Fourth race and third middle at Flying Pig. It was cold and rainy in the morning, but the rain stopped and it warmed to about 10 C when I started. I began the race moving slowly-ish; I should have warmed up for longer than 15 minutes, and I was still sleepy. The trail from 1-3 was muddy, so I decided to take a bold (and dumb) route choice to 4. I think straight (a la Balter) would have been fastest - the lake corner was an easy attack.
After starting slowly and losing 45s at 4, Matthias Eriksson gained 2 minutes on me and caught up at 7. We were together at 8, but took different routes to 9, and I gained 45s (despite my poor exit at 8). I was worried about the sets of parallel erosion gullies on the hillsides, so I was careful at 11-15. I was too low at 15, and Matthias pulled ahead by about 12s. I ran straight to 17; Matthias went around, and I was two seconds behind. I thought I was at 18, so left thinking I was on route to 19, but realized my error quickly. Unfortunately, I didn't really have a plan to 18, and we both stumbled around on the spur for a minute before I found it. He beat me to 19 - I was too low, but I had a better route to 20 and gained a little. I lost it all hesitating before hopping the fence to 22; I took the lead again at 24 and held it until the end.
I was definitely helped by Matthias - no major mistakes except bad route choice to 4, bumbling around at 8 and 9, low at 15, decapitated chicken at 18, and low at 19. Good enough for another fourth; a little sad to finish just outside the medals. Everyone had rough races - lots of small mistakes today. I talked through the course with Wangki; this is his second A-meet, and his progress and enthusiasm are excellent. Also great to see Gerald for the first time in 3 years.
Quickroute.