Race Evaluation
Possum Trot Weekend:
steveng
| 1. | +00:20 | (I'm writing these comments a long time after the meet, and didn't draw my routes on my map, but still seem to remember mostly how it went.) Darius, Tim and I were lucky (or should I claim intuitive?) and standing closest to the NW corner of the field at the start. I was 2nd behind Darius on the trail run, with lots of others close behind. Overshot the control, after navigating the trails well, I think. Perhaps my thumb slipped and I didn't put it back in the correct spot? Don't think I was just following Darius and Mikell (they overshot too, as well as most of the rest of the pack). Mikell corrected first. I had to wait in the crowd for a bit at the control to punch. | |||||
| 2. | +08:00 | Had I been on my own, I think I would have gone to #2. Since I was in a pack, my plan was to stay with the pack. Went up the little trail to the road, and saw nobody heading up the road and a few people (turned out to be Darius, Pete Curtis and Justin Bakken) heading down the clearing. So, easy choice, don't skip #2. As I started down the clearing, everyone else peeled off up the road. Briefly considered turning around and giving chase to that, presumably stronger, pack. Think I was leading the way as we neared #2, but I didn't know exactly where I was. That shouldn't have mattered a lot with the creek as an obvious catching/collecting feature. But I was really stupid and just seemed to ignore it, and ended up off the map. What the hell was I thinking? "Oh, I'm at a creek? Well, I don't think I should be at the creek, so therefore I'm not?!"? | |||||
| 3. | Quite unmotivated after my debacle on #2. Was thinking too negatively as well. More positive(/unrealistic) thoughts might have helped get me going. | ||||||
| 4. | +01:00 | Tried to pick up my speed a bit but nothing was there. All the icy crap didn't help either; I was sliding around enough while moving slowly. Don't think I handled the iciness well. Likely could have been more aggressive or skillful, and I guess spikes would have helped too. Attacked #4 from the end of the clearing. Was a bit off and a ran towards a couple other people, and saw a control (#26 from the second loop). Punched it and forgot to check the code. So I go to one wrong control on the course and that's the only time (?) I didn't check the code. Being DQ'ed would've really sucked, but fortunately the others were saying (to each other, and to not me, I think) that it wasn't the correct code. Went back to confirm that, and found the real #4 fairly promptly (either by skill or luck). | |||||
| 5. | Straight, not climbing too high on the large spur after the second creek crossing. | ||||||
| 6. | Down to the creeks, up to the trail, by the cabins, down the strip of clearing and trail to the control. | ||||||
| 7. | Skip. | ||||||
| 8. | Straight, staying near the creeks leading south and west through the woods. My jacket sleeve lost an encounter with some thorns near the control, receiving numerous small rips. Oh well, better than my arm. | ||||||
| 9. | +01:00 | I had chose #7 (over #11) as a skip because I thought that catching up to others who were about my speed was the only thing that could get me moving faster, and skipping earlier would increase my chances of doing that sooner. I saw Pete Curtis coming into #8 as I left, and passed a nice guy (he gave me some encouragement) who wasn't too much slower than me going up the hill to the road. Think my speed after #8 was as good as it'd get (but still a good bit slower than what I would've liked). Wasn't paying attention and headed off the road down the clearing leading ESE instead of the one leading NE, and was a bit hesitant while attacking from the south. | |||||
| 10. | +00:45 | To the northern tip of the clearing, then not sure what I did from there. Was too unsure and hesitant, and/or bobbled the control a bit. Pete caught up with me at the control. | |||||
| 11. | Up to the clearing, along the fence, and in along the ride from the SSE. Pete got ahead heading up the hill in the beginning, then seemed to hesitate for awhile at the clearing. I got a bit ahead there, but he was close behind at the control. | ||||||
| 12. | Just ahead of Pete, both of us were struggling on the icy hill going down to, and then up from, #12. | ||||||
| 13. | Got a bit ahead of Pete heading up to the exchange control. | ||||||
| 14. | Was a bit slow in getting a drink and my new map at the exchange, and Pete caught up. We both took the southern road route, attacking from the smaller trails. Pete appeared to be coming on strong and had opened a pretty good gap by the bridge. Decided not to worry as long as he didn't get too far ahead. I had caught up by the control, so perhaps I did pick up the pace a bit without realizing it. Or Pete slowed down or I navigated more smoothly. | ||||||
| 15. | North to the clearing, around the buildings, and between the fence and green. Passed Pete coming out of #14 and got a good bit ahead. | ||||||
| 16. | +00:10 | Couldn't see Pete behind me as I headed down to the road. Took the clearing and crossed the stream in the forest instead of going all the way to the junction and crossing at the bridge. Had too much trouble getting down to and up from the stream, and this more than countered the distance saved. Pete had caught up again by the control. | |||||
| 17. | +00:30 | North out of #16 (perhaps I was thinking of taking the ride at first?), then east along the trail and back to the creek, going out of the way route to get to the trail/creek crossing. Pete did the same. Then followed the creeks, but not too well, and ran past the one that branched off towards #17. Pete had passed me and I ran behind him as we corrected. Sort of followed him into the control, as I was a bit unsure. Didn't have a good overall picture of its location, was seeing it as being in a mess of contours, while it was basically just at the end of the valley. | |||||
| 18. | Ended up going further south than intended coming out of #17, and as a result chose to attack #18 from the clearing to the west. Pete had taken a more northerly route, and reached the control from above as I was coming up from below. | ||||||
| 19. | +00:20 | Pete made some comment about which control to skip and paused at #18, allowing me to get ahead. I had been thinking of 22, 23, or 24 but his comment made me think he was considering #19, so I gave it another brief look, and decided not to skip it. Didn't see Pete behind me as I headed down the trails, so I thought he might have skipped #19. He hadn't, and caught up with me when I bobbled #19. I was thinking I still needed head west across another spur, and was starting to do that, but I saw Pete heading up the reentrant and corrected. | |||||
| 20. | Think I stayed low in the clearings in the beginning, then across the fence and down the N-S clearing, attacking from the end of it. Didn't see Pete in the beginning, so I thought he might have left me behind. Think he had just stayed higher, in addition to being a bit ahead. Finally caught sight of him at the end of the clearings, and caught up by the control. | ||||||
| 21. | Got ahead for good coming out of #20. Guess I got lucky and had a much easier route up the hill that gave me a solid gap. Also, I didn't stop for refreshments (didn't see the cup symbol on the map, did see the refreshments on the ground but just thought it was some garbage), and when I looked back while climbing up to the road, it looked like Pete was stopping. Headed south along the road for a bit, then along the clearing edge, by the cabins, down the little trail (cutting off some switchbacks), to the creek junction (had some trouble getting down to and up from the creeks as it was quite steep), then up the reentrant. | ||||||
| 22. | Straight, attacked from the north. | ||||||
| 23. | Headed ESE-ish out of #22 (I think), and into #23 from the north. | ||||||
| 24. | Skip -- a good choice, as Eric's analysis found that this was easily the best one to leave out. | ||||||
| 25. | North to the clearing, up to the road, along the road to the clearing leading west, down that clearing to the large reentrant in the woods. A bit confused by all the small spurs/reentrants near the control, but found it okay. | ||||||
| 26. | Had thought I wouldn't stop for refreshments, but passed close enough by them to see the gatorade, which prompted me to change my mind. Could have been a little smoother approaching the control, especially since I had already been there (but I'm not sure I realized it was the one I'd punched near #4). | ||||||
| 27. | Along the main clearing. | ||||||
| 28. | +00:20 | Dropped too low in the last part, right down to the pond NW of the control I think. Struggled to get up the very icy hill from there. | |||||
| 29. | Careless/lazy attacking this one, I just headed roughly in the right direction from a creek bend. Figured that if I missed it, there were plenty of catching features, or I could just wander around a bit on the slope and find it. Dumb plan, but I either hit the control right on, or was close enough and saw it. | ||||||
| 30. | Plan was to head west out of #29 and hit the creek or trail, then follow the trail west. I hit the creek went to follow it to the trail, but somehow missed the trail. Realized I must have missed the trail, so I headed up the hill to pick it up. | ||||||
| F. | Briefly considered trying to sprint, but didn't feel up to it. |
Total Time Lost - 00:12:25