Training Log Archive: TheInvisibleLog

Commute and a bit. Lightning ground strikes all around made for an exciting ride. I found some shelter, but noticed others in the vicinity didn't take it at all seriously.

C • lugging water 2

Two hours lugging water for Twilight 3 hours. The consolations were the lovely light as the sun was near setting. It shone across one of the dams highlighting what I think was a white faced heron sitting on a branch. The other highlight was shifting one control so Jim only knows where one control is now... until I send him the map for printing.

Lots of control collection and control placement. Knackered again, but not as bad as yesterday. Twilight 3 hour now only awaits the six street and park controls which I will put out late in the week. A few maps tweaks and the map will be ready for Jim to print. 30 controls, 31.7k straight line, a little over 1 k per leg! Anyone wishing to maximise their score will need a torch.

From bike to 10 control sites and back.

Riding between control sites.
All up spent two and a half hours placing controls in what became miserable conditions towards the end. Feel my body is giving up on me. Totally knackered after this, which I shouldn't be. Had a shower, quick lunch and then went to bed and slept away the afternoon. Still felt too knackered to run at this evenings event. Maybe I got too wet and cold in T-shirt and shorts in the rain.

Commute to and from mechanic. Yes, the car is a little problematic.

Placing controls in the twilight for the twilight. Very pleasant out in open forest in the fading light. Seven down. Twenty top go, but six will be on the day, so 14 more before thae event. Under control.

Commute from mechanic. A more common occurrence these days...

Commute to mechanic. Took it much harder than this morning to be 3 minutes slower. uphill and into the wind.

Checked another six control sites for the Twilight 3 hr. All were in suburban Kangaroo Flat, and half required map changes. Three more controls remain in the unmapped (well, un-fieldworked) part of the forest, then its the reliable Browns Reef and Bullock Creek maps. Don't have to visit them before finalising the courses. Know them all.

Picking up controls

Putting out controls. Plus uncounted time mapping erosion, new tracks etc etc.

Crusoe Res environs

Medical orders not to run for last two days. So spent time planning Twilight 3 hour. Is 30 kilometres long enough to ensure none of the faster types get all the controls? 1 hour daylight, 1 hour twilight and 1 darkness. I know Jim won't get them all.

C • Sounds like a challenge! 9

Commute

More exploring of old mining areas.
Sandy Creek... too small and unsuitable.
Bonny Jean diggings. Not much detail left, no contours of note.
Blacksmith Gully. As above.
New Gully. Showed promise. Perhaps a reasonable sprint mining map.
Step and Fetch it Florence Reef. Great name. Not worth mapping. Pity.
Little Nuggety Gully. Disappointing.
Kangaroo Gully. (Which one you may ask). Again, some potential as a Middle distance map, but its clearly not the area we were looking for which Alex had described as World Championship potential. Next visit maybe we will find it.
Massive wild fig tree added to the list. Ominous sound of parrots in trees above.
Also sited Good Woman Hill as an antidote to last week's visit to Dirty Woman Gully. The latter is a good orienteering area whereas the hill is certainly not.
Photos to follow at some stage.

Night-O on Choke Ém Gully. Seems Night-O is as niche as Orientshow these days. Twenty five starters. No navigational difficulties of note. Highlight was disturbing an owl and watching it fly about a metre above my head through the torch light.

C • owl 2

Why I didn't get to the Eastern Primary Schools Champs or the dentist.

9.00am Car stops on Tulla freeway just after the Tulla-Calder merge.
Ring RACV. They won't work on the freeway. Ring CityL:ink.

9.45am CityLink Incident Response vehicle arrives, parks behind me and tells me he will have to ring for a 'tow'. Not sure what those vehicles do. He leaves me well before tow arrives. Its intimidating, boring and hot sitting in a car for two hours beside a freeway.

11.00am Tow arrives. Its a contracted tower with a name like All Australia. I have two choices.. tow to nearest safe location where RACV can check the car, or tow to home. Home not an option. Somehow forgot about minutes silence.

11.20am Left with car at Pascoe Vale RSL. Old diggers out in force. Ring RACV Roadside Assist again.

11.45am Roadside Assist arrives. Tells me its a broken fuel pump. I thought as much. I have two choice.. mobile mechanic who can fix it there, or tow to a mechanic. Foolishly, I take his suggestion the mobile is better in my position.

12.30pm. Mobile mechanic arrives. He is pissed off. The advice from the RACV is wrong. The fuel pump can only be replaced by removing fuel tank. Its not safe to do this in a public car park. After much discussion, I get an agreement for the job to be done at a nearby mechanic workshop.. at a very gouged price and if IO can get the car there before 3. Ring the RACV as I am entitled to one voluntary tow and the freeway tow was compulsory. Begin next long wait for tow.

1.45pm. Tow arrives. Its the same company as took me off the freeway. If I had known I could have saved the last 2 hours. WE drive off. He turns on GPS and it proceeds to take us in the wrong direction. I tried to tell him it was incorrect. He hadn't heard of orienteering I suspect.

2.00pm arrive at workshop. 15 minutes for less than 2 kilometres.

3.30pm. Get car back in working condition and an exorbitant bill.

BUT THATS NOT ALL!

Arrive home and decide I need some exercise. Ran yesterday, Night-O tomorrow. So its bike for tonight. Tire flat. Pump up tire to recommended pressure and start putting helmet and gloves on. Tire explodes with quite a bang.

Easy. Replace tire with spare. Pump to recommended pressure again. Start putting on gloves.. Valve fails! At this stage I am ready concede that wheeled contraptions of any form have it in for me. Julie offers loan of her bike and I get my ride. Some how I return with it still in operable condition.

Í didn't get to Primary Schools Champs.

C • What a day!!! 1

C • Certainly was.. 1

Locked gate skraplands

Commute homeward

In the interests of mental stabilty of cabin fevered spouse, spent much of the day driving and walking together through some forests in the district. The main aim was to find "Dirty Woman Gully"" and hope it would be worth mapping, if only for the name. The day turned out to be somewhat of a success for a number of reasons.

1. Found a massive tree.

From Dirty Woman Gully

2. Found another tree not nearly as large, but for a mulberry it was impressive. Fruit not ripe yet, but we will return with buckets.

From Dirty Woman Gully

3. Explored Mundy Gully. It is probably worth mapping. Only a little mining detail, but good spur gully and lots of rock features. Two issues. It may not be large enough. And there were more dangerous shafts than I have ever seen in one place.

From Mundy Gully

From Mundy Gully

From Mundy Gully

From Mundy Gully

4. Found another small area suitable for a sprint map.

From Edna Everidge Gully

From Edna Everidge Gully

5. And then we found this after a lunch break. A narrow but good band of sluicing that extends for a kilometre, but is surrounded by bland spur gully. Sprint map material me thinks.

From Dirty Woman Gully

From Dirty Woman Gully

From Dirty Woman Gully

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From Dirty Woman Gully

From Dirty Woman Gully

From Dirty Woman Gully

Skraplands open gate. Hot at 9.00am.

C • How was the gypsy music fes... 2

C • How was the gypsy music fes... 1

Most of day spent at Malmsbury at Zingaro Gypsy Music Festival.

Commute to work. PB

Commute home.PB

Locked gate skraplands

C • locked gate 2

The commute. Took it hard into the headwind.