Training Log Archive: Charlie

Event: WMOC 2022
 

Walk to the start. With Leslie for a bit, and then picked up Charlie Shahbazian for the rest of it. Fairly early for my start, but I’d rather hang around there than at the arena. Chatted up my new friend Fausto Fiocca from Rome, also M75, doing a bit better than I am this meet.

Race at Campo Carlo Magno. Day 4 as Day 2 had been canceled and Day 3 moved to Thursday for the expected better weather. Another frustrating set of mistakes. Started out very well, lost maybe 30 seconds at 8 because the tree with the control was at the edge of the circle, so I went to the center of the circle first before reading the clue. Then 9 and 10 were awful walkabouts before getting the last two easy ones and coming in.

1. Just along a trail, but the slight incline made me walk it. Tree just off to the side.
2. Out of the clearing and had to climb a line or two. Not bad, but had to work my way around some large fallen spruce trees. No trouble other than that.
3. Across the top of the hill, following edge of the yellow, and compass.
4. Again using the yellow to get onto the ski run and down left side to reentrant.
5. Across to ski run with distinctive boulder at the edge, and in on compass to the charcoal terrace.
6. On compass, through marshes, could see the ditch from the other side of the last marsh.
7. On compass, past marshes, a crosswise strip of yellow, and the trail. A couple more distinctive open areas to the boulder.
8. Across to the ski run saw the flag on the tree, but thought it wasn’t mine because it was not in the center of the circle. Lost about 30 seconds going up to look at the little stream in the center of the circle and then read the clue. “Tree”.
9. Disaster. First I got the idea I need to cross another ski run. A phantom. Got over where I was going, looked around and found a flag. Not mine. Then I realized I needed to cross the road, so headed over there, and got into a quite large herd of cows. Across the open and down, finding reentrants and marshes, generally working my way downhill until I found a very large rock, and fine from there. Probably lost 10 min there.
10. The pain was not over. Tried to head out toward the road, misreading direction of contours and thinking I was looking for a reentrant. The terrain kept pushing me down and left. Saw some people for a while. Eventually got to the very steep reentrant which jogged me alert. Across that, but no sense of where to find my spur, so out to the road and easy enough from there. Probably at least another 4 min.

South on the road to find the Giro di Campiglio trail on the east, then down on switchbacks under limestone overhangs to a footbridge across the river, and on switchbacks up the other side, eventually to the road at Valsinella, and back by road. Feeling quite depleted. Ran into Erik Ohlund and his daughter Freya and chatted them up for a while. He confirmed for me that Peter and Johanna Öberg are here, both coming first today in W and M 40. I had thought I saw Johanna warming up at the start, but wasn’t sure.

Out walking around town with Rhonda. Didn’t start the watch until we turned back. And then at some point the track just lost it, around 13 min mark. Don’t know why.

Sprint race in Madonna di Campiglio. Mostly pretty good, and felt good enough physically but two really discouraging mistakes, 3 minutes on number 4 and 7 minutes on #7, when I got my map turned around and just couldn’t figure out where I was right in the middle of town. And then some inferior routes to 9, 10 and 12, but kept going so didn’t cost much time. Ended up 14th of 19. Long climb up to the start, and the first 3 controls were in the forest. They went fine.

C • Buona fortuna! 2

Event: 5 Days of Italy
 

Model event at Pinzolo. 9 controls. Dennis had stitched together a course that M-J and I did. Rhonda and Leslie went together.

Walking 5 controls of the forest model at Campo Carlo Magno, with Marie-Josée. Very instructive. Veg boundaries were helpful, found the controls without incident. Black circle with central dot that we sometimes use for a cairn was a small concrete monument post. Going down to a stream bend for a control I got in a patch of stinging nettle. I was wearing shorts, a really unfortunate choice. And then I tripped and fell and rolled in it a bit, so it ended up that the worst of it was on my arms. At that point I had had enough enjoyment, so we headed back.

On the train up the Adige valley from Verona to Trento. Beautiful scenery, along vineyards with steep cliffs on either side of the valley. We’ll catch a bus in Trento for the next leg.