Training Log Archive: dlevine

Chestnut Ridge Park Map Hike

Start (caino parking lot) -> 1: Down the sledding hill, across the road and "to it", but I don't find it. So, I fight through the green into the woods and start looking from the inside out and find it after a bit. 4:33

1->8: Out to road, across and in at the end of the guard rail. Along the south edge of the "marsh" which is mostly dry but contains some "soft" dirt. Had a tough time finding the W edge as I had to envision it being a lot wetter. 4:29

8->9: Through the green - that I could see wasn't so bad, across the field and in at the stone wall. Again had a bobble while looking for the marker. 4:50

9->12: Out to road to the clearing just SE of marker and then in. It took me much longer in the circle than it should - 10 minutes travel time; 6 minutes search time. 16:12

12->14: Road to trail to T junction, to Y junction where I went straight in. First one I found right away. 7:34

14->13: N to trail; was planning to go through the rough field, but it was too rough, so I skirted it counter-clockwise and then headed straight in. 4:31

13->15: Out to road and then right to it. 3:25

15->20: Out to road; path to cut corner, through the picnic and across the stream E of the circle, then up to the trail and in. 8:50

20->21: Trail all the way, checking things off carefully, but moving more slowly as the heat got to me and my confidence was lower. 7:01

21-22: Trail all the way; confused a bit at the end until I understood the trail on the map. 7:55

22->25: Trail all the way and understood the green so I went right in. Confused as there were TWO rootstocks there, but I looked more generally and found the control on a nearby tree so I never had to decide which was the "real" one. 5:25

25->24: Down and up or 500 meters extra going around on the trail? Decided to chance it going down. It was slow and delicate, but I made it and found all sorts of families in the (nearly completely dry) streambed. One guy was fascinated by my map and we spoke for a while (see 0-level intensity). Climbed the trail to and around to the control, but could not find it at all. Spent over ten minutes looking for it including several different attacks and my spiral technique. No luck. I'll have to go back again, but I think it is either missing or misplaced. The reentrant to the north and the trail junction to the south make it tough to have been in the wrong reentrant. NO SUCCESS! 28:24

24->23: Trail to clearing to spur. Hot and tired, but no problem. 6:44

23->19: Down and up and then north to the SE corner of the clearing. In by the distinct tree and more or less to it, but slow as the green slash is a "pointy" pine forest. Almost missed it as it was facing "the other way". 6:56

19->16: Slow, rough compass to the road which I hit at the "bottom of the U" as I hoped. Straight in until I found the marsh, but no marker. Again, a repeated search, verifying which edge and ticking off the trees one-by-one. No luck. I could see the shelter to the north and decided to relocate off of it. As soon as I headed there, I saw an unmapped clearing, so I veered off a bit to it. There, on the north edge, was the marker - albeit only about 25m from the shelter. 12:57

16->17: Met a guy at the shelter who said, "You just find #16?", so we talked. Apparently he has only a vague idea of map hikes, but hangs out at this shelter a lot and lots of people (understandably) use this as their attack point. He says that the nearby clearing is very wet in the spring. He also says that some folks are surprised by how close the marker is. I think it's misplaced. After a while, I head out to #17, down the road to the bridge and up the trail. Almost went in too soon - the distance seemed right, but the reentrant was small - but continued another 25m and there was a larger reentrant with a marker in it, so I chose that one! 20:29

17->18->Car: My rule was "no more targets after 2:30" and I was a few seconds after that, but I decided that two evangelizations should buy me two minutes so I was "legit". On the other hand, I had to get to Tops in Olean before the pharmacy closed at 5 pm. I headed out slowly, but with a lack of concentration towards #18. Found "the stream", but I didn't see the marker. Did a quick "down and up", but it wasn't there. Truthfully, though, I can't say for sure that I was there either and the clock began to bother me, so I just ran/walked in. 37:14

Tried for seventeen; found fifteen, including one in the wrong place. Of the two I missed, one is not where it should be and I suspect that the other error is mine. I didn't speed (much) and made it to Tops at 4:59 so all was well.

Hunters Creek Map Hike

Start->1: Down the road to the trail. Trail in to stony ground. Didn't see the marker so wondered if there was "stonier" ground further along the trail. There wasn't so I returned. Then I saw the maker in shadows. Good lesson. 5:43

1->2: Trail to field where I discovered a new (practically double-track) mountain bike trail with jumps (and pits) leading almost directly to the control. On hill, once again I couldn't see the marker right away, but a quick search did find it this time. 5:04

2->3: Down the mountain bike trail to the trail north along the creek, angled down, but stopped too soon on the wrong terrace (one by the bottom of the "3") and got very confused. 11:19

3->19: This one scared me because the clue said "depression" and I could see no depression on the map. Still, up the hill to the intermittent stream bed/reentrant, to the first junction and towards the control. No side of a depression as I approached the trail junction. Wait? Is that a small one just ahead? No. To the left? No. There's the marsh with #4, clearly too far. Okay, there is no depression. Just head back to the trail junction and play the "outward/inward spiral" game until you see the marker. Wait, there it is at the junction facing the other way. Still no depression in sight. 6:09

19->4: Could see the marsh area from 19; could see the marker once I got to the south end of the marsh. 1:34

4->6: Up the hill, down the trail and around and in. Found a campsite, but no marker. Did look at watch and it read 2:33. Traversed entire edge of field three times and searched campsite from all angles. If that marker's there, I'm blind. Did think that I recalled bishop22 saying that he couldn't find one marker in HC near a campsite. Am I making this up or is this it? Finally gave up. 12:36

6->5: Although I was certain of where I was on the map, I was tentative and getting hot so I took my time. No real issues, but I didn't punch the watch, so no real split either.

5->9: One of my two planned "long" legs. Alas, this one was a cluster****. I headed NE towards the trail, but was walking and thinking about other things (always a bad idea in a bland area). I ended up turning NW a bit into the green and wandering a bit. When focus returned, I decided to bail N to the trail at the N end of the green. Did so and took it E towards the stream that #9 is on. At the bend, I saw "Posted" signs and got confused as I somehow didn't see the park boundary on the map. Another 1-2 minutes gone. Then N to the gas line and in to the rootstock. Spiked the rootstock, but didn't see the marker. Attacked twice more, the second time by walking the stream bed. Was about to give up when I looked at the tree above the rootstock and saw the marker a good bit above eye level. Arrgh! (Combined split: 36:11)

9->10: Along W edge of marsh, across stream at N end and into the white woods. Spiked it, albeit at a slow pace. 7:03

10->13: Compass bearing plus eyes that were open. Almost missed the marker again, though. 2:28

13->11: N to trail and down the hill. Momentarily stopped one spur too soon and then had to climb the actual spur because the light was making it tough to read the marker from a distance. 5:21

11->12: Trail around and attack from the NW. Spiked it, but didn't take a split.

12->8: The other long leg. Tried to run the hill, but the heat was getting to me and my ankles did not like the treadway at all. Not sure what was up here, but twelve hours later they're still a bit sore from "pounding". Park boundary made this a two-trail, ninety degree turn leg. Nothing tough other than conditioning, though. 29:50

8->7: Back up hill to trail, over to southern gas line cut and down to Hunters Creek. No good place to cut in and I could see the marker, but not get to it from where I was. Go figure. 6:31

7->15: Of course, there is an easy way out by the creek. Then, up the steep hill to the trail and back in to the woods. The marker was further from the gas line than I expected, so I lost a bit of time here. 6:57

15->14: Back to gas line, then trail N being careful to pay attention to trail to left in the failing light. Straight in from T-junction just SE of marker. No split again.

14->16: Trail out and in until I saw what I thought was "the" rootstock. It was. 6:51

16->17: Hoped that the bank wasn't too steep here. Shot a compass bearing and was rewarded by a place that was easy to descend and also could see what I thought was the knoll. It was and the marker was quite visible. 1:24

17->18: Had said (to myself) that I wouldn't start looking for any markers after 2:30, but it was now 2:25, so off to 18. Right back past 16 and thinking that I might hurry and get one more in after 18. Dark woods ended that thought, but I was able to find the "boulder" and the marker with no issues. 7:16

18->Finish: No more looking for markers, so I walked within 50m of #20 and #22 without grabbing them and back near where the A meet started a few years back. Ran into another hiker and chatted with him. Got to the parking lot to discover LOTS of daylight. I guess now I understand why some folks say this park "gets dark early". 19:43

Spiked 12 of the 19. Had "map hike" issues (spiked location, but not marker) with two others. Had three bobbles, one major screw up and one "not found" that probably ought to go down as a "map hike" issue.

Not counting #6, the remaining controls would almost be a "map hike sprint", covering only about 2km and 60m of climb.

Cutthroat with Lucas (young and great) and Steve (older and damn good)

Game 1: Steve took the early lead 2-3-9, but first Lucas and then I came back and it was 9-9-9. I pulled ahead and "won" 15-12-11 only to find out that we were playing to 21! Hung in there and won 21-15-12.

Game 2: Close all the way, but I lead 15-9-12 before Steve got hot and I couldn't hang in there and I lost 17-12-21.

Game 3: Steve pulled away and led 1-12-19 as I couldn't get anything going. Then I got really hot and scored fourteen in a row to make it 15-12-19. Then Lucas got hot and won 17-21-19.

One match apiece - as it should have been. I'll claim the total points tiebreaker 55-48-52, but no one really believes in that.

Doubles with Steve (my partner for the evening), Lucas and Syed. Age vs. beauty.

Game 1: Age hangs in there and pulls away to win 21-13
Game 2: Age goes up 19-4 and slacks off to win 21-13
Game 3: Beauty goes up 3-11 before age comes back to 14-15, but beauty goes on a run and wins 14-21
Game 4: Tight match and age leads 13-11 before Lucas runs off ten straight and beauty wins 13-21.

(At least age got the net score 69-68!)

Early morning run to try to beat the heat. All the way up the hill behind the neighborhood. Ran the entire hill for the first time. Overall time wasn't amazing, but I'll call it a success.

Singles against Syed, an up and coming, but still intermediate player.

Game 1: I got there early to loosen up more than I had lately, but I still started off not seeing the ball well. I worked to tie it at 7, he came back to tie it at 11; then I won 21-13.

Game 2: Led 7-0; he rallied a little, but I kept him from catching up and then pulled away at the end to win 21-9.

Game 3: Fell behind 3-14 and started to come back. At 8-14, I got Syed to lay out for a shot that he missed and deflected into his eye. After a five-minute break, we resumed, but he had some trouble getting a rhythm and I tied it at 15. He then pulled away 16-19 before I won 21-19.

Got to class late (again...)

Cutthroat with Lucas (best player, but recovering from an illness) and Syed (some skills, but noticeable weaknesses).

First game: Lucas and I were slow out of the gate, trailing 2-4-9 as Syed found a groove. I began to see the ball better and Lucas woke up to be strong. Lucas won going away, 8-15-11.

Second game: I got hot with the serve and lead 10-2-1. Blew four game-winning points before fighting off a "Lucas game point" and hanging on to win 15-14-8.

Third game: Had this one under control 13-8-4 before Lucas took seven in a row to win 13-15-5.

Fourth game: Had this one under control as well, 14-6-3 before Lucas went on a bit of a run. This time I stopped it in time, 15-11-3.

One mile with equipment. Time is a gross estimate as I forgot to start my watch. I was planning to do about 20% less, but felt good, albeit at my slow pace.

Singles against Syed (novice who now has intermediate skills, but can be psyched out if your repeatedly pummel any of his weaknesses).

First game: Couldn't get going in terms of picking up the ball. Trailed 1-6, tied it at 9 and lost 9-15.

Second game: Much better time seeing the ball. Close and tied at 8 before I pulled away and won 15-11.

Third game: Had his number and more or less took him steadily throughout for a 15-7 victory.

Fourth game: More of the same. 15-6.

BFLO Score-O at Hunters Creek State Park

Start->3: Down trail and right past it, out on to the wrong peninsula and eventually back up the hill to it, punching behind a slew of other folks some of whom had walked to the control. It's definitely raining; I am already soaked.

3->7: Down to Hunter's Creek, downstream past the earth bank and up the hill to the trail. I was actually confused (somehow) about which side of the control I was on and I went north, then south a good bit, then finally north to the control. This is the second one in a row that I "gacked".

7->11: North along the trail and then too much side hill into the site. Never lost map contact, but did lose time for the third control in a row...

11->24: East and a bit north up the hill and past the swamp so that I could get the trail through the (very) rough open field. Into stream bed and up either the stream or the nicer bank to the control. Passed two guys going the other way.

24->12: Back down the stream, but no one is in sight. Again, I pulled up short, and then for good measure I overshot the flag and had to climb back in to it. Another sloppy job.

12->14: On a bearing, up to the trail and saw the field to my left. One guy was leaving the control and another heading along the edge of the trail so this was easy.

14->18: Off in a hurry but couldn't catch the guy in front of me. Hit the stream too far downstream had just relocated when the other guy came from upstream. Another botched one.

18->19: Straight down the stream. What could go wrong? Besides the questionably safe descent over the falls to the flag. Was careful and made it fine.

19->20: Across Hunters Creek again and up the least steep of the banks that I could see. Found the trail and went SW towards the control, but I was a bit low. This one counts as a bobble.

20->21: Ah, I know this one from the A meet. It's also only about 90 seconds away so I spike it!

21->22: North-ish to the power line, down to Hunters Creek and then diagonally across it to the second power cut. Through the woods straight to it. Two good ones in a row.

22->17: Complete reversal to the first power cut and up the twelve-contour climb. Angle in to the trail and then right to it. Three in a row.

17->15: Across the little stream and now the flag is 280 meters straight down this trail. Alas, it is below foot level and I overshoot, catching myself on the larger reentrant just to the south. Decent recovery, but the clock is ticking and I have blown another control.

15->13: Southeast to the trail just W of the control, Deliberately came in a bit north of the control, but spiked it as I came by. Time is now a serious problem, though and I have no idea what the late penalty is.

13->2: Hurried past ruin and down to stream. Climbed up to the trail that I thought was between #9 and #10, but I was on the trail above #9. Could look down and see it, but it was too much down and up to risk it. Crashed down the next stream - almost skiing on the mud - and up to the area near the start for the A meet. Hurried to the finish and had two minutes left so decided to go get #2. Through parking lot and in to it, but I missed.

2->Finish: Out to road and back to parking lot. Ended up punching the finish control 11 seconds late so this was clearly another very bad gaffe.

Summary: Earned 420 points; gave back 20 on the time penalty. Came in fourth on the tiebreaker; had I skipped #2 (or found it and finished no more than 49 seconds later) I would have been third. Second was not in the cards today (would have required four or five more flags) and first would have required sweeping the course in 25 fewer minutes - NEVER going to happen. All in all, though, this was one of my worst days in years.

Had switched to dry clothes and shoes when Patty asked me if I could help. Well, I sucked today, but I haven't helped BFLO with anything since the A meet, so I guess I should. She gave me a "seat sack" for the stakes and a plastic bag for the e-punch units and off I went, albeit deciding only to walk.

Start->8: Took trail out towards 1, then the road to the trail and straight to #8.

8->16: Angled up to E-W trail and then across to the next trail to go in to control, but had missed the turn and ended up coming out on the power line 200 m W of where I meant to. Took the "walk of shame" back to the correct trail and in.

16->17: Had heard in the parking lot that the green slash in this area was more like full green and found that that was true. Slogged through and more or less spiked it.

17->15: Did this leg exactly as before with the bonus that I didn't overshoot. Wonder about the splits: running with mistake or walking clean?

15->21: Wandered off up the hill planning to hit the ridge trail N of the spur and take it down to the junction, leave the gear and run out and back to 21. Executed plan perfectly, albeit with a stop to deal with hiker with an overly friendly, but not aggressive dog.

21->20: Back to junction, pick up gear and go about 30 m down the trail until I am looking down at the control. Dropped gear and went out and back for control. As I am packing gear, I realize that the bag has only four e-punch units. CRAP! I've lost two of them. (The plastic bag has a hole!) Inventory reveals that I lost #15 and #17 so the distance isn't great. I retraced my route to #15 and then back, but with no luck. Figured that I had to at least head in to report, so I went off to number 13.

20->13: Trail all the way until I was just below the control and then in.

13->Finish: Took the low road (to match my mood) and back to the parking lot.

Not sure who felt worse - me for losing the controls or Patty for having guilted me in to going out. I explained where they must be and she and Walt said that they would find them. She would go back now and if necessary, they'd bring back a search party tomorrow. She told me to go home and she'd let me know. So I did. A second failed outing on the day. The good news is that I didn't get lost on the drive home.