Race Evaluation
Colorado 5-Day: The Chase
Tundra/Desert
| 1. | The map scan will be here in due time. I raced out of the start hard, passing vadimm in the process and trying to catch tdgood. | ||||||
| 2. | Racing up the field towards a string of chasers that included Nadim, Joe, tomwcarr, and tdgood, in about that order. | ||||||
| 3. | See #2. | ||||||
| 4. | Went after Ted. However, I opted to stay high and then drop down onto the control, unlike Joe and company who crossed the saddle and stayed low. On my high route, I did not see anyone; and, climbed a bit before the control. Once I found the bag, I saw PG catching up. (Or, my thought at the time, was it Ross? they are both short bearded old men in CSU suits). | ||||||
| 5. | Once I got out of the trees, I saw the string of Joe, Tom, and Ted. Followed them, but going up the knoll could not see them anymore. Found the control by myself. | ||||||
| 6. | Looked back on the initial descent and PG was pretty far back. Could not see anyone ahead. Found the control by myself. | ||||||
| 7. | Saw Ted for what turned out to be last time, going up the long hill. Just before I got to Control 7, I saw Tom leaving towards #8, walking. He could not have been more than a minute ahead. I read all the features on approach to #7, and it was right there where I expected it to be. | ||||||
| 8. | Saw the control from afar, but sadly, not Tom. | ||||||
| 9. | I thought I went a bit wide right, what with all the unmapped rock on that white spur, but turned out that I was pretty much on the red line. So, I overcorrected and ended up approaching from the left, from a mapped V-pit. As I was going across the field, I saw PG, Vadim, and the Sören guy behind me. | ||||||
| 10. | I should have crossed the fence on the road but did not figure it out. The Sören guy passed me just before the control. | ||||||
| 11. | I chased him and punched #11 right behind. | ||||||
| 12. | Sören pulled away a bit on this leg. I could also hear Vadim behind me. | ||||||
| 13. | On the climb I could not see Sören anymore. Vadim pulled up and slowly passed me, but on that four-rock hilltop, went due north. So, I went straight to the control from that hilltop and passed Vadim. | ||||||
| 14. |
Bad map reading +01:05 | I ran downhill, down the clearing, thinking I knew exactly what to do, where to do without reading the map, and being confident I could hold off Vadim and Peter. Sadly, like just about everyone before me, I failed to climb aggressively from #13, went too far W; then mistook the semi-yellow for the full yellow. Once I saw a rocky knoll where I expected the last control; then people going towards #11; then, the finish, I realized my sad mistake. I looked uphill. Vadim and Peter were still going towards me, not the control!! I still had a chance! So, I raced to the pit as hard as I could. | |||||
| F. | Vadim punched just after me. I put on all the power I had. He did not pass me. Final roadkill count: +1/–1. |
Total Time Lost - 00:01:05