Race Evaluation
Susquehanna Stumble: Long Stumble
TimGood
| 1. | Crossed road and noticed a group of people heading for the trail. Elected to go straight and saw in front of me just about everyone who I expected to beat me. Looked like Mattias was taking the lead until he went more R than most people wanted to go. Several people passed me along the way but all I can recall are Nadim and Dan Quinn. Followed line of people to control. | ||||||
| 2. | (D) Route to (A) looked ok but where would that leave me when I headed for (7) . Trail from (B) or (D) might be ok but climb at end looked hard. .. As if I really thought about all this; the pack went to (D) and I followed them. I was keying off of 3 brightly dressed people. Randy (yellow), Ted (orange) and Nadim (red). I was wearing my yellow shirt in case anyone was foolish enough to want to follow me. | ||||||
| 3. | (E) More following although this time I paid a little attention to the route. Down reentrant, up spur and in. | ||||||
| 4. | (C) Straight. starting to get strung out now. Line of people in front of me but I see no one when I look back. | ||||||
| 5. | (B) Straight up the hill. I think I make up a little ground using my hands to help scramble up the hill. | ||||||
| 6. | (A) Straight. | ||||||
| 7. | (7) You might think I would recall this leg since it is one of my best ones, but no. Nadim and someone else were still in front of me. Ted, Randy and the rest of the O-studs had run away. Approaching (7) I see Ted and Gregory coming back. They must have overshot. | ||||||
| 8. | (8) Ted passes me back. | ||||||
| 9. | (9) Leaving (8) Ted heads for the spur. Assume he is mistakenly heading for the window. Everyone else heads down the reentrant to the road. Ted corrects. Down road to next bend and cut in. I get confused myself and start heading for (14) Wonder why everyone is crossing the stream. Realize my mistake and have a bad route up the hill. Catch the tail end of the group waiting in line for the punch. Can't find the code on my punch card. Realize that this is not the right control. Why was everyone waiting in line for punch if not ours? Why was I waiting? Guess everyone is having trouble finding the boxes on the punch card. Pop over to correct control | ||||||
| 10. | (I) Since I only have 30 splits on watch I do not take them in this window. This split is from memory. I see no real advantage to a particular order through the window. Our group goes to (I) first. | ||||||
| 11. | +01:30 | (H) Down to trail and cut up past 2nd stream. Considered getting (G) now but wanted it to provide a rest break on trail run out. Made up a bunch of time on the rest of the pack who went straight. Up left of reentrant but control seemed higher than expected. Lost time looking low with Nadim and Ted before Jon found it much higher. Vytenis is also there punching but I think going in the other direction. Knowing what I know now, a better window order would have put (F) before (H) because (H) was easier to find running up from below than contouring from SW. Of course (F) may have been much harder. | |||||
| 12. | (F) Down and up with I think Dan Walker. In spite of my intent not to take splits in this window I still do here. | ||||||
| 13. | (G) Down to trail. Nadim and Dan Quinn catch back up and pass me. | ||||||
| 14. | Nadim and Dan Q. run away on trail, I am back with Dan W. Pass several people going in other direction. Go past (9) and Dan Q. stops to check it out. (I did not know he was mapless) See Mike Ball heading for (9) and several others making the same mistake I did earlier and heading for (M). | ||||||
| 15. | I think everyone takes a drink at (14). I am losing ground on the pack. Vlad, Nadim, Dan Q., and Neil are visible ahead but slowing pulling away. The red of Nadim and Neil keep them in sight. Down stream to road and cut up at corner of clearing. | ||||||
| 16. | Straight. | ||||||
| 17. | Straight. | ||||||
| 18. | Take a bad bearing and get to far right before cutting left to get trail. Ted passes me but goes to end and has to climb back up while I contour in. Get a good whiff of the sewer gases while punching. | ||||||
| 19. | A glimpse of red ahead (Nadim or Neil) is the last I see of the pack. I am unsure of the exact route we are taking and let Ted lead me in. Ted seems to have eased back from the furious pace he was running earlier. | ||||||
| 20. | (exchange) Just ran in general direction of finish. Ted was on his own line but we converged again before getting there. Saw Randy and Jon on the 2nd loop. Wonder why finish is not visible from way off. | ||||||
| 21. | (aide) Drink all my ERG and take a GU before heading out. Time is estimated from Teds. I left before he did but walked until he caught me. | ||||||
| 22. | (20) Thinking about road run but Ted thinks otherwise. Temporarily confused when trail we are following disappears after the jct.. Down the reentrant and in. | ||||||
| 23. | (M) Decide to go MNO without a lot of thought. Wonder now if ONM might have been better. Instead of long uphill to (M) the climb is gradual and we could run the parking lot to 24. Ted and I are running together and as is usual when we do he does most of the leading. He is better after all. | ||||||
| 24. | (N) Straight. | ||||||
| 25. | (O) Straight | ||||||
| 26. | (24) Out to park entrance circle and past the buidlings to trail. At the lock we cut up to trail into reentrant. | ||||||
| 27. | +01:00 | (P) Agree with Ted that PQSR looks good. I think I pick my window order by deciding where I want to exit and just picking a circular order which will get me there. I have had trouble with the anthill section of the map before and am certainly not going to strike out on my own when Ted is here to help. Ted is unfazed by the missing trail or the unmapped one later. Alone I might have gone for trail to W and come in from rockpile. We go straight. Get a little N of control but luckily I spot it a ways off. I knew there was a reason why Ted kept me around. | |||||
| 28. | (Q) Rest of window is uneventful. Straight with good speed. | ||||||
| 29. | (S) Down to stream and contour around to go up reentrant. We do a little synchronized Oing as we both slip and fall at the same time on the steep slope. I skip this split since I know it will be the same as Teds and I still do not have enough for the finish. Ted forgets to take the split. In fact he forgets whole bunches of them and has to get them from me later. | ||||||
| 30. | (R) Another quick dash through open woods. | ||||||
| 31. | (29) Back to having to orienteer a bit. Just a bit as we simply run for the obvious stream jct. Pass someone in red, who I think is Nadim near the control. Wonder what happened to rest of his pack. I twist my ankle a bit in the rocks under the leaves near the bag. Not enough to affect me, just enough to hurt after race is over. | ||||||
| 32. | (T) Realize it is not Nadim but other guy in red (Neil) Wonder what happened to Nadim. We get to far left and have to come back. Neil catches up and is right behind us. | ||||||
| 33. | (V) Skirt the green. | ||||||
| 34. | (W) Down stream and up the other side. | ||||||
| 35. | (U) Straight with a little bit of contouring. Tell Ted not to wait for me if he is holding back. Do not know if he heard me. Neil is still just a little behind us. | ||||||
| 36. | (34) Over the top but slightly right to miss the highest point. When we cross the trail, I say, more left. Ted immediately turns partialy left and takes off. I did not know he had such faith in me. Turns out he can see it. I would have also except that he was in the way. | ||||||
| 37. | (35) Ted takes off on the lower route. He shows no signs of dying so I doubt I will be able to stay with him into the finish. Head back up to take trail. Neil also goes trail and gets ahead before we reach it. I pass him on the trail but he passes me back when we leave it. No sign of Ted, trail route must have been a mistake since he is long gone. Get a little to low and have to cross to many ditches on the way. Punch right with Neil. | ||||||
| F. | (Fin) Wondering when to make my move or when Neil will make his. Without a trail for the final push I think I may be at a disadvantage. Hope I can spike the finish and Neil will veer offline. While scanning ahead for the finish crowd I hit a ditch which Neil goes around. The time lost is enough. I spike the finish but so does Neil and I finish a few seconds back. Surprised to find that Ted is not in yet. Maybe the trail was better afterall. (It wasn't, Ted was right behind us approaching (35) but I did not know it. He got a cramp on the way in) |
Total Time Lost - 00:02:30