Training Log Archive: O-ing

Event: NSW DuO Adventure Championships
 

Messy mass start to the DUO; hadn't factored in punching at no. 1 - its been a while. Lucky to get there in second. From there on had difficulty finding my place on the map after punching it. Had a Prentice shadow through the first three, so took one out of order to throw him. It didn't work and he had a faster transition to get out on the bike leg first.

Terrible route 2 to 3, foostered, went on the wrong track and then went up stairs.
Butchered 6, turned wrong way out of 5, relocated on pipeline, U-turned, but then went the wrong way across the bridge, so had no momentum to climb the hill.
Saw Prentice wobble at transition ahead of me - he started up the hill before turning around.

Leg 3 (or 2-2). Kept catching sight of Prentice and finally got in front at 10, a nice bush control. Put the hammer down and got a gap. Had seen a runner ahead at 9 and 10, assumed they were on Course 1, but it turns out it was Michael R-S, in the lead on Course 2. Passed him 11-12 and had a decent gap at transition.

Tough climb to 15 and then chickened out of the stairs to 16. Saw Prentice again on the way - I had about 400m of a lead. Then again to 17, this time I had 300m. Again avoided the stairs to 18, I think that was better this time. Got the right last control (unlike Michael R-S) but not the best route to the finish. Had a decent margin at the end:

1 E R*thery BF.N 81:21
M Ridley-Smith GON 83:26 (mp)
2 R Prentice MD.N 83:47
3 M Shingler BF.N 89:50
4 L Coady WH.N 93:02
W1 C Chalmers BF.N 97:03
5 R Parkin BN.N 107:09
6 D Redfern GO.N 112:25
W2 N Sellin GO.N 116:11
W3 J Strack BU.Q 117:14
W4 A Dougall BN.N 131:28
7 B Morgan BN.N 137:18
8 G Fowler NC.N 140:24
9 B Tim NCN 141:35

(Hoping for splits after GPS malfunction)

Cold, wet, solo. Punctures front and back, 2 failed tubes, pump broke in half, CO2 inflator didn't work.
Earlier passed a crash on Mona Vale Road - one smashed bike on the eastbound carriageway, 2 smashed cars on the westbound carriageway. Police and tow trucks in attendance.

Happy with 3rd at Easter. However I need to come up with something to break the K/L/V stranglehold. Since Easter 2013 I've finished next runner up to these 3 in 12 straight starts except for one where Paul Pacque dropped me to 4th. I've only managed to edge Rob Vincent out of a place in 3 of those, with no places above either K/L.
Call of the card:
Name, Starts, First, Second, Third, Fourth
W Key 7 6 1 0 0
Lawford 13 7 5 1 0
Vincent 6 1 2 3 0
R*thery 12 0 5 4 3

Head to Head since Easter 2013
ER 0-11 GL
ER 0-7 WK
ER 2-1 PP
ER 4-3 RV
ER 12-0 anyone else
WK 6-1 GL
WK 3-0 RV
GL 6-2 RV

C • break the stranglehold? 6

Mulga Valley, Easter Day 3, M55, 5th. Not the usual Day 3 fade-out, but did make an actual map reading mistake. This came at 5. Had been a bit slow at 4 (should have kept further left (-10 secs), but thought I should keep the same height out of the saddle to the pit at 5. No, I had to climb a contour. Overshot and lost about 1:40. Bad direction then to 6 and went into the wrong gully (-10 secs, the one with the boulder thankfully, to the west). 7 was needlessly slow through the creek detail.
8 deserves its own paragraph. A small feature in flat terrain - needs a good compass bearing. Took one I thought from 7. When I crossed the creek at halfway I was so far left that I took a while to actually locate myself - I couldn't believe I had drifted 120m off line on a 250m "accurate" bearing. So abandoned the compass and went in the vague direction of the big creek and ran straight to it. Could have been very ugly had I continued on the "accurate" bearing. GPS shows a very straight line for the early section, and it looks like the right angle (in True Grid - magnetic declination +7.9 degrees, so maybe 8 degrees out).
Slow once back in the creek; climbed up and down needlessly at 13 (-30 secs) and ran around too far at 15 (-30 secs) where fatigue definitely set in. So around about 3:30 again lost. Still way behind K/L (39, 41).

Shadowing Aoife on the VE.

Keeping warm in the ice cold wind.

Day 3 Course 9 - Splits