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Saturday Jul 11, 2015 #
Event: CNYO's 25th Annual ROGAINE
Orienteering race (Rogaine) 23:50:37 [3] *** 64.0 km (22:21 / km)
28c rhr:1 slept:3.0 shoes: BrooksCascadia 5
Central New York Orienteering 24-hr rogaine, Finger Lakes National Forest, just north of the line between Ithaca and Watkins Glen.
Teamed up with Mladen Kolar, who until recently was regularly attending the local western Pennsylvania orienteering meets, and we named our team Raccoongainers. Mladen was traveling in Croatia (Europe), and took three airplanes to reach Ithaca. And he did his travels in Europe carrying all his rogaining gear with him because he had no time to stop home to pick it up on his way back to the US. Mladen and I had previously teamed already two years ago, along with KJ from NEOOC, for that year's CNYO rogaine in nearby Connecticut Hill. In addition, Mladen participated at last year's rogaine in South Dakota.
Friday toured the campus of Cornell University. Interesting architecture of buildings and landscaping, rich in architectonic features, with many opportunities for an interesting Sprint-O. On the north side of Olin Library, the building is only one floor, and an outdoor stairway allows pedestrians to reach the roof of this one-floor side of the building, and acting as a viewing terrace, take a seat on one of the benches and admiring the view of the campus quad below. How can this pedestrian passageway look on an orienteering map? other buildings offer lots of canopies, inner courtyard gardens, nicks and crannies.
Dinner at Saigon Kitchen, and walk around the corner of State and Cayuga, seems to be the center of night-time activity in this town.
Saturday morning on the motel parking lot, get recognized by Francis Boscoe from HVO, with whom I traveled together to the Ellicottville mini-rogaine a few years ago. We also have a common acquaintance in Pittsburgh. Small world. How coincidental to have people from all the region, and converging to the same parking lot. He's holding on his hand a map of an earlier rogaine held on the same venue. It's almost all yellow. He mentions cow pastures and barbed wire. It's like a warning to what is to come.
At 10 AM meeting, we hear a long list of safety tips, concerns, corrections. And we hear about cows, young mothers over-protecting their calves, and bulls. And about how cows will follow your headlights at night.
During our planning stage, we thought of doing a fast walk/run without packs to grab a cluster of nearby controls, a strategy that Speedy Goats did two years ago. 34-44-64-43-52-77-53. But then we changed our minds and went for a more conventional strategy. Go north, bag as much as possible in the first 14 hours, and rest at the hash house, and then use the remaining time for the southern part.
Going counter-clockwise, we followed a crowd, and started bagging the controls. We had trouble finding 75, and the Canadians ultra-veteran rogainers with their inseparable mascot showed us greenhorns on how its done and revealed to us its location.
What followed was mostly an asphalt power-walking mode of moving, occasionally broken by the grassy field pasture and its associated barbed wire climbing. Bright sunny sky and SPF 50 at work here.
Our first encounter with cows that was somewhat problematic, was at control 70. We noticed that the cattle was all clustered right where the control was. Not having the guts that team Run Like A Girl reported in their direct approach to walk right next to the standing ruminants, we started climbing the barbed wire fence with the intention of approaching the control from the non-cattle area, but it was not necessary, as the leader of the pack convinced the herd to move away, in a somewhat soft stampede. All the benefit to us.
A few curious encounters so far: a self-service farm stand, with signage informing of lapin for sale. The movie by Michael Moore, Roger and Me, comes to mind. And a guy named Brad searching for cow skulls. And later, in the night-time, we would meet a couple of cooners. Who said in rogaining one doesn't meet interesting people ? otherwise, the encounters with people were pretty rare, and in some instances we were the only show on town for two girls on a bicycle, and the monotony randomly interrupted by the sudden appearance of a 19th century mode of transport, and thoughts on rural architecture and design.
After the waterstop at 29, darkness, and in darkness, we ended up finding only 4 controls: 48-28-68-67. We did not attempt to find control 56, partly because of the warnings on its overgrown vegetation mentioned during the briefing. At around 2 AM, we tried finding the creek feature of control 54 was located, but were perplexed in not finding it. After a second pass and less-risky attackpoint, and failure again, we got frustrated and abandoned. In darkness, we were weak at finding things. With legs and feet tired, and Mladen reporting blisters, we headed in direction of the hash house. We initiated the approach to control 46 from the road, but legs and feet and will just wasn't there, and after 100 meters in the wet ground and somewhat thick vegetation, chose to not pursue. A living with of couches and televisions seemed more attractive now. And choices are made accordingly.
And so we retreated. And painfully headed the hash house, and with yards from the entrance to the campground, passed by a resolute marching duo that called themselves Run Like a Girl, donning powerful headlamps with glaring white light, compared to our dimming flaky weak lamps.
Broken and seeking repair, we got comforted by one of the Speedy Goats now in the role as a volunteer chef, and somewhat restored, we headed to our vehicles and slept. It's 3:30 AM. For how long the sleep was planned for, we did not discuss. The future and the rest of competition time looked bleak.
Sunlight, the chirping of birds, and the noise of passing vehicles woke me up. A quick look at my watch: 6:47 AM. With small body movements, extracted myself from the vehicle shell, and started testing my body and walked around bits and pieces. Seemed all right, and had that good early morning energy, that felt like walking again. I reach my partner's vehicle, and I see he's deep asleep. I tap on the side window glass. He's not waking up. Now I see that he's wearing blue foam earplugs. I decide to leave him in his dreams, and return to the inside of my vehicle, and decide to catch a few dreams myself. At 7:30 AM, we up again, and decide it's time. This time decisively wake up the partner, and present the plan. He's in.
At 8:15 AM, we set out for the second half. Walking slow and leisurely. Admiring flowers and the beauty of Nature. Thinking about the greater purpose in life, rather than finding these funny-looking orange-and-white flags in the woods, an arcane hobby of a quirky few. The air is cool, the sun is of that morning light quality, and the day is new. A new future is ahead, and we continue ahead optimistic.
For the southern part, we go for 31-21-78-42-64-44-34. For the turnaround, we chose 78. Time left at finish: 9 minutes.
Dry socks and shoes, clean clothes, and lunch await us. Socializing with fellow rogainers, donning T-shirts from past rogaining events, some dating to 20 years earlier. With the parking area now almost devoid of vehicles, Mladen and I part away. Yet another twentyfourhourer accomplished, yet another rogaining map to be framed and hanged on the living room wall.
[Our route, super-imposed over the map and route of team Run Like a Girl].
GPS track:
Northern route, going counter-clockwise, last 2 hrs the first GPS crapped out and the second GPS mysteriously didn't record
Southern route, going clockwise
Looking at the GPS track, noticed that the circle of control 28 seemed a bit more north than it should be. Wondering if others had noticed something similar in their GPS track.
Teamed up with Mladen Kolar, who until recently was regularly attending the local western Pennsylvania orienteering meets, and we named our team Raccoongainers. Mladen was traveling in Croatia (Europe), and took three airplanes to reach Ithaca. And he did his travels in Europe carrying all his rogaining gear with him because he had no time to stop home to pick it up on his way back to the US. Mladen and I had previously teamed already two years ago, along with KJ from NEOOC, for that year's CNYO rogaine in nearby Connecticut Hill. In addition, Mladen participated at last year's rogaine in South Dakota.
Friday toured the campus of Cornell University. Interesting architecture of buildings and landscaping, rich in architectonic features, with many opportunities for an interesting Sprint-O. On the north side of Olin Library, the building is only one floor, and an outdoor stairway allows pedestrians to reach the roof of this one-floor side of the building, and acting as a viewing terrace, take a seat on one of the benches and admiring the view of the campus quad below. How can this pedestrian passageway look on an orienteering map? other buildings offer lots of canopies, inner courtyard gardens, nicks and crannies.
Dinner at Saigon Kitchen, and walk around the corner of State and Cayuga, seems to be the center of night-time activity in this town.
Saturday morning on the motel parking lot, get recognized by Francis Boscoe from HVO, with whom I traveled together to the Ellicottville mini-rogaine a few years ago. We also have a common acquaintance in Pittsburgh. Small world. How coincidental to have people from all the region, and converging to the same parking lot. He's holding on his hand a map of an earlier rogaine held on the same venue. It's almost all yellow. He mentions cow pastures and barbed wire. It's like a warning to what is to come.
At 10 AM meeting, we hear a long list of safety tips, concerns, corrections. And we hear about cows, young mothers over-protecting their calves, and bulls. And about how cows will follow your headlights at night.
During our planning stage, we thought of doing a fast walk/run without packs to grab a cluster of nearby controls, a strategy that Speedy Goats did two years ago. 34-44-64-43-52-77-53. But then we changed our minds and went for a more conventional strategy. Go north, bag as much as possible in the first 14 hours, and rest at the hash house, and then use the remaining time for the southern part.
Going counter-clockwise, we followed a crowd, and started bagging the controls. We had trouble finding 75, and the Canadians ultra-veteran rogainers with their inseparable mascot showed us greenhorns on how its done and revealed to us its location.
What followed was mostly an asphalt power-walking mode of moving, occasionally broken by the grassy field pasture and its associated barbed wire climbing. Bright sunny sky and SPF 50 at work here.
Our first encounter with cows that was somewhat problematic, was at control 70. We noticed that the cattle was all clustered right where the control was. Not having the guts that team Run Like A Girl reported in their direct approach to walk right next to the standing ruminants, we started climbing the barbed wire fence with the intention of approaching the control from the non-cattle area, but it was not necessary, as the leader of the pack convinced the herd to move away, in a somewhat soft stampede. All the benefit to us.
A few curious encounters so far: a self-service farm stand, with signage informing of lapin for sale. The movie by Michael Moore, Roger and Me, comes to mind. And a guy named Brad searching for cow skulls. And later, in the night-time, we would meet a couple of cooners. Who said in rogaining one doesn't meet interesting people ? otherwise, the encounters with people were pretty rare, and in some instances we were the only show on town for two girls on a bicycle, and the monotony randomly interrupted by the sudden appearance of a 19th century mode of transport, and thoughts on rural architecture and design.
After the waterstop at 29, darkness, and in darkness, we ended up finding only 4 controls: 48-28-68-67. We did not attempt to find control 56, partly because of the warnings on its overgrown vegetation mentioned during the briefing. At around 2 AM, we tried finding the creek feature of control 54 was located, but were perplexed in not finding it. After a second pass and less-risky attackpoint, and failure again, we got frustrated and abandoned. In darkness, we were weak at finding things. With legs and feet tired, and Mladen reporting blisters, we headed in direction of the hash house. We initiated the approach to control 46 from the road, but legs and feet and will just wasn't there, and after 100 meters in the wet ground and somewhat thick vegetation, chose to not pursue. A living with of couches and televisions seemed more attractive now. And choices are made accordingly.
And so we retreated. And painfully headed the hash house, and with yards from the entrance to the campground, passed by a resolute marching duo that called themselves Run Like a Girl, donning powerful headlamps with glaring white light, compared to our dimming flaky weak lamps.
Broken and seeking repair, we got comforted by one of the Speedy Goats now in the role as a volunteer chef, and somewhat restored, we headed to our vehicles and slept. It's 3:30 AM. For how long the sleep was planned for, we did not discuss. The future and the rest of competition time looked bleak.
Sunlight, the chirping of birds, and the noise of passing vehicles woke me up. A quick look at my watch: 6:47 AM. With small body movements, extracted myself from the vehicle shell, and started testing my body and walked around bits and pieces. Seemed all right, and had that good early morning energy, that felt like walking again. I reach my partner's vehicle, and I see he's deep asleep. I tap on the side window glass. He's not waking up. Now I see that he's wearing blue foam earplugs. I decide to leave him in his dreams, and return to the inside of my vehicle, and decide to catch a few dreams myself. At 7:30 AM, we up again, and decide it's time. This time decisively wake up the partner, and present the plan. He's in.
At 8:15 AM, we set out for the second half. Walking slow and leisurely. Admiring flowers and the beauty of Nature. Thinking about the greater purpose in life, rather than finding these funny-looking orange-and-white flags in the woods, an arcane hobby of a quirky few. The air is cool, the sun is of that morning light quality, and the day is new. A new future is ahead, and we continue ahead optimistic.
For the southern part, we go for 31-21-78-42-64-44-34. For the turnaround, we chose 78. Time left at finish: 9 minutes.
Dry socks and shoes, clean clothes, and lunch await us. Socializing with fellow rogainers, donning T-shirts from past rogaining events, some dating to 20 years earlier. With the parking area now almost devoid of vehicles, Mladen and I part away. Yet another twentyfourhourer accomplished, yet another rogaining map to be framed and hanged on the living room wall.
[Our route, super-imposed over the map and route of team Run Like a Girl].
GPS track:
Northern route, going counter-clockwise, last 2 hrs the first GPS crapped out and the second GPS mysteriously didn't record
Southern route, going clockwise
Looking at the GPS track, noticed that the circle of control 28 seemed a bit more north than it should be. Wondering if others had noticed something similar in their GPS track.