Training Log Archive: barbIn the 7 days ending Oct 5, 2009:
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Monday Oct 5, 2009 #
Note
About the rogaine:
No cougar sightings, much to John's disappointment. No idea how often the cougars sighted us. John was somewhat comforted in his disappointment by sightings of what he claimed was bear scat. I know this was meaningful for him by the excitement with which he several times proclaimed he'd just seen some bear poop. Somehow I never saw it myself, so I can't vouch for it. Not that I even know what it looks like. Ah, wait, let me google... ... oh, I think I did see some bear scat, come to think of it. I saw this on the trail, and something like this around where the blueberries or huckleberries were, and it was purple-y. I wouldn't recommend clicking on the links if you don't like looking at pictures of excrement. My, bear scat can look all different sorts of ways!
The map materials were full of useful information. I say "map materials" and not just "map" because Mr. Bone gave each team not only regular old maps but also shading-rendered LIDAR data and an aerial photo. The last two items could have been very useful in route planning because they give information that you never normally get from a rogaine information: how thick is the forest. Now this information does not jump out at the uninitiated the way various shades of green do; however, with a little tutelage (not the Kantian kind) from Eric, it was possible to understand that the unnaturally bumpy areas on the LIDAR map were places where the high thick canopy of runnable older trees prevented the signals from properly bouncing off the ground. And that the darkest carpets in the aerial photo were older forest and more open.
The forest was full of ex-roads being reclaimed by Nature. In the altitude data you could make out old road gradings that weren't on the map, which might help you be not too discombobulated when you came upon them while climbing a steep hillside. And not being discombobulated was important, so that you could focus on remembering which ghost road was the one you wanted to get back down to when you were done punching and signing and contemplating the list of those who'd already signed in and stretching and taking the photo at the control.
And then there was the map itself, which I overheard an experienced competitor refer to as the best rogaine map he'd ever had privilege of using. Eric computed the contours from LIDAR data. He added trails that went nearly all the way to many controls (this eliminating that annoying luck factor in many rogaines where some competitors find a tasty trail and others do not) (but actually getting to many of those many controls once the trail ended was often a piece of work, let me tell you); I guess he must have traveled all these trails himself so he could mark them with one of 8 or so different symbols varying in color, width and dashed/dottedness indicating their exact character and mood. And in a new innovation, Eric added little numbers (1, 2, 3, or 4) in various useful places to tell us how thick it was around there. Which saved my team from making a very bad decision to try and go cross country from 47 west toward one of the 100-pointers, or would have, if we'd even had the guts to get to 47. I like the use of numbers because it wouldn't have been possible to add area features with their self-important accuracy-implying boundaries.
Eric refers to his mapping as "open source", and in fact all of the source materials are freely available (aerial imagery and LIDAR data), and that is pretty darn cool. Mind you, all the extra work Eric put in on the map (contour-computing and trail-walking and vegetation-number-estimating, for example) is valuable and deserving of remuneration so I'm glad he was able to put on the rogaine and get people to pay him some bucks, though I'm sure the hourly rate we paid was a pittance.
I found planning our route challenging because as far as I could tell Eric was presenting us with a classic Euler's bridges problem. I always hate it when I come to that realization during rogaine route planning, and I go through all the stages of denial etc., and have to insist to myself on having a suck-it-up moment before I can proceed to decide what to do about it.
More on the whole experience when I return... But let me just add: thank you so much Eric (& Eric's crew) for the gift of this lovely rogaine to all of us participants.
No cougar sightings, much to John's disappointment. No idea how often the cougars sighted us. John was somewhat comforted in his disappointment by sightings of what he claimed was bear scat. I know this was meaningful for him by the excitement with which he several times proclaimed he'd just seen some bear poop. Somehow I never saw it myself, so I can't vouch for it. Not that I even know what it looks like. Ah, wait, let me google... ... oh, I think I did see some bear scat, come to think of it. I saw this on the trail, and something like this around where the blueberries or huckleberries were, and it was purple-y. I wouldn't recommend clicking on the links if you don't like looking at pictures of excrement. My, bear scat can look all different sorts of ways!
The map materials were full of useful information. I say "map materials" and not just "map" because Mr. Bone gave each team not only regular old maps but also shading-rendered LIDAR data and an aerial photo. The last two items could have been very useful in route planning because they give information that you never normally get from a rogaine information: how thick is the forest. Now this information does not jump out at the uninitiated the way various shades of green do; however, with a little tutelage (not the Kantian kind) from Eric, it was possible to understand that the unnaturally bumpy areas on the LIDAR map were places where the high thick canopy of runnable older trees prevented the signals from properly bouncing off the ground. And that the darkest carpets in the aerial photo were older forest and more open.
The forest was full of ex-roads being reclaimed by Nature. In the altitude data you could make out old road gradings that weren't on the map, which might help you be not too discombobulated when you came upon them while climbing a steep hillside. And not being discombobulated was important, so that you could focus on remembering which ghost road was the one you wanted to get back down to when you were done punching and signing and contemplating the list of those who'd already signed in and stretching and taking the photo at the control.
And then there was the map itself, which I overheard an experienced competitor refer to as the best rogaine map he'd ever had privilege of using. Eric computed the contours from LIDAR data. He added trails that went nearly all the way to many controls (this eliminating that annoying luck factor in many rogaines where some competitors find a tasty trail and others do not) (but actually getting to many of those many controls once the trail ended was often a piece of work, let me tell you); I guess he must have traveled all these trails himself so he could mark them with one of 8 or so different symbols varying in color, width and dashed/dottedness indicating their exact character and mood. And in a new innovation, Eric added little numbers (1, 2, 3, or 4) in various useful places to tell us how thick it was around there. Which saved my team from making a very bad decision to try and go cross country from 47 west toward one of the 100-pointers, or would have, if we'd even had the guts to get to 47. I like the use of numbers because it wouldn't have been possible to add area features with their self-important accuracy-implying boundaries.
Eric refers to his mapping as "open source", and in fact all of the source materials are freely available (aerial imagery and LIDAR data), and that is pretty darn cool. Mind you, all the extra work Eric put in on the map (contour-computing and trail-walking and vegetation-number-estimating, for example) is valuable and deserving of remuneration so I'm glad he was able to put on the rogaine and get people to pay him some bucks, though I'm sure the hourly rate we paid was a pittance.
I found planning our route challenging because as far as I could tell Eric was presenting us with a classic Euler's bridges problem. I always hate it when I come to that realization during rogaine route planning, and I go through all the stages of denial etc., and have to insist to myself on having a suck-it-up moment before I can proceed to decide what to do about it.
More on the whole experience when I return... But let me just add: thank you so much Eric (& Eric's crew) for the gift of this lovely rogaine to all of us participants.
Note
notes to self
r as meditation
fishing
what most would like to do besides with
veg
feet
food
cold
time @ controls
smooth navigation
time wasted
communication
maps
map book
art fair
team dynamics. the stages of a team.
man from Wasilla at the airport who made my acquaintance, ate my offered cookie, critiqued it, ranted about all sorts of things, and walked away in a sudden huff when I started doing the same back at him and left me with such a bad feeling I had to deliberately stop thinking about him
Microsoft engineer I sat next to on the plane
r as meditation
fishing
what most would like to do besides with
veg
feet
food
cold
time @ controls
smooth navigation
time wasted
communication
maps
map book
art fair
team dynamics. the stages of a team.
man from Wasilla at the airport who made my acquaintance, ate my offered cookie, critiqued it, ranted about all sorts of things, and walked away in a sudden huff when I started doing the same back at him and left me with such a bad feeling I had to deliberately stop thinking about him
Microsoft engineer I sat next to on the plane
Walking 1:20:00 [2]
Walking around sunny, cool Seattle with John.
I had thought that perhaps I'd gone overboard with the whole John and bear scat thing in my previous post. Maybe he was just pointing it out, like we pointed out lots of stuff to each other. But then, we were crossing a street on our walk today, coming back from the tower toward his house, at a crosswalk, and John pointed at a smushed dog turd on the ground, with clear shoe tread castings, and noted that this poop had been in little cylinders when we walked the other direction. Observant guy, John. Reminds me of that cute scientist guy in the excellent movie "the gods must be crazy", who is s specialist in elephant dung or maybe all sort of dung.
I had thought that perhaps I'd gone overboard with the whole John and bear scat thing in my previous post. Maybe he was just pointing it out, like we pointed out lots of stuff to each other. But then, we were crossing a street on our walk today, coming back from the tower toward his house, at a crosswalk, and John pointed at a smushed dog turd on the ground, with clear shoe tread castings, and noted that this poop had been in little cylinders when we walked the other direction. Observant guy, John. Reminds me of that cute scientist guy in the excellent movie "the gods must be crazy", who is s specialist in elephant dung or maybe all sort of dung.
Note
In honor of being in WA, and in particular in Ashford: I love this article in today's NYT about hiking around Rainier. Also intriguing: pay what you wish. OK, and I like this Krugman article.
Sunday Oct 4, 2009 #
Rogaining race 23:28:00 [5]
little tahoma
with john
excellent
with john
excellent
Thursday Oct 1, 2009 #
Bicycling 25:00 [1]
To school for the first junior high parent/teacher meeting of the year. This is the third year I've had a kid in the junior high, but now it's Isabel in 7th grade. People are pretty psyched because the kids this year are a great group and we won't have the same behavioral issues that slowed down the curriculum last year. They're taking more time with developing the social contract this year. There is a problem with Facebook; kids are not behaving well there.
I picked up the kids' written reflections on the orienteering trip. I can't wait to read them.
"The best moment of the orienteering trip for me was about halfway through our planned route, when we realized that we had loads of extra time. Then, just as we were strolling along, getting used to the idea, someone said loudly, it's a Friday! I was ecstatic. We were not pressed for time, and had a whole weekend of relaxation ahead."
"I think planning our route in advance really helped us out, and doing lots of activities in our group helped us with teamwork."
"My favorite moment was when we climbed up this steep hill, and came to control 110, where there was a beautiful view, a *bunch* of trash to put in our trash bag, and lawn chairs! We decided to eat lunch there, and it was perfect for that. It was like the von Trapp family came up this hill to Switzerland."
"I think the most important planning was getting to know each other better. I know this might sound sappy, but people who get along well with their team seemed more excited for orienteering."
"For most of the trip I felt discouraged because I still did not know how to orienteer. So I couldn't do anything to help my team. If it wasn't for Ben we would be half way to Canada by now."
"I can't think of anything that went well. We were always fighting, I was always getting yelled at, the adults were terrible, and we barely earned any tickets."
"I felt proud for finishing the course and it was fun to get prizes."
"I think trying to make quick decisions was a challenge. In the class we always had a lot of time to think things over."
"My high point was when we found a team control that was deep in the woods."
"My personal high point was when we finally reached P3 and we had done it all by ourselves with no adults."
"The worst moment was when Sam led me through the mud and I lost one of my socks."
"We learned to bond together and not trust Sam."
"Everything was awesome. We were practically laughing the whole time."
I picked up the kids' written reflections on the orienteering trip. I can't wait to read them.
"The best moment of the orienteering trip for me was about halfway through our planned route, when we realized that we had loads of extra time. Then, just as we were strolling along, getting used to the idea, someone said loudly, it's a Friday! I was ecstatic. We were not pressed for time, and had a whole weekend of relaxation ahead."
"I think planning our route in advance really helped us out, and doing lots of activities in our group helped us with teamwork."
"My favorite moment was when we climbed up this steep hill, and came to control 110, where there was a beautiful view, a *bunch* of trash to put in our trash bag, and lawn chairs! We decided to eat lunch there, and it was perfect for that. It was like the von Trapp family came up this hill to Switzerland."
"I think the most important planning was getting to know each other better. I know this might sound sappy, but people who get along well with their team seemed more excited for orienteering."
"For most of the trip I felt discouraged because I still did not know how to orienteer. So I couldn't do anything to help my team. If it wasn't for Ben we would be half way to Canada by now."
"I can't think of anything that went well. We were always fighting, I was always getting yelled at, the adults were terrible, and we barely earned any tickets."
"I felt proud for finishing the course and it was fun to get prizes."
"I think trying to make quick decisions was a challenge. In the class we always had a lot of time to think things over."
"My high point was when we found a team control that was deep in the woods."
"My personal high point was when we finally reached P3 and we had done it all by ourselves with no adults."
"The worst moment was when Sam led me through the mud and I lost one of my socks."
"We learned to bond together and not trust Sam."
"Everything was awesome. We were practically laughing the whole time."
Note
Packing to head off to WA for a rogaine tomorrow. Apparently there was recently a cougar sighting in some relatively populated park near/in Seattle where we've orienteered before. They caught the cougar and took it away and released it... in the place we'll be rogaining. Which is where they dump all these cougars who got too close to human populations. Great.
Wednesday Sep 30, 2009 #
Note
Why are these long races suddenly seeming so attractive to me? I went and looked up the Stone Cat race as soon as I read about it. Sounds nice. So close by!
I like how you can go relatively slow and still finish just fine.
I like how you can just go and get all your exercise for the week in one fell swoop.
I like how you don't have to stay up all night. Except for the 100k I guess.
I like going on trails.
I like how you can go relatively slow and still finish just fine.
I like how you can just go and get all your exercise for the week in one fell swoop.
I like how you don't have to stay up all night. Except for the 100k I guess.
I like going on trails.
Bicycling 10:00 [1]
CSA pickup
Tuesday Sep 29, 2009 #
Note
From Saturday's game.
My orienteering field trip hairdo with flagging tape ribbons...
My orienteering field trip hairdo with flagging tape ribbons...
