orienteering 30:00 [3]
Yay! Made it to France - barely. Got a little late start, then got stuck in a major traffic jam on the NJ Tpke, then got lost trying to find the Park2Go. Got to the airport at 4:52 for a 5:55 flight. They let us cut to the front of the line and Clem and I got our boarding passes before the 4:55 cut-off but they had to override the system for Eddie. I was convinced our luggage wouldn't make it, but it did. Flight was fine and, in fact, we landed a little early. Got through customs and got the car.
We weren't sure whether the gas gauge was reading empty or full so tried to find a gas station and drove around some of the back roads around Geneva. Spectacular scenery. Eventually found a gas station that would take our non-chip credit cards and it turns out the tank was full. Got on a highway before finding an ATM in France and when we got on a toll road were a little concerned about how we would pay. But they take credit cards for tolls!
Made it to the race site and decided to check out the model area. It was kind of a last minute decision so I didn't change out of my shorts and shirt though and just wore my trail shoes not my o-shoes. And the woods are really, really tough. They aren't "thick" in the sense of PA thick woods with prickers and briars and so on - just lots of dense trees that you can easily push through but not see through. And the ground is very chunky - lots of large squarish rocks and some downed trees and very steep so virtually impossible to run through for all but the top elites. But, lots of mapped little trails - some mapped as indistinct but easy to see on the ground and lots of little open areas. I went to 4 controls in about half an hour all in about 500 meters. Clem helped me find the first 2 then I kept going and learned how to use the trails to full advantage.
After that watched the long qualification races and cheered on the Americans and Canadians, the main reason I came. And it was a lot of fun. But I also started to fade as I hadn't slept since Thursday night. It was great to see Ali have such a good race but very sad that both Alex and Sam had trouble out there.
Drove into Chambery to pick up our race packets after that, then to Aix-les-Bains so Clem could get his media packet, then had dinner at a nice outdoor restaurant and finally made it to the hotel and crashed.