Training Log Archive: Charlie

Event: Dakota Rogaining Championships 2012
 

Event: Bye bye Peekskill
 

Bye Bye Peekskill training on Bushy Ridge map. Haven't been here in what? 20 years or more? Still Bushy. This will be an awesome place after the infestations of laurel weevils and blueberry beetles finish with it, if they ever arrive. Here is my route until the Garmin died, and then maybe another 25 minutes shuffling in. To see the course without the route, click hide route choices in DOMA. Running is not going so well at all. Lots of discomfort in L glute and ham.

To #1along W side of pond on trail, across dam and up, stopped to contemplate the cliff on the E edge of the circle for a bit before figuring it out. Better to #2, just right of line, seeing the big boulders on the way in and spiking it, catching up to Craig. With Craig much of the rest of the way. To 3, on compass along the line, reading the situation pretty well, until getting a line too high and W right at the control.

4 was the worst leg, searching for quite a while too far S, despite seeing the marsh off to the W, and eventually following Eddie in the right direction. Long contour S toward 5, a little nervous about not having good contact, but climbing at a good point and right into it. Lucky? I guess. Certainly could have missed it. I had gotten ahead of Craig at 4 and didn't see him here. Stopped short on 6 and wandered a bit, and finally Craig showed up and we pushed on and found it. I had an extra watch punch in here. We agreed that enough time had gone by and we were heading to 10 from here so we would get back at a reasonable time.

I thought we were going too much N, but an illusion, as we popped out at the now dry small pond S of the control and easy from there, meeting up with Eddie again at the control, but this time spiking it myself. With Craig to 11, right of the hill E of the marsh on the line, left of the hill in front of the control, and right in. In contact all the way. Downhill on compass, a little nervous about whether I would see it, but right into it. Lucky again? Out to the trail and I was really shuffling. Craig pulled away and not sure which way he went. R at the junction and across the stream, then N along the hillside and in to #12, where I saw Craig leaving the area, but he was well ahead. Trail to jct, bear right and leave at knoll E of control and in. No streamer and Craig was searching on the next knoll over, so I got ahead briefly, but he passed me on the trail on the way to 15. Caught up again, but fell behind on the trail uphill to 16, and didn't see him again. Moving very slowly toward 17 and finish.

After a much too big lunch with the group at El Conquistador in Peekskill, repaired to Neil's house for a very pleasing nap. Got up slowly around 4 and headed out on round 2, the much more open Blue Mountain, starting right from Neil's driveway in the NW corner of the map. He had prepared what appears to be a 1:7500 version without trails or stonewalls. Plenty of trails in the terrain, though, and a challenge to figure out which ones were useful, and to avoid being tricked by them.

J-J caught up to me around #6, and we promptly blew #7, failing at first to comprehend that the trail we came in from was N of the knoll S of the control, not S of it, so we went one rock feature too high. Then he was running much better than I on the way to 8, and on the way to 9, too, except I was winding around on trails and he was pushing straight through, and I was able to keep about even. A little shaky coming down to #10, and found what seemed plausible if a bit small a feature, but no streamer. So we wandered a little lower. We figured out we were too low when we ran into Camilla, la ragazza di Giacomo, who had a map with the walls and trails. So back up and convinced ourselves that the first place we had gone was the right one. Then they showed me a clean pair of heels on the descent. I was on my own to wander along the trail at the bottom of the hill until I crossed a small stream and hatched an idea of where I was. Perfect! Rest was easy. Saw Guy O ahead of me going up and over the hills on the way to 13. I cut low and left and beat him in there.

My route.. To see without route, click hide routes in DOMA.

First outing for the 310XT, and it didn't seem to pair with the HR monitor properly. All fixed now, though. One weird thing that happened was while I was climbing to #9 I had a balance lapse and waved my arm a bit vigorously to get my balance back. A beep from the garmin and it registered a lap.

Back to the party. Lots of people, lots of food.

Blue Mountain Short - Splits