Training Log Archive: jjcote

Billygoat XXIX, with Stephen. Going at his speed, I was able to come pretty close to a perfect run, with just one little hiccup at #18 (the way it was mapped was a little sketchy). Glad to have Stephen along, because a couple of times he spotted flags before I did. And our training program paid off, with an outstanding run by that little guy. I'm very proud of him.

C • Stephen's race 8

A new personal record for close calls: on the Mass Pike going home, we were cresting a hill when the cruise control started acting up, with the engine repeatedly losing power for a few seconds, then recovering. Took it out of cruise, and it kept happening, and I suddenly realized WE'RE OUT OF GAS! With the busy weekend, I had completely spaced out on looking at the fuel gauge. This was around the highest point on the Pike, and I threw it into neutral and let it idle as we coasted downhill. Verified that Nancy had AAA, and then we went by a sign that read "Entering Blandford". Blandford? Umm... I'm pretty sure there's a Blandford service area! Pulled over into the breakdown lane, put on the flashers, and drove at 40 mph in 5th gear, went by a sign saying 2 miles to service area, kept babying it along, we could see the big McDonald's sign on a pole up ahead, got to the off ramp, and rolled up to the pumps. They were all occupied, so I shut off the engine while we waited, and when I started it back up, the engine woud run, but there wasn't enough gas to actually put it in gear without stalling, so I jumped out and pushed it the remaining 4 or 5 meters to the pump (with the help of a bystander). Whew!

C • Out of gas in an endurance race 3

Billygoat XXIX - Splits

Event: Billygoat
 

Sprint 1 at the BG Sprints, Camp Pinnacle. Ugh. Somewhat rainy, very sloppy. Tried taking woods routes, in part to see what the woods were like so I'd know for tomorrow, but they were a little thick and decidedly wet, and I did a poor job of keeping a good line through them.

Sprint #2 at the BG Sprints, Camp Pinnacle. Bad compass work on #2 and #3 caused slight misses, but then I settled down and the rest was fine.

Sprint 1 - Splits

Sprint 2 - Splits

Wanted to do something today, and by the time I got around to it, this was all I could get up the motivation for. I'm, uh, tapering for the Billygoat. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, it seems like maybe the eccentricity problem on the rollers has gotten worse, because it looked like the axle was rocking back and forth to the tune of nearly an inch (which, needless to say, didn't make riding easy). Some of that may have been due to the tire needing a bit of air, which made it bouncier than it should have been. I can detect a bit of unevenness in the rear rollers when I spin them and hold a thumbnail against them, but it's surprising how much that translates to in terms of the effect of a wheel that's rolling on them (although if I sat down and did the math, it probably wouldn't be so surprising).

I was signed up for a CSU sprint event tonight, but the mass start was scheduled for right about when a nasty line of thunderstorms swept through the area, and I didn't need an orienteering fix bad enough to go out in pounding rain at <50F. So I skipped it. I'll be interested to see how many people (if any!) actually showed up.

C • not so many 8

Trails on Throne Hill with Nancy and Stephen, letting him lead the way and set the pace. We were moving along at a pretty good clip for a while, then gradually tapered to a walk, as he got more and more interested in which way the car was. Didn't have a trail map with us (if such a thing even exists), and after starting at the top of Rockwood, we wound up down at Vose.

C • Youngest!! 8

Running back to the car, then picked up Nancy and Stephen who were walking back (and had made it a good fraction of the way).

C • Have you seen this video? 2