Race Evaluation
BAOC O in the Oaks III, Day 1: Blue
Tundra/Desert
| 1. | The map scan will one day be here. I started well. Maybe stayed too low too long, but was confident. | ||||||
| 2. | Trail, then creek bed, then up... there were older people clawing up the slope, an Irish dude and Don Atkinson. As I got to the control, a female West Pointer got to it, too. | ||||||
| 3. | I mostly contoured. Got into the big rocks just before the control and they slowed me down, but this route saved me a contour of climb or two. | ||||||
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| 6. |
Did not plan ahead Did not like map +01:30 | As I went through the saddle and down to the first gorge, the contours pushed me to the left, so I hit the chaparral/PO mix head-on. I got back into the gorge, walked a bit up, then attempted to go up again. This time the PO mix was mapped as single-density green lines, so I expected to get through. No chance... got stopped dead. Fought up to the little cliff. From there on, it was wuite a bit more climb and I started to get exhausted. As I got across the ridge I found Malcolm W-M. I was pretty sure he had the same control but he refused to join me. | |||||
| 7. | I waved to Malcolm, but he still wouldn't pay attention. This route was fairly clear: which way of the giant hatched area? Going below did not save much climb and involved all forest running, so I went for the "above" way, on the trail. As I was getting to the top of the hill I got curious as to what fraction of the promised 500–550 m of climb we had covered. The altimeter said 480 m, with more than half of the course still remaining! I then put the altimeter back out of the altitude readout so as not to cheat, but pushed the wrong button and stopped the file recording. Recovered quickly, starting a new file. As I got down the spur, I misread a green X—the one I noticed in the terrain was covered by the control circle! so I went a contour down too low, but noticed the bag to my left. | ||||||
| 8. |
Did not like map Bad map reading +02:45 | I went between the circular hatched area 100 m to the W of the control and a dead T tree immediately to the NE of it. From there I expected the control to be a straight shot... unfortunately I thought that the string of PO to my left (which was mapped as double-intensity vertical green lines, DVGL) was instead the cross-hatched area just before the control's dead X. Got to the end of the PO, no control. Saw the reentrant (one short of the control), thought it was mine. Saw the reentrant past, the one the control was in, thought it was the wide mapped one. Went uphill about 2–3 contours to the next string of PO. No bag. went down. Saw the large dead tree to the NE. Thought it was the X 50 m to the E, in the wide reentrant. Went NW. Spooked a huge (200+ lb) black pig. Saw the really wide reentrant to the NW. Finally figured out that I was one reentrant off, turned right and found the bag at the large dominant X. | |||||
| 9. | |||||||
| 10. | Climbed a bit too much across the spur just before the control. | ||||||
| 11. | Did not lose enough elevation right out of #10; otherwise executed this one well, down the correct spur. | ||||||
| 12. |
Confused parallel features +02:45 | Grasping for air after the climb! Climbed about 1.5 contours out of #11 to avoid the steeper parts of the slope, and then did not lose el as aggressively as I should have. Therefore I did not notice the reentrant in which the clearing was, and went to the next clearing to the ESE. Stood/oscillated there for a long time; then assured myself of the location and went N and a bit down and there it was. | |||||
| 13. |
Did not follow plan Confused parallel features Tired Not thinking clearly +02:45 | Now, seriously tired. Some pain in front of my right ear, as if there was blood vessel blockage. Got down to the creek bed and trotted gently along. Was looking for the side trail; realized that I should have gone away from the creek on the tral and that the bag was quite a bit up. But there was no trail, just a faint something right along the creek. I took it and soon came to the eroded area. Got on the rectangular spur (the one underneath the digit "3") and thought it was the spur immediately to the E of the control. Went W, found some erosion. Thought it was one of the gullies; went further W but then saw another female West Point runner going in the opposite direction. Stopped and found the eroded feature on the map. From there it was 2—3 controus of climb to the control. | |||||
| 14. |
Tired | The descent to the bag was precipitous. | |||||
| 15. |
Bad route choice Did not follow plan Tired +02:45 | All along I had been looking at this leg and thinking, "What an unreasonable problem... what are we being tested upon here?" The higher way was 11 contours of climb. The lower way was 8 contours to weave around PO, with a chance of getting stuck and an uphill ending. So, I went for the upper route. But having got about 7 contours up, I saw yet another female West Point runner making some progress while contouring across the PO, moving in the opposite direction to mine. So, I thought there was a game path or such across the PO, and plunged in. It was sort of bearable although certainly not fast, and I ended up doing the same amount of climb as the lower route while also getting stuck. | |||||
| 16. |
Tired | ||||||
| 17. |
Tired | ||||||
| 18. |
Tired | ||||||
| F. |
Tired |
Total Time Lost - 00:12:30