Race Evaluation
GMOC A-Meet (Day 1): Blue
Tundra/Desert
| 1. | Man was this a nicely planned course! And the thing is, you don't realize how well it was planned until you get back, look at other people's splits and routes, and realize that a few routes you took weren't that great, and some that looked manifestly correct were indeed, by a margin. I was 50 seconds behind Sergei on this one but don't consider this to be a loss. I had a nice introduction to the map and hesitated a bit near the control, gathering map info in the process. | ||||||
| 2. |
Bad map reading +01:20 | I did not read out the first long saddle correctly and searched in it. | |||||
| 3. | I decided to turn the intensity down a notch because the HR was already sky-high and because I didn't want to end up bouncing around the woods and not having a good time. The terrain was so slow that this tactic paid off. | ||||||
| 4. | |||||||
| 5. | I held back again right after the trail crossing, and that paid off later in the course (#12–#17). | ||||||
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| 8. | I probably left the trail too soon, a compulsive desire to go more straight than I can. Followed by Jan Urban. Around left on the trail was a good option that I didn't see. | ||||||
| 9. |
Bad route choice +00:50 | Here's where straight was best and hardest to execute. I had decided already that the woods were mostly crap, and just realized, upsettingly, that there was an around option to #8, so did the around—lost probably 50 seconds. Saw Ross doing the #15–#16. | |||||
| 10. | |||||||
| 11. | Drinking took about 30 seconds. | ||||||
| 12. | Around! I think the two routes were about equivalent timewise, so the one with the least consequences wins—the easy one. Followed Rick DeWitt, passing him at the first trail junction (on-on-on). As I dropped down into the control's valley, Alan Young was coming up from behind and catching up fast. Alan almost beat me at the Billygoat this year, so I thought I was getting some quick company. | ||||||
| 13. | The company disappeared as I executed the around option nicely. Looking at the splits, I guess it mattered a lot where exactly one hit the trail. | ||||||
| 14. | A bearded HVO guy (Declan Hennelly?) was around. I saw him again as I left #16, he was coming in. | ||||||
| 15. | |||||||
| 16. |
Bad route choice +01:50 | Here's where straight was best, judging by Mihai's split. But most everybody was protecting their reasonably boom-free races at this point, so my understanding is most people went around. | |||||
| 17. | |||||||
| 18. |
Did not follow plan Bad map reading Tired Lacked confidence Hesitated +01:35 | I sucked mightily as I didn't follow the plan. I had made up the plan on the way to #16; it was to use either of the N–S trails to get S to the NW, white face of the spur the control was on, and quickly drop in. I went straight-ish instead. Ed White was walking, gently stepping over all the crap; I was running locally around the crap and making about the same progress as Ed. Then I stopped short of the control, hesitatingly, and Ed walked past me. Grrr. | |||||
| 19. | On-in... | ||||||
| 20. | |||||||
| F. | Graeme pulled in just as I was exiting the chute. I was genuinely amazed when I saw the results—I thought low 70s for Will or William, mid-70s for Eric (rogaine). |
Total Time Lost - 00:05:35