Training Log Archive: Mr Wonderful

Kinda sad, I did a few races with my VO24.

GoLite bankrupt

C • VO24 2

So....cold...tried pac boots, they were good until the two hour mark. Everything else was workable, maybe I just give up and use toe warmers....

Highlight was the singletrack connector between Proud Lake and Kensington. Trying to find the trail in the open woods on the east side was fun.

Unexpectedly, my closest near crash was not on the singletrack, but on the wide paved trail in Kensington. I did not see the frozen horse crap and that sure knocked my front wheel around.

w4j sprinted to the split so I idled home exhausted after.

Started slow with drills and then the kids worked me over. I feel slow - I don't have their arms or the technique. Tipped twice trying to simulate large aggressive opponents. Sure was more fun than playing on my phone. :)

Great times. Streamered many of the locations. Had to already adjust on #2, which put me behind a bit, then some adjustments later had me off pace (targeted 6 hrs to streamer a 3 hr course), then I got to one section where it was a bit of a mess - circled spot was lame, went to move it to a good spot...which was on top of a hunter blind, then the next flag was within 100' of private property which was a no go, by then my feet had melted enough snow that I figured I'd head back out Saturday or Sunday to finish it up.

Some sections are glorious. Some are not so much - I ripped my pocket a little and lost my marker, so hopefully I remember all of the clues.

So some corrections and redrawing tonight.

I should do this more often, with or without a meet.

C • Awesome 1

I have an interim foot temp solution - forget the too tight clipless bike shoes, and mash my candies with my loose fitting non clipless Roclites, single wool sock in a Meijer bag.

I do not have a solution for how to get to church while avoiding busy roads. Pontiac Trail is sketchy north of 11 Mile.

Ah...putting damp clothes back on to head out into the night....

I tried the shorter way, but still a little Pontiac Trail and Silver Lake isn't the greatest. Plus the dirt is slower despite the distance savings.

Glad to have ridden. Only 40 minutes extra versus driving, and I got over 90 minutes of exercise. And saved $4 in gas, as long as you don't count the cold weather gear I am now researching....

Tempting. Price is right for my minimal use. $250 dry suit Unfortunately no xl until end of year. But maybe the end of this year is busy anyway. And it costs less than the canoe, barely, so that seems more reasonable than the REI options at 4x.

Midweek sneak out for a little o training. Not too much, since I was lazy and just went to Huron Meadows. Good brush fighting to PP, didn't miss by much, just slow, then did wing past the next, should have paced from road, good to LP.

Then planned LP to AD but a well-racked buck was eyeing me up. Instead of scampering, he lowered his head so I GTFO.

After EE lost the trail for a bit. So many downed trees on that most rustic of Huron Meadows trails. Then I thought I should race back and hit 45:00 at my car, self-imposed cutoff, but I missed so I lose one CP.

random o thoughts:

I completely dropped the ball on rolling out facebook ads in 2014. I do have on last event to redeem myself...but a three hour score o w/ 2/3rds orange and up might not be the best intro? BUT we could do something like an 8:30 "nanogaine", where one of our trusty instructors does a very brief intro, and people could run around the silver lake parking lot for 20 minutes to find a few pin punch flags to get tuned up before maps go out.

What events for next year?

One idea was a ~summer solstice "Nitrogaine", an 8 hour rogaine on the shortest night of the year (or nearest Saturday), from 10 pm (sunset around 9:10) until 6 am (sunrise 5:55). Then serve breakfast at the finish. I would enjoy such an activity, and local parks could support eight hours, especially if you are talking at night where people are dropping in a two hour event from 10/km to 15/km. Unless Eaton shows up.

Street scramble might be fun - do it early on a Saturday so no one gets run over, then 1-2 hours, using the auto O map or similar, with trivia at each CP.

Then of course there aren't many ARs in the D anymore, so maybe one of those.

C • Shortest night O is a neat ... 2

Surge just before six mile mark was to get the "your speed is" sign up to 12 mph (which must round up a bit!)

C • Yawn 2

Night O notes

The three arguably most interested in the win were also the least dressed. Igor was in his standard O shirt but with a base layer. Coop was in a single layer. I used one long sleeve tech shirt with a short sleeve tech shirt over it.

Igor and I both taped our laces and wore o gaiters.

Rick didn't think anyone would take the road to/from 40 - he sent a picture of the woods and they are glorious, but as first-time runners we don't know, and when I was peering around the jail, the last bit by the start/finish was a little scruffy looking.

Rick didn't think anyone would shortcut the swamp from 43-73. But Igor has rarely met a swamp he won't cross, and I thought I was under time pressure after the bobble at 41 and the bigger loss at 54 so I had to see if seemed as open as mapped. The go around looked like wet feet anyway and considerably more distance.

I have to measure my errors, but sub 1:40 seems possible with no mistakes and slightly optimized routes.

I tried 3D rerun to do a 2D re run and again, this time with beautifully solid calibration, 2D rerun has the same error that I can't get out, so comparing is useless since people are running >50 m SW of actual the whole time. :( Next step might be to try intentionally miscalibrate it by the error to see if that lines it up, but who's that ambitious. Same thing as Park Lyndon.

~~~

Installed new seat on winter beater. Tried adjusting the brakes, but even at full squeeze it won't lock like my good bike. Bad pads? The guy at the shop loves his low end mech brakes, but these are not confidence inspiring. Tempted to swap to hydro, but if I put hydro and studs on this bike, I'll have so much more in bits than the bike cost that I'd almost have to buy a fancier frame not to feel silly.

C • rerun? 1

Time to take some bottles back. I would later discover I had a tailwind.

This is when I discovered the wind direction.

Event: Raid the Hammer Adventure Run