Training Log Archive: cedarcreek

Last ARDF practice before Mt Laguna. {Edit: The GPS track is for a fraction of the time. I didn't use it while putting out controls, and it wouldn't lock under the canopy when I starting taking the course down. Distance is about right, time---no idea.}

We used Brian's new 80m transmitters. I think it is this design, but Brian sourced the boards.

We used the full-size 20ft crappie pole antennas, so I was grumbling several times, but decided after taking it all down that our design is basically good. I would love to make some changes, though, in the interest of speeding things up and not having so many things to tangle. If you don't know, we use a fiberglass fishing pole that extends from about 4 feet to 20. There is a single strand of lampcord wire that is wrapped around the 4 foot section. You have to unwind that, then extend the pole section by section, detangling the wire after every section goes up. Then you get a set of radials, which is 3 single strands of the same lampcord, each about 20 feet long, and you attach it to base of the big antenna at a screw-on connector, and then you spread these out in three directions, at approximately 120 degree spacing. And you try to get it under any vegetation so people won't trip on it.

What I discovered today, which is probably completely obvious to anyone but me, is that you really need to slow down and put everything away nicely as you take the antenna down. When the antenna is deployed, basically nothing is tangled. Anything you do to try to get out of the woods faster is just tangling the cords, and you'll spend more time later detangling. I just methodically put everything away, and although I did not achieve perfect wrapping of the vertical element, I'm pretty happy with the result.

Finished God Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise. Really enjoyed it. It talked about "Shock Doctrine" type political battles where the disaster aftermath was exploited to drastically change things: Away from community control of schools, closing down of some housing projects dating from the New Deal, and a plan to demolish 70 acres (looked like 2 huge blocks) of historic homes and businesses to make space for 2 new hospitals, rather than renovating the one they already had. I'm basically convinced the people making these changes don't understand how much they are threatening the entire character of the city. (Full disclosure: I've only been there once or twice, so what do I know?) The documentary even shifts gears and spends at least a half hour on the BP oil disaster. New Orleans has a strong historical connection with Haiti, and Spike Lee makes the point pretty well that New Orleans is turning into "Haiti in America". The projects demolition was particularly damning. Sure there was crime there. But is the solution to tear down 1930s brick buildings that were literally built-to-last and put up cookie-cutter apartments with stick frames and drywall? In a hurricane zone? And what was done to stop the crime?---Nothing. So the demolition company got rich. The construction company got rich. It's not even clear they hired local people to do the work. So now they've got nice new apartments that are going to need replacement when they go out of style, and crime is probably going to be the same as it was before.

8 lengths of the pool.

Felt pretty good. Needed less recovery than normal, but started to slow down on the last two lengths.

20 long minutes on the stationary bike. Felt slow. Tried to push in the middle, and just gave up and finished the twenty minutes.

Gave up after 5 minutes.

Watched a podcast until everyone was ready to go.

The swimming was good, but the rest needed pure willpower, and I just didn't have any.

However, the thigh muscle is mostly healed. I had a lot of soreness on day 7 and 8 (?)---last weekend. I had to crouch down several times, and the knotted muscle felt like it was ripping fibers. Not terribly painful, but I woke up with a sore thigh on Sunday and Monday. I'll drop the injured flag, but I feel like I should take it easy for a few more weeks.

Watching "If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don't Rise", a documentary about New Orleans. I'm halfway through it. It's as heartbreaking as the first one, "When the Levees Broke", which was made five years earlier. Both by Spike Lee. Highly recommended.

Event: Odyssey Wild and Wonderful
 

FDIM and Hamvention May 17-20, 2012

Mapping vegetation at Sinclair Park in Dayton. We're having a Hamvention transmitter hunt there on Saturday, and I threw together a quick little map. With lidar contours, but not enough time for individual trees (...yet---I might get to it). And the woods vegetation---just a quick pass on the perimeter trail and lots of little 1s, 2s, and 3s on my map.

C • Hamvention 2

Strength Intervals.

Brach and Matt: 1
Stump: 0

Mother's Day

2m ARDF at Stanbery Park, set by k4bri.

A challenging course. Several interesting placements really kept the technical difficulty high. I made some boneheaded decisions. The biggest was to not take a trail on the other side of the creek, but to "hope for the best" on a hillside with no mapped trails (but some useful game trails). I would have saved at least ten minutes taking the trail.

The biggest error of the day was falling while stepping over a log. I lost balance, and landed on a 4-inch diameter log right in the middle of my left thigh, sort of where stuff in your pocket lays---The big meaty part of your quads. I didn't get up for about 10 seconds. When I hit, a whole bunch of joints cracked hard. I have a barely visible bruise, but it's like a kid hit me in the thigh with a baseball bat. It's painful to bend my leg at the knee because of the stretching of the quad. I can walk okay, but I am limping, and my left leg is sometimes unstable. (I worry that I walk like I'm drunk.)

I'm noticeably better as I write this (Sunday night), but I think it's going to be several days or even a week or more before it is back to normal. I must have tweaked my left ankle at the same time---It was pretty sore this morning, and even has some bleeding under the skin below the ankle---it just feels sore, though. Seems to work okay.

My order was 4351, and I skipped 2 because I figured I was last and I was worried about making it back.

PIcking up number 2. Interestingly, the GPS track where it looks like I'm looking for a control is basically just noise---I wasn't moving. Weird.

Event: OCIN FAST-O Hueston Woods
 

Course 2 at the 2012 Fast-O opening race.

A really tough short course. Very middle-ish, but only 2.4km. The green popped out in the last week or so, and it was tougher than it appeared from looking at the map. I usually wimp out and don't do both courses at most Fast-Os, but I figured this was enough.

Sort of a long day for me. Gotta get in bed soon.

Oh. Bought a very basic Kindle from a guy at work for $60. I think I'm really gonna like it. I'll be shocked if I don't use it. I foresee myself developing withdrawal symptoms if I get too far away from it. Time will tell.

OCIN_Hueston_Woods_Course 2 - Splits

Easy night at the gym---Fast-O starts tomorrow, so I took it really easy (except the stairstepper---I've basically got two zones for that: barely hanging on, and dying).

Finished "Bottled Lightning: Superbatteries, Electric Cars, and the New Lithium Economy" by Seth Fletcher. I'm a bit of a battery geek. I'm way behind on most lithium batteries. This is a very good introduction to lithium batteries. The chapters are short, and are mostly self-contained. It makes the book a lot more interesting because the author keeps it moving nicely.

If electric cars become ubiquitous, and all indications are that they will, then lithium batteries are going to be very, very important.

The single biggest point I took from this book is that the lithium battery failures from a few years ago really have been addressed and changes have been made. I still won't trust generic batteries off of ebay, but I feel a lot more confident that batteries spec'd by OEMs are okay. So my next question is: Should I buy that DealExtreme LED headlamp? (I probably will.)

Seth Fletcher on Fresh Air

Finishing up watching a news program. Senator Lugar lost to his primary challenger. I wonder if he will do the Leiberman thing and go independent? I first met him at a tiny festival (it might have even been a fish fry) in tiny St. Leon, Indiana. I'd guess I was in eighth grade. I remember how everyone was in shorts and T-shirts, and he was in a dark blue suit, and yet somehow it seemed like that was the right thing for him to be wearing. Weird.

And the North Carolina thing. I really don't have words for that.

Event: Flying Pig Marathon
 

Event: Ohio City Map 4 hour foot or 3 hour bike Score Event
 

80m micro course set by Dick Arnett.

A lot of fun. I got the order right, and I rarely had to wait long for the transmitter to come on. I searched for 1 cycle at 5 (SW part of map), and I overshot 3, but not badly.

I think short courses like this are extremely valuable for developing quick decision making. Also, for beginners, it really makes you focus on finding the transmitter and not being lost. I hope the training camp has at least a few courses like this.

I couldn't find the frrequency immediately when I started, so I switched to 100kHz passband and then tone mode, except I didn't realize I was in tone mode for about 2 minutes. I should use it more---it is extremely useful and actually makes a lot of sense once you get used to it.

Event: 10MILA 2012
 

Event: 33rd West Point A Meet