Race Evaluation
Billygoat 41: Billygoat
Wyatt
| 1. | Per plan, kept an eye on Will, Boris & kids in that order as we took off out of the start. Kids in the lead with no one trying to break away allowed me to keep up on the long uphill, the seemingly took forever. I first had map contacttabout 150m before the control, shortly after we'd left the trail... | ||||||
| 2. | Slightly climby contouring, then trail around, chasing hard. Didn't lose much time here - the leaders were still 20-30 sec ahead, but pack was strung out so contact was okay. | ||||||
| 3. | +00:15 | Got a stick in the eye just after leaving the control, tried to fish it out and couldn't... Turned around to Ari(?) and asked if he could see it, and he offered to pull it out. 15 panic'ed seconds later, it was out - *thank you* - and I turned back down the hill - shirts just barely in sight. "Let's go" I yelled, and tore off after the disappearing pack - helping provide a visual bridge to the leaders for Ari as partial payback. Regained solid map contact on the trail about halfway there, and was surprised to the the leaders still hard to the trail as it bent North. Diagonalled in from the bend, and it worked out well, with me pulling right back into the lead pack in ~4th. | |||||
| 4. | Chasing Will out, and just after seeing Keegan decide 50m late to skip 4, I leaned a little right through less bumpy terrain, though a bit too far to gain, so slipped a touch back in the pack. | ||||||
| 5. | R | +00:15 | Pack seemingly went left chasing Keegan and I went right - seemed similar distance and less rough terrain? - As I closed north of 21, Boris appeared (out of the Marsh apparently), and we talked each other through the cliffs, and down a slot. Boris was first to ID the dot knoll while Peter & others were milling around, and some of the pack appeared far ahead, and I followed his confidence in. | ||||
| 6. | R | +00:20 | Chased Boris out to the trail and realized I wasn't as fit - I was maxed out, following, and still dropping. Trying to bail right to trail up and then zig back in, and just lost even more time (20 sec?) than I likely would've still following. | ||||
| 7. | +00:15 | Hard bail SE to trail (apparently gaining a tad on the 3 in front), but my overtied left shoe was becoming a problem, so lost 15 sec. loosening that and the 2 heads far away on the trail became 0-1 as I ran around. Attack into 7 alone was clean (super visible.) | |||||
| 8. | Bearing out, reading just enough to hold the line, hoping for a shirt ahead, and saw one, briefly, mid route, but not super helpful. Clean. | ||||||
| 9. | Hard bearing out, contoured just above marsh near the broken car, and bearing'ed in hard, nervous to miss it. Looked behind one bump (unmapped?), then noticed bag 20m south. No one in sight. | ||||||
| 10. | Bearing/contour out, up the gap near the line, trail to bend (was confusing), cut to trail/yellow-bit (ok, back in contact.) NW to next bend, then careful bearing in, nailed. | ||||||
| 11. | R | +00:15 | Bail hard north-ish and then see Peter. Confused. Tell him it's back there. Boris & Ari(?) also confused, and they turn back too. Cut NW to trail to U pond for fast run & sure attack. Should've cut NW earlier. | ||||
| 12. | N to trail. Ooh, there's AJ just ahead, then Keegan & Francis, cool he didn't get lost, and cool they are still in range (or so I wished.) 2 (weak) gatorades, and a banana bite. | ||||||
| 13. | Hard back down trail, passing Boris & Peter (and wait, was that Will too? not sure...), happy to have a slightly larger gap on them than AJ did on me. Trail to just after marsh, then bearing in. Just as I began to hesitate I saw in 50m ahead, slightly right. | ||||||
| 14. | Hard out on bearing, hitting more green that ideal before trail, landing 40m north of the line. (GPS shows I hit the trail just as the AJ pack punched, but that was just too far for the value of in-sight distance.) Up the slot, creek cliff crack, and climb to back. Not feeling quite as speedy on this climb. | ||||||
| 15. | P | +01:20 | [The relatively strong navigation that kept me just outside the lead pack (and 4th at this point) takes it's first chink on this leg. Several mistakes will follow...] Exit strong, recognize area where I'd seen Peter earlier, over the hill/trail-bend to the indistinct junction. NE on indistinct, then try to turn left on the other one, but miss (perhaps 50m south?) Keep going on a bearing, hoping to relocation and bump into marshes left of the line, but couldn't piece it together (one was distinctly more a pond at this point.) Spent what felt like an eternity moving slowly west, trying to match things up with the marshes 150m north of the line (why? tired?) and finally theorized the right combination of marsh/wet areas, confirming as I continued west to drop down the steep edge toward the distinct reentrant shape 100m east of the control. In from there. | ||||
| 16. | Bearing toward 16, hearing the chase pack closing in. I imagined they'd run way faster than me, already having forgotten my time loss on 15 (good, focus on the now...) | ||||||
| 17. | Was thinking this would be just barely the best remaining skip, and had over-estimated the climb and rockiness to 23 (my back of pocket late skip), so continued on to 17, holding onto 23 as late skip (and a bail out option to skip something else if I missed something badly...) Quite straight on this, eyeballing the road to my right. A little tentative down the hill, but it was right behind the boulder I suspected. | ||||||
| 18. | Diagonal back, hesitating in some of the bumps as I approached the trail, trying to hit it at the indistinct junction. Nailed that, indistinct in, down up the reentrant, across the flat, climbing through the rocks (concerned a bit) then saw the flag. Turned around and saw Will approaching. Wow... that's the first I'd seen him since 4, and I'd figured him to be way ahead (I had no idea I apparently passed by him just north of 10. So he's not way ahead. So that pack of AJ/Keegan/FF was in the lead ?! | ||||||
| 19. | D | +00:40 | Left fork, realizing soon that Will was not following. Aimed for southern tip of 2nd marsh, but hit the first marsh dead on, and the 2nd marsh 50m south of the end and looped back - sloppy. Hit the old roadbed trail as I folded the map on my way out, and bearing in from that junction. Hard to miss. | ||||
| 20. | D | P | +03:30 | Zoom downhill, leaning left, aiming to hit the trail somewhere northeast of 20. Apparently the terrain runnability and a bit of green kept me more way more on the spur than I'd intended (even after noticing a bit on compass and trying to correct.) Apparently hit the trail almost due west of 20, and followed it down trying desperately to decide where on the trail I was, finally realizing it between the cliffs above the marsh. This would've been a great time to spend my skip, and precisely why I'd held onto the 23 skip for so long. But did I remember that in the moment? Ffff.... Attack straight back and up the creek toward 20, nailed, seeing Max & another Kid-Goat runner. | |||
| 21. | D | P | +03:30 | South, down some reentrant, aiming a little west, expecting to hit the marsh or trail. Didn't pick up on either, so started bailing harder west (recognizing the spur I'd been on out of 20, but not sure where on it) and after much angst and zig/zag confused following of my compass, I spotted the huge marsh between 4 and 5 far ahead. Climbed the flat circle hill to confirm, then slowly pusehd along the edge of the marsh/rock/cliff area to the SE corner, climbed up the slot, and carefully bearinged ahead to 21 (had no recollection of this area from earlier in the course.) | |||
| 22. | Bearing and reading of marshes and large hill shapes right into control. | ||||||
| 23. | Skip | ||||||
| 24. | Bearing, sharp reentrant up, then careful bearing in chasing a kid goater. Description suggested I could keep my eyes up and hopefully spot it on right side of feature, and that worked. (Didn't realize when planning the 23 skip how careful I would need to be on this bearing - though 23-24 looks similarly hard.) | ||||||
| F. | West, trail to creek, cut along creek (why, stay on trail, fff...) hit trail again (right of, not past, start) and in... Asked AJ how he did, and he quietly said, "I was first." :))) |
Total Time Lost - 00:10:20