Training Log Archive: davelevine

BP: 114 / 70

No time for stretching :(

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Event: QOC Combat Village
 

BP: 105 / 66

Red (13 controls, 6.9 km, 205 m)

Actual Distance Traveled: 9.5 km
Actual Climb: 232 m

I arrived about 30-45 minutes later than I wanted to arrive. The blue course was long (10 km) and I have had trouble finding controls in the past at Combat Village so I opted for red. If I had started an hour earlier (at 11 instead of 12) I probably would have opted for blue. Considering how long it took me to finish red I think my choice was the correct one.

I took the safe approach to the first control. I cut through the woods briefly and then followed the road to the bend that was closest to 104. The terrain was relatively flat so I used my compass and headed first southwest and then south. I got lucky and spotted this one fairly quickly. I did not have to make a second or third attempt as I heard some people did.

I found the next seven controls without any difficulty. I made one goof on the 5th control. I looked at my map to check the number on the control box and thought I was at the wrong one because I read the wrong number off the map. I started to circle around but then I checked the map again and realized that it was the right control and that I had just read the number for the sixth off the map.

The ninth control gave me a little bit of trouble because I drifted off course a bit and wound up about 200 m east of the control. I found a box which is part of the permanent o-course. There are two of them marked on the map that aren't too far apart. One is just northwest of where 121 was placed. That's where I thought I was when I found one of the two permanent controls. I tried heading southwest but that didn't work. That's when I noticed there was another permanent control marked on the map and figured out that's the one that was the one I had spotted. I headed west and found 121 without any trouble after that.

The tenth control gave me some trouble. I was in the right area but I circled around it for over 10 minutes before I finally found it. I passed near it three times before finding it and even then it was with some help from someone else. He was also doing the red course. He asked me where we were. I told him. He found the control a couple minutes later and gave a shout to let me know where it was.

I found the eleventh control without any trouble. I wish I could say the same about the twelfth one but this time it was all my fault. I headed south from 11 and crossed the road. I didn't cross it where I thought I did. I thought I was at the same bend where I had left the road to search for the first control. I wasn't. Instead I was further along the road to the north and west. That's what my Garmin track tells me and that's why it seemed to take me much longer than I thought it would to find 108 and that's why I crossed an east-west stream which I didn't see marked on the map because I was looking in the wrong place. I kept heading south and east and eventually I got lucky and found it. I probably could have saved some time if I had just been a little more careful when I got to the road.

My trip to the thirteenth control began with me heading southeast and crossing a couple streams. I then climbed a hill and found another permanent control which was marked on the map. 126 was about 200 m due east of the permanent control and I found it without any trouble.

On the whole it was a good day of orienteering. The weather was very nice. I used my compass more than I often do because in many places the terrain is relatively flat and the foliage is relatively thick.

No complaints about the course but I'm not crazy about the map. My biggest complaint about it is that the contour lines are faint and hard to read. They don't stand out very well at all in the sections where they pass through dark green patches.

Red - Splits

BP: 104 / 70

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BP: 99 / 63

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BP: 115 / 68

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BP: 97 / 64

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