. Plus he is really good with long words. Out here on the frontier if someone shouts out: "Hippopotamus!" nobody is sure what to do. Clem would know though. And then there is Eric Bone. It's hard to remember Laramie Daze or Rocky Mountain 1000 Days for that matter without Eric, but it must be true what they say, that once a man has been to Cali, Colombia, he doesn't see the world the same way ever again.
There is more that could be written, but for now it's time to giddyup.
Of course, it is true there are a few disappointments at names missing from the registration list. Charlie DeWeese is a man of perpetually good cheer, and it is said that nowadays he has perfected the art of being able to look a certain way at a tree and have it come right down, exactly in the intended landing spot--a skill that would surely come in handy, considering the vast numbers of beetle killed pine trees we have. And then there is Clem McGrath, a man whose heart resides sqarealy in the West if any man's ever did. He just doesn't know it yet. Plus he is really good with long words. Out here on the frontier if someone shouts out: "Hippopotamus!" nobody is sure what to do. Clem would know though. And then there is Eric Bone. It's hard to remember Laramie Daze or Rocky Mountain 1000 Days for that matter without Eric, but it must be true what they say, that once a man has been to Cali, Colombia, he doesn't see the world the same way ever again.
There is more that could be written, but for now it's time to giddyup.
Aug 25, 2013 9:46 PM
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I am remiss to not be there in person. But, I am in spirit!
Really no excuse--just poor planning. I hadn't planned to go to Russia, but that's what happened.
No Scotland, no Laramie, no orienteering. Just oligarchs and an entirely instrumental view of human rights.
Really no excuse--just poor planning. I hadn't planned to go to Russia, but that's what happened.
No Scotland, no Laramie, no orienteering. Just oligarchs and an entirely instrumental view of human rights.
Aug 25, 2013 11:28 PM
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With 2 days to go before Daze kicks off, it has been raining most of the day, perhaps in a desperate attempt to turn the currently very dry wet features into wetter wet features. It won't work, as these types of rains rarely last more than 2-3 weeks, and it would take a lot longer than that to get things really good and wet. Nevertheless, it does seem to be helping with the dust, so there is that.
Even with these rains and rising sea levels from global warming, it is unlikely that Yellow Pine Campground will disappear beneath the water anytime soon.
Even with these rains and rising sea levels from global warming, it is unlikely that Yellow Pine Campground will disappear beneath the water anytime soon.
Aug 27, 2013 1:16 PM
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Late in the day yesterday I snuck up to Yellow Pine Campground, knowing it would be the last chance in a while to enjoy some peace and quiet at that particular location. The Sturgis Bike Rally has nothing on Yellow Pine while Laramie Daze is underway.
As I was headed up there, I had Rod Stewart in mind. A younger generation, growing up with smart phones and stars such as Miley Cyrus and Kelly Clarkson has no clue. "Wasn't he the one who lost to Justin Timberlake on American Idol?" they say. Or, "I think he's the man on the moon," illustrating perfectly the impact of home schooling on understanding of science in the modern American education system. "Was he the one who invented blonde?"--that at least gets somewhere closer. Occasionally you will run across a professed know-it-all; they don't know either, but they will inform you that Rod Stewart was Leonard Nimoy's understudy on the original Star Trek series, with a feigned self-assurance that eliminates any possibility they could be wrong.
Funny that someone as hugely influential in rock music could now already be so nearly totally forgotten! Those who do remember him perhaps remember him best for his great version of "The First Cut is the Deepest". But I was more in mind of "Every Picture Tells a Story" when I took this picture of "Yellow Pine (before the storm)":
Except that this picture did not tell the story completely. What I took for a desolate, empty Yellow Pine Campground was not, bcause not more than a few minutes later, as I was getting set to head out into the woods to hang controls, someone said hello. I looked up, and it was Jim Hall, this year's first person to arrive and lay claim to a Yellow Pine campsite.
I asked Jim what he was doing up there so early, and in response he turned the question right back at me and asked me what I was doing up there so early.
"I live here, Jim," I said.
"I got tired of all the trees in North Caroline and decided I would go visit the prairie," he said.
I said: "This ain't the prairie, Jim, this is the damn Laramie Range."
He said: "Well I reckon I know it isn't the prairie."
I said: "Well what are doing here, then?"
And he said: "Well by the time I got a good head of steam worked up I had already overshot the prairie and this is where I ended up."
I told him: "Well Laramie Daze is about to start up and seeing that you're already here you might as well stick around for some sorry ass orienteering races."
And he said: "Well alrighty then."
We shook hands and talked for a while until it was nearly too late to put the controls out (it did not help that some clouds got in the way of the setting sun, bringing on an earlier than calculated amount of darkness), but I got them out anyway. Though I will admit that one of the controls was destined for a location that was at best on the nebulous side of the spectrum to begin with. and when I got to what I thought was the right spot, with night settling in, the streamer was missing. All the other streamers had really been more or less unnecessary, but had been in place right as I had left them, while the one streamer that would have really helped was gone. A little bit of Murphy's Law in action. What do you do? I don't know what other folks would do, but I hung the control anyway where I thought it belonged, and if anyone complains about it on Wednesday I will just point out that was the designated "adventure racing" control.
It wasn't long after that that a mountain lion started loping along after me, and it turned into a real footrace, a reminder that you can always move a little faster than you think you can, if circumstances demand it. I got to my truck a few seconds before the mountain lion did, and as I drove off the lion took one last hungry look at me and then strolled off in the direction of Jim's campsite. Yee-haw!
And that's the way it was yesterday.
As I was headed up there, I had Rod Stewart in mind. A younger generation, growing up with smart phones and stars such as Miley Cyrus and Kelly Clarkson has no clue. "Wasn't he the one who lost to Justin Timberlake on American Idol?" they say. Or, "I think he's the man on the moon," illustrating perfectly the impact of home schooling on understanding of science in the modern American education system. "Was he the one who invented blonde?"--that at least gets somewhere closer. Occasionally you will run across a professed know-it-all; they don't know either, but they will inform you that Rod Stewart was Leonard Nimoy's understudy on the original Star Trek series, with a feigned self-assurance that eliminates any possibility they could be wrong.
Funny that someone as hugely influential in rock music could now already be so nearly totally forgotten! Those who do remember him perhaps remember him best for his great version of "The First Cut is the Deepest". But I was more in mind of "Every Picture Tells a Story" when I took this picture of "Yellow Pine (before the storm)":
 |
| From publiken |
Except that this picture did not tell the story completely. What I took for a desolate, empty Yellow Pine Campground was not, bcause not more than a few minutes later, as I was getting set to head out into the woods to hang controls, someone said hello. I looked up, and it was Jim Hall, this year's first person to arrive and lay claim to a Yellow Pine campsite.
I asked Jim what he was doing up there so early, and in response he turned the question right back at me and asked me what I was doing up there so early.
"I live here, Jim," I said.
"I got tired of all the trees in North Caroline and decided I would go visit the prairie," he said.
I said: "This ain't the prairie, Jim, this is the damn Laramie Range."
He said: "Well I reckon I know it isn't the prairie."
I said: "Well what are doing here, then?"
And he said: "Well by the time I got a good head of steam worked up I had already overshot the prairie and this is where I ended up."
I told him: "Well Laramie Daze is about to start up and seeing that you're already here you might as well stick around for some sorry ass orienteering races."
And he said: "Well alrighty then."
We shook hands and talked for a while until it was nearly too late to put the controls out (it did not help that some clouds got in the way of the setting sun, bringing on an earlier than calculated amount of darkness), but I got them out anyway. Though I will admit that one of the controls was destined for a location that was at best on the nebulous side of the spectrum to begin with. and when I got to what I thought was the right spot, with night settling in, the streamer was missing. All the other streamers had really been more or less unnecessary, but had been in place right as I had left them, while the one streamer that would have really helped was gone. A little bit of Murphy's Law in action. What do you do? I don't know what other folks would do, but I hung the control anyway where I thought it belonged, and if anyone complains about it on Wednesday I will just point out that was the designated "adventure racing" control.
It wasn't long after that that a mountain lion started loping along after me, and it turned into a real footrace, a reminder that you can always move a little faster than you think you can, if circumstances demand it. I got to my truck a few seconds before the mountain lion did, and as I drove off the lion took one last hungry look at me and then strolled off in the direction of Jim's campsite. Yee-haw!
And that's the way it was yesterday.
Aug 27, 2013 3:06 PM
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With just under 25 hours to go before the first Daze race mass starts, it is 66F. Just think of that--August, and only 66F! Of course, between now and race start it will probably warm up a little more...then cool down...and then warm up a little again. But, still, racers from hotter regions of the country will probably have to race in parkas, mittens, and long johns in order to keep warm enough. It looked like there was a rush on winter clothing at Walmart last night, with a line snaking out of the door, and maybe that's why. Either that or else it was a brand new Orange Julius store inside the store that was drawing a crowd.
Aug 27, 2013 3:43 PM
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Didn't think there was a chance in the heavens that we were going to reach our 50 person field limit this year, but, mercy, we have. Anyone else who tries to enter (at this very late date) will have to beg, bribe, and/or proffer fresh, delicious Bruegger's Bagels (improve the odds with poppy seeds), and hope for the best.
That bagel trick could just work--truly delicious bagels have not quite made it out to these frontier regions.
That bagel trick could just work--truly delicious bagels have not quite made it out to these frontier regions.
Aug 28, 2013 2:23 PM
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Following an unexpected, rather vicious thunderstorm 'round about midnight last night, the day has dawned sunny, clean, and refreshed. Daze 1 will be kicking off shortly, and will feature a highly convenient start and finish. There will also be controls, some of which may be somewhat less convenient. There will be no wolves on the ground, but there could most definitely be crows in the air. Let the games begin!
Aug 29, 2013 1:02 AM
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Daze 1 is in the bag, and everyone who started made it back with no attrition suffered from conflicts with barbed wire, Canadian Thistle (oh, Canada!), venomous harpoon grasses, or stampeding cattle. Actually, there were no cattle whatsoever today--it hardly felt like the summer time blues Laramie Range in that respect.
Official results have been somewhat delayed as a quick punching control (we routinely scrutinize the punch cards to the top 5 finishers) at the meet site revealed cards with varying numbers of punches and punch patterns, none of which seemed to match the official master punch card. And one punch card was utterly lacking any discernible punches at all. So we did what we always do to assure results of the very highest quality, which is for the cards showing some discrepancies we emailed scans of the punches to the highly reputable French punching analysis lab we retain each year to deal with such issues. As usual, the report came back quickly: "Our analysis shows all punch cards to be correct and we certify them as such."
Thus Sergei Zhyk was declared the winner of today's opening Yellow Pine Daze 1 stage. Complete results to follow later.
The course and map:
As you can see, there was some up, and some down, too. It's harder to tell from this, but towards the end there were also some chipmunk traps (not making that up.) It looked like folks had a fine time and most people said to, with no complaints proffered or received. Just the way we like it!
Daze 2 continues tomorrow with a fierce course design at Pelican Bay by the more western of the two Baird Brothers (Graham.) Should be good. Might be incredible. You just never know.
Official results have been somewhat delayed as a quick punching control (we routinely scrutinize the punch cards to the top 5 finishers) at the meet site revealed cards with varying numbers of punches and punch patterns, none of which seemed to match the official master punch card. And one punch card was utterly lacking any discernible punches at all. So we did what we always do to assure results of the very highest quality, which is for the cards showing some discrepancies we emailed scans of the punches to the highly reputable French punching analysis lab we retain each year to deal with such issues. As usual, the report came back quickly: "Our analysis shows all punch cards to be correct and we certify them as such."
Thus Sergei Zhyk was declared the winner of today's opening Yellow Pine Daze 1 stage. Complete results to follow later.
The course and map:
 |
| From publiken |
As you can see, there was some up, and some down, too. It's harder to tell from this, but towards the end there were also some chipmunk traps (not making that up.) It looked like folks had a fine time and most people said to, with no complaints proffered or received. Just the way we like it!
Daze 2 continues tomorrow with a fierce course design at Pelican Bay by the more western of the two Baird Brothers (Graham.) Should be good. Might be incredible. You just never know.
Aug 29, 2013 1:35 AM
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JPL:
For all those GPS-heads, you will also find todays course on Routegadget.
Aug 29, 2013 3:56 AM
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Official Results Daze 1, Yellow Pine Campground, comfortable temps in the 70s, a few clouds, no wind, no cattle, no hits no errors not much formatting either:
1 Sergei Zhyk 46.00
2 Graham Baird 47.11
3 Owen Baird 47.22
4 JP Lande 54.13
5 Greg Balter 54.31
6 Pete Curtis 54.41
7 Troy Bozarth 61.03
8 Charlie Shahbazian 65.05
9 Ludwig Hill 68.36
10 Gavin Wyatt-Mair 75.28
11 Steve Dornseif 79.29
12 Sue Kuestner 79.31
13 Mark Parsons 79.51
13 Kean Williams 79.51
15 Sam Listwak 82.28
16 Ralph Lindzen 86.47
17 Brooke Mann 95.24
18 John Murray 97.44
19 Scott Drumm 98.12
20 Jim Hall 99.01
21 Linda Moore 109.01
22 Sheryl Lehman 112.02
23 Carl Moore 114.04
24 Ardis Dull 114.18
25 Peg Davis 114.25
26 Shirley Donald 114.32
27 Carol Sauceda DNF
28 Dick Luckerman DNF
1 Sergei Zhyk 46.00
2 Graham Baird 47.11
3 Owen Baird 47.22
4 JP Lande 54.13
5 Greg Balter 54.31
6 Pete Curtis 54.41
7 Troy Bozarth 61.03
8 Charlie Shahbazian 65.05
9 Ludwig Hill 68.36
10 Gavin Wyatt-Mair 75.28
11 Steve Dornseif 79.29
12 Sue Kuestner 79.31
13 Mark Parsons 79.51
13 Kean Williams 79.51
15 Sam Listwak 82.28
16 Ralph Lindzen 86.47
17 Brooke Mann 95.24
18 John Murray 97.44
19 Scott Drumm 98.12
20 Jim Hall 99.01
21 Linda Moore 109.01
22 Sheryl Lehman 112.02
23 Carl Moore 114.04
24 Ardis Dull 114.18
25 Peg Davis 114.25
26 Shirley Donald 114.32
27 Carol Sauceda DNF
28 Dick Luckerman DNF
Aug 29, 2013 1:55 PM
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Daze 2 has dawned, and yesterday's record-near record heat (Laramie was just under the old record high; Cheyenne tied the old record; Ft. Collins set a new record) will be followed on by even warmer weather today. The warm weather has already taken a toll out in the terrain, with springs, ponds, water courses, and most major rivers and port facilities at today's Pelican Bay race venue have dried up, with nothing but dusty depressions left to mark the areas once favored by bison for their water frolicking needs. Racers today may be treated to the odd sight of ocean going freighters stranded in seas of sage, with the usual clouds of sea gulls replaced by circling packs of yipping coyotes hoping for a handout of fishy scraps.
As Sam Listwak observed yesterday: "I'm not sure I understand these rabbity hippity hop times. I believe I liked it better when you went to the concert venue and if it was a band like the Grateful Dead playing, they looked thankful to be there. Now when you drive down into Colorado, you see these little shops with green crosses and DEAish looking guys in suits outside snapping pictures with their phones." Strange Daze indeed, and who knows what Ray Manzarek might have made of them.
A different view was offered by today's course setter Graham Baird: "I couldn't have planned the weather better if I tried, and ain't it funny to think that snow will be flying in a mere few weeks!"
As Sam Listwak observed yesterday: "I'm not sure I understand these rabbity hippity hop times. I believe I liked it better when you went to the concert venue and if it was a band like the Grateful Dead playing, they looked thankful to be there. Now when you drive down into Colorado, you see these little shops with green crosses and DEAish looking guys in suits outside snapping pictures with their phones." Strange Daze indeed, and who knows what Ray Manzarek might have made of them.
A different view was offered by today's course setter Graham Baird: "I couldn't have planned the weather better if I tried, and ain't it funny to think that snow will be flying in a mere few weeks!"
Sep 1, 2013 2:03 PM
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As I look at these maps and commentary, I regret not being there. Good courses and maps and low key general fun.
Sep 1, 2013 4:11 PM
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Like Peter, I also regret not being there -- looks like great maps and great courses. And I've been there for two previous Laramie events so I know I like Laramie orienteering ... next time, I tell myself, I'll be there.
This discussion thread is closed.