Training Log Archive: PG

Head off for a ride and it didn't take long to realize that I had no energy and my back was a little unhappy. And a little more thought, and then a u-turn, and then pretty soon I was done.... :-)

Event: NEOC: Townsend State Forest
 

Off to Townsend for some orienteering. Some good and some bad.

The good --

A beautiful day.

Nice company on the drive over back from Phil (and our house is mostly hidden from the road, so neighbors couldn't tell we had a "clean diesel" car parked in the driveway).

And nice company on the drive back.

Oh, and I did some decent orienteering, all at a walk. Red course, 6.3 km beeline.

The not so good --

Spent about three minutes at the NW end of the field on the way to #4 being lectured by the landowner about all the terrible things I was doing by going on his land. He said for the first guy or two he had tried to be nice, now he was just pissed. What can you do other than just say you're sorry, didn't know it was private land? And again and again and again. No big deal, but could have done without it.

Took a fall just before #5, wrenched my back, hurt the rest of the way. Had been doing not so bad, though of course I was just walking.

Blew off about 5 minutes looking for #10, wasn't anywhere near where it was supposed to be. No big deal.

So overall not all that satisfying. Last orienteering of the year?

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One of the benefits, or perhaps drawbacks(?), of just walking is that you get to look at the map a little more carefully. And that map makes me wonder. There is what seems to be a wonderful set of contours, looks like the kind of terrain I shouldn't have the slightest problem keeping track of where I am. And yet I was having trouble. Couldn't figure out why. And even though I was walking, I didn't want to waste any time to really figure out why I was having trouble.

But on reflection, there were several places where I just didn't agree with the map, in all cases feeling that the area was "overmapped," meaning that either a contour feature on the map didn't exist in the terrain, or it existed but much less distinctly.

For example --

Control #2, I think the control was in the correct place, but there was no reentrant.

Control #5, on the map it looks like a nice reentrant, small but well defined. In the terrain, nothing. Control description should have been "in the woods."

Control #9, or rather just before it, the form-line knoll about 100 meters before it just to the south of the line does not exist. It is just a flat area.

Control #12, the boulder is OK, but the high ground you cross just before it, well, heading due west from the trail, you climb up one line onto the high ground, expecting another little knoll just before the control, and there is none.

Minor stuff, perhaps. The map is what it is and that is mostly very good. But the one thing it says to me is that if you are course setter there, picking distinct points in the terrain is even more important than it usually is.

Especially when you are using a fine collection of vintage (and therefore faded) control flags... :-)

My route, click on map for a larger image. Note that I didn't show all the circling looking for the non-existant #10 --

C • Townsend 2

C • Townsend 19

red - Splits

Old Deerfield - River Road. Good hard effort. Breeze out of the NE.

Might even go orienteering tomorrow?

Very pleasant ride with Walter, chatting away. Included a couple of miles of dirt road. Hardest part was getting up his driveway at the end.

Whately and South Deerfield, mostly a gentle pace.

River Road - Old Deerfield loop. Beautiful day, moderate effort, breeze out of the north, seemed more often against me than with me. I suppose the only way to check is to go ride the loop in the other direction right away, but that's not going to happen.

C • wind 2

Another short run. And a another PT visit earlier in the day. Neither put a smile on my face....