TT Red Middle course, 5.3 km, 55m climb, on the Hoyle's Mill 1:10000 map in Germantown, MD. Temp in low to mid 50s with chance of showers still in the forecast.
Very, very challenging terrain with subtle contours required skills I don't use as often--pacing and bearings. I did fine through the first 9 controls (I forgot to take a split at #1) being close enough to the line to see a flag when I'd gone the proper distance. Glen started before me but had a bit of an error on #1 and passed me on the leg to #2. Rick Worner passed me on the way to #3, and I saw Linda K ahead of me leaving #9.
Then I managed to mess up the bearing and lose count on the pacing. I hit rock features about where they should have been (a bit more than halfway through the 600m leg), but I couldn't identify which rocks they were. Once #10 didn't show up where I hoped it might be, I had no idea where I was, and attempted to head for the stream to relocate but it took some time before I saw something I did recognize, the house/private land WSW of the last control. By that point I'd already been out over an hour and a half, and decided to head on in, getting the last control on the way. Anyone who navigates this stuff successfully deserves to be on the Team!
I wore both a long sleeve Techwick shirt and a short sleeve O shirt over it, which was almost too warm, but I was glad I had them on the leg from 8-9 when I heard thunder and felt some rain and a temperature drop. Apparently it hailed some at the finish, and enough at the parking (a couple miles north of where I was, or less) to cover the pavement...Wyatt said you could have skied across the lot, if you had skis.
Happy I managed well for the first 9 controls, anyway! Tomorrow's Brown course won't be quite as long but will have more climb.
Route Gadget shows I was at the rocks I wanted to hit on the way to #10; I just couldn't interpret that the rocks I was seeing matched the map there.