Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Rensselear Plat-O Traverse, 18 km, I think 20 controls, DNF.

Grumble, grumble, grumble...

A bit of a fiasco, after things started out so well. The field was small, I think maybe 9 of us? This was a Highlander-like race, with two orienteering sections connected by a trail run, lengths 6 km (Pineridge), 8 km (trail), 4 km (Grafton Lakes). There was also an option to do just the first 6 km orienteering, which a few people did (including Glen). Those guys got a 1:7500 map, I think, whereas those of doing the whole thing started out on a 1:15000. For the first couple of hours, at least, it was raining (and I think around 40 F when we started), so the light was limited, and I pretty much couldn't see the thin, pale contours.

Glen, Jeremy, and I started out as the lead pack, though Jeremy dropped back a bit, and it was me and Glen for a few controls, though the rest of the crowd wasn't far back, and if we had a little bobble, a few of them would catch up. After the fourth control, I took a different route choice, and was on my own after that for a long time. When I got to controls, there was a definite pause, so I think I was waking them up and therefore in the lead.

At the first road crossing/aid station, there was just a table with some stuff on it, so I had some water and then headed out, but as I did so I passed the car that was parked there, and saw there was somebody in it, so I waved. Turned out to be Candy, and she hadn't noticed me arriving (car was facing the other way), and she called out to me as I left, I think asking if I wanted something (don't know what), but I said I was good and continued on.

Things went fine for a few more controls, and at some point I looked at my watch to see if I was largely done, and saw that I had done about 4 km of the 18 advertised. Oof. Well, keep going. I lost a little time on #10 (pretty small rocks, but the main issue was that I got perplexed by the faint trails), lost maybe 3 minutes. Then on #11, disaster struck. I did okay for the first part, but at the end I missed significantly to the right, and the marsh I had in mind for a catching feature was really vague. I actually recovered okay and made it to the right spot (within 20 m), but I failed to find the control, and after my little walkabout was pretty unsure of my location, so I decided to relocate. Unfortunately, this was a pretty subtle area, and the only really solid thing I could rely on was #12, at the road crossing. So I went there, and headed back up to #11. When I was almost there, I encountered Jeremy, who asked why I was going the wrong way. So much for my lead (though I expect that he would have easily chewed up whatever lead I had during the trail run anyway). I missed it again, this time pulling up a little short (about 60 m) before losing confidence and bailing out again. This time I was more sure of where I was, so I only needed to go back to a trail junction, and on the third time, I got it (seeing Ken Walker on my way in). Sheesh. 24 minutes elapsed from the first time that I probably had the control within sight, not counting my initial error, and I believe I slipped four places.

Okay, back on track. I caught Ken at the #11 road crossing, where the aid station guy acted mostly as an impediment. He seemed to think he was a waiter taking our order, and pretty much just stood in the way, making it hard to get at the maps and refreshments. Did he not understand that we were in a race? I managed to get my hands on a map and one cup of water, and just got the heck out of there. That was the last I saw of Ken.

The trail run map was 1:20000, I think, and showed the route with yellow highlighting. There were also a few streamers, and signs with arrows at some intersections. The trail itself had a lot of deadfall across it, was deep mud in a few places, and many puddles. One long downhill stretch was pretty much a creek. And parts of it were on dirt roads, and one section of pavement. At about 25% of the way along, I encountered Evgheni coming toward me. He seemed lost, and said that the trail turned south up ahead (we were going generally north, but the trail went east at that particular spot). I looked at the map, saw that there was a left-hand turn at around the spot we were at, and I was just a few steps past a left, but there was no sign or anything. I said I thought that was it, and the two of us headed that way (and it quickly became clear that that was correct). Evgheni was complaining that there was no trail (it was faint in places, and there was deadfall), but it was obvious where were were supposed to go because we were parallelling a large, open marsh. We caught and passed Steve Tarry in this section. Evgheni gradually pulled away, but I caught back up at one point when he came to an unmapped fork and was unsure which way to go. The trail run seemed to go on for a long time, but then we got to the end.

There was a table with drinks at the end of the trail run, and a car, but nobody there. I had a cookie and a drink, and wondered what to do next. The meet notes had said something about the trail run and the Grafton map not quite fitting together; I couldn't remember the details, but I figured I needed to go a little further, and guessed that it was probably on the large trail to the left. As I was about to go, Evgheni popped out of the woods, ranting about something. He was followed soon after by the aid station guy, who said he had just stepped into the woods for two minutes to take a leak (not sure why he had to go so far). Evgheni was still ranting, asking why something wasn't properly marked -- I was going to explain to him that this guy wasn't the course setter, but I kept my mouth shut. Instead, I asked the guy, "Which way now?", and he pointed down the smaller trail to the right, and said the next control was just a little way down the trail. Okay. So we headed that way, Evgheni still grumpy. We got to the control, and I looked for a box of maps, but there wasn't one, so I figured we needed to go just a little further, and the Grafton maps would be at the road crossing (I had orienteered at Grafton before, and remembered that the map was entirely north of Rte. 2). Evgheni had disappeared, so I just kept jogging... and jogging... and jogging... I knew that the maps didn't fit together, but this was a little extreme. I could hear traffic up ahead, so I continued until I got to the road, and I saw a car and a person up ahead, okay, there's the map exchange. But I got there, and it was just a woman taking pictures. I looked way off to my right, and saw a car, and a table, okay... and as I got closer, a control. I wasn't moving very fast, but I got there, punched, grabbed a drink, and the guy came out and checked me off the list, and I looked around and asked where the maps were.

Um...

You were supposed to get a map at the previous aid station.

Huh.

Just about then, Evgheni apppeared (from a different direction), and I said I'd just follow this guy. But the aid station guy said I could just go to the Visitor's Center and get another map, they had maps there with all the controls on them. I thought that was ridiculous, said something dismissive and headed off after Evgheni. He had a map, I guess the previous aid station guy had left one map on the table when he stepped out to take a leak (I had looked around, but hadn't seen any when I was there). I was going to try and just keep up with him for the rest of the course, but then I asked how many controls he had been to since the aid station, and he said four (the updated Grafton map does have terrain south of the road). So I was busted, and just continued walking up the road when he went into the woods. I was about halfway to the finish, when a car coming toward me stopped, and the window rolled down and I heard "hop in". It was the guy from the last aid station, who had driven up to the Visitor's Center and picked up a map for me. I really wasn't interested in going back for the controls that I had bypassed, so I just told him I was done and kept walking.

I changed my clothes before punching the finish and going in to download. There were cakes for the finishers, but I declined to accept one because I hadn't finished. I asked Phil H-T to mail me a set of maps, and headed out. I did chat a little with Jeremy, who said that I had done the interesting parts anyway, because the Grafton Part was kind of meh.

Unclear what would have happened if I had found #11 on the first try. I think I was at least 15 minutes ahead of Jeremy at that point, but I don't know if Evgheni was ahead of him. And if I hadn't encountered Evgheni when I did, maybe I would have missed the turn as well, and who knows how long it would have taken me to recover. Doesn't matter. This didn't kill me, so I suppose it made me stronger.

splits