Training Log Archive: GlenT

Extreme-O at Mistletoe SP, Short course as a team with Janet. Nominally 7.7km. Cold (upper 20s when we started, low 30s when we were done) but bright and sunny. Start and finish at the beach house, the same place we were the last two days for the Navigator Cup.

First three controls were on a simple park map along the lake shore, ending on an island (actually connected by land since the lake level is low). Several bags were hung on the island, so we had to search for the correct one. The next leg followed the lakeshore for about 500m where we picked up a map for the next two controls showing only the area near the control circles. Three controls following an azimuth, although the third involved sighting the control across the lake and needing to follow the lakeshore around to get to it. Four controls on a short corridor using a 1:2500 map with 1m contours. Then a leg on a map with no contours to a "bridge" (actually a log across a gully with the control flag hung on a rope halfway across). Three controls using an aerial photo (overlapping some with the no-contours map, so we knew where trails were). Next two were points plotted from grid coordinates (although with the control descriptions no actual plotting was needed). From here we followed a streamered route into a very large gully, then followed the gully, picking up 4 puzzle pieces which were a photo of our next control location. At one point along the gully we had a choice of climbing a 2m vertical cliff or climbing up the steep side of the gully (~5m) to get around the cliff - we did the around route. In addition to being muddy, the gully had some "puddles" which apparently were up to waist deep - I accidently checked out a knee-deep one. Short leg to the building shown in our puzzle photo where we got a sheet with 6 more photos (4 were actually from the park) which had to be followed in sequence to get to the next control. The map there showed our final two controls, to be done from memory (pretty simple - follow the road, then head down hill and follow a streambed to a marsh by the lake. And then just 400m to the finish, but with a catch. We were given a wire tie which we had to fasten loosely around a rope and then follow the rope holding on to the wire tie. The rope went under a couple of tarps spread over the marsh and then under a log spanning a knee deep water channel. The marsh would have been muddier had it not been partially frozen. And the water was pretty darn cold. Fortunately this part of the adventure was planned to be at the end.

Nice job by the crew who organizes the Extreme-O event. Thanks to all of them who planned the event and then spent several hours out in the cold making sure we all got through it safely.

Georgia Navigator Cup - Classic Distance at Mistletoe SP - Red course (7.6k straight line, 180m). Northern part of park with somewhat more open woods than yesterday in the southern part, so pretty fast running. Cold with temperature in the 30s but sunny.

Much better run than the last two days. Small errors on 5 controls of 1-2 minutes each - most were in or near the circle and involved actually finding the feature and/or bag after successfully getting close. Bags in ditches or depressions required being nearly on top of them to see them. 3rd in M45 for the day, 3rd overall in M45 (based on best 2 of 3 using scores scaled relative to winner's time). Another well organized event by the Georgia club - thanks to all the volunteers.

C • Tough guy 2

Red Sunday - Splits

Georgia Navigator Cup - Classic Distance at Mistletoe SP - Red course (7.1k straight line, 190m). Map was 1:10000 with 3m contours. Similar to yesterday with gullies and ditches as significant features but also some rock features (including boulders >1m). Some regions of mapped white woods were somewhat junky (light light green?) and had reduced visibility.

Struggled a bit with the navigation, especially on the first three controls (18 minutes to the first control, 200m - passed nearby 3 or 4 times but just didn't see the "1m" rootstock). Misread the terrain on controls 2 and 3. Regrouped and did OK for the rest of the course with small misses on 8 and 12, both of which were smallish features in reduced visibility areas. 20+ minutes of error. 5th of 9 or 10 in M45, somewhere in the middle of the pack overall on Red.

Red Saturday - Splits

Event: Georgia O-Fest 2018
 

Georgia Navigator Cup - Middle Distance at Hard Labor Creek SP - Red course (4.4k straight line, 120m). Map was 1:10000 with 3m contours. Warm (upper 50s) but raining, which made the footing on steep slopes slippery. Somewhat open woods but both runnability and visibility impacted in the areas mapped as light green (30-40% of the map). Key navigation features are ditches and gullies. Saw one feature (twice) in the terrain which didn't seem to be on the map - of course both times I saw it I wasn't exactly sure where I was, but I can't find anything on the map that looks like how I would expect it to be mapped.

An OK run through the 5th control but then lost the ability to use my compass (operator error, not equipment failure). Crossed one rather steep sided reentrant unnecessarily heading to 6 (4-5 minutes), totally missed on the 150m leg to 7 (4 min) and swung wide then lost contact going to 8 (another 4 minutes). OK the rest of the way in except for small misses on 11and 13. Second in M45, way behind Balter, in a field of about 6.

Red Middle distance - Splits

Getting moving again. Lower legs still a little sore from racing. About 40F.