Discussion: You were leading the race

...by more than 5 minutes at #12 but you dropped 6 minutes on #13. Did you go the long way up to the top of the Goat Path or did you see the little connector trail? Thanks for helping to make it a super-competitive race at the top!

I took the single track trail. I think it was slower then going around on the double track.

I was wondering what you did right in the vicinity of #13, i.e. you turned in at the "Goat Track" sign, then the trail forked within 30 seconds. The left side was an indistinct, short connector of single track leading directly to the #13 trail junction. The right side climbed to the top of the hill before winding back down to #13. Some people did the climb and lost time. It's sounding like you made a slower route choice before you got to the Goat Path. ("Slower" being a relative term, given that you almost won the race!)

I took the more direct route clockwise straight up the road allowance, but it has the biggest climb on the whole course so it wasn't fastest either, even with taking the correct fork to avoid the Goat Path climb.
I think taking the Yellow trail counter-clockwise was fastest and easiest.
(Easier to see with the map on the kitchen table, not flapping around my neck)

That's how I tested it.

I took the short trail to the left in that area.

Good!