Note
Day 5
I awoke to some sprinkles on the tent and had to run the wipers on low as I bumped down the more washboardy Road 700 to Pelican Bay. The rain yesterday with traffic added quite a few more ruts. It was sun and clouds at the start; I wore the rain visor just in case. This start was more open and less congested and drinking some stronger coffee kept me smiling. Leg 1 was long and just trying to get my heart working and my breathing less ragged. Ended up in a pack with Angelica, Charlie S., and a teenager for the first 6 controls. We were slower than the leading pack but found C3 cleanly and moved ahead. The going was slower and time was easily lost. The path to C4 right of the line was rocky and slow. I tried to go it alone on the way to 6 and 7; the first had no effect but for C7, I seem to have missed the control passing through the W of the circle and then continued 150m SW. Ron Birks had missed as well and we both worked back up to the cliff (90 s lost). I saw him through the long leg to C9 but he was way too fast to follow through the open. Took the longer path out nearly to the fence and over the ridge end before cutting directly to the control. This looked like a rock more than a bare-rock hilltop. The last loop was riddled with errors. They all fit into a group of leaving a control carelessly and then running right of my compass bearing. This caused me to go to C11 before C10 and C41 before C13 (I saved dylpop from an mp at C11). Coming in to C12 form the N didn't help and feeling chased at C12, even those I saw no one other than Dylan should not have distracted me. I think that I will be able to avoid similar mistakes over the coming days. The lead that I had on Bill and Peggy was lost by C13 and I just tried to keep close to the end. Best finish of the week but a "rainy" end to the run.
BTW, the rest of the day was rainy, on and off. But there was a huge rainbow hovering over Laramie Daze!