I would have been terrified without cleats! There were some scary moments even *with* cleats with all the other racers trying to go down the escarpment at the same time.
You certainly weren't the only team to over-estimate your potential pace in the slow conditions. I took some comfort from seeing a number of great racers who finished late but normally don't. (I'm still annoyed at myself though.)
Yeah, I definitely regretted my decision but was also not loving the feeling of going down sketchy hills in my snowshoes either. I knew it was going to be lose-lose, and it definitely was, but I didn't want to take the time to put my snowshoes back on halfway down the hill...it was chaos!
My biggest regret is not trusting my instinct earlier in the race to go after a few lower value but flatter controls on our way back rather than trying for a couple more high point ones. If we'd navigated the last bit flawlessly (like that ever happens!) I think we would have been okay, but with time lost for dumb mistakes, we were screwed. Oh well...live and learn!
Several of us took great comfort in the fact that you guys were late too...as in, "well if it can happen to Barb, it can happen to anyone!" :-)
And I took comfort in Hammer and Tarno coming in 20 minutes late!
Hey whats up with the #alternativefacts ?? :-) Hammer and Tarno were "only" 15 minutes late - not 20. :-) But since we were 15 minutes EARLY last year we figure our average performance has got the timing and strategy down perfectly. :-)
That wasn't an #alternativefact. That was a #Bentfact. To be fair, the results weren't available yet and I never checked it. Tsk! Congratulations on your perfect average. :)
I did a rough count yesterday and it looked like around 70 teams came in late. So we were in the majority!