Race Evaluation
Golden Goat: The Goat
Tundra/Desert
| 1. | The course. After the start, Tapio said, "I know which one to skip: Number 7!" "No-o-O-O-O," I said. | ||||||
| 2. | In the crowd. | ||||||
| 3. | Syd rocketed up the spur. Next-to-last I saw of him was going up on the trail; he was already about a minute ahead, after about 600 m of the course! I followed Wyatt to this one, who was already quite a bit ahead. | ||||||
| 4. |
Confused parallel features Bad distance judgement +00:20 | I came up the ridge and stopped 68 m too early; there was no bag behind the boulder I went to so confidently. A bunch of people passed me. | |||||
| 5. | Sort of went somewhere, with Doug and Van behind me. As I was going on some random game paths in the right direction, I gradually started to get into the map, and by #5, was into it all the way. I think I was 4th at #5, after Syd and Wyatt (far ahead), and Doug just ahead of me. | ||||||
| 6. | Passed Doug. Saw Syd leave #6 and timed it. It turned out that Wyatt almost caught up with Syd by #6, but I didn't see Wyatt. | ||||||
| 7. | 2:20 behind Syd. Ouch. I was still having doubts whether to skip #7 or #8, but I did not have to decide until way up the ridge by #3. (I actually considered going straight for #6–#7, but the downhills looked too scary on the way.) I looked at the skip option for a while on the trail, and decided at last in favor of skipping #8. I gradually pulled away from the chase on the trail to #7 (Doug, Steve Gregg, Vadim, Van, ...?) I met a few people on their way to #3. Joan Roos gave me a 3-to-4-min behind Syd estimate. Double ouch. She didn't see Wyatt, so I figured he must have been off skipping #7, or went straight to #7 (suicide?) | ||||||
| 8. | Skip. | ||||||
| 9. |
Bad compass work Lacked confidence +01:10 | Farther and farther away the hustle and shuffle of the chase became, until none was heard of them anymore. Alone, met some hikers; "one ahead of you" they said. As I got close to #9, I did not see the reentrant branching off as I searched for its upper part ahead across the slope. I then went up the larger reentrant, saw a clearing, came back. Wyatt was leaving the control. I told him Syd was 4 min ahead. As I punched, the chase was rolling down from above. | |||||
| 10. | Up, catching up with Wyatt, gradually. The chase was not too far behind. | ||||||
| 11. | Just behind Wyatt. | ||||||
| 12. | Caught up and passed Wyatt just before the control. | ||||||
| 13. | Down, nailed it without much map reading. Wyatt was off to my right, so I figured if I were too far left, I'd see Wyatt punch. As I went around some bushes to the control, however, I lost sight of Wyatt (and vice versa). | ||||||
| 14. | About 48 m out of #13, there's Wyatt, stopped. "60 m back", I tell him. | ||||||
| 15. | Instead of going straight down (which was possibly better), I climbed up to the SE, and then went down the large open spur, E of the green blob. Either this was slower, or I sucked on my downhill execution, as I saw Doug coming at #15 just as I left. | ||||||
| 16. | This confused Doug greatly. Just before #16, Galina gave me a 5-min back estimate. "*," I said. "Vlad is cursing!" noted the Head Goat. | ||||||
| 17. | I left #16 sort-of suboptimally, and could see the chase coming down. Doug was at the back of the chase, whereas Vadim was right on my heels. I went up the same spur I came down to #15, whereas the rest of the chase went up the road. I was 3 contours above them, but about the same distance from the control when I saw them. About 30 seconds, I figured. Looking at Wyatt's splits, I really tanked on the uphill—a minute lost. | ||||||
| 18. | The climb must have cost Vadim some, as instead of nearly catching up with me to #17, he was at the tail of the chase. However, a surge came from the pack, and soon a runner was with me. It was Jim Waite. I went into the green, found the trail there, and followed it to the control. | ||||||
| 19. | No sight of the posse, leaving #18. I noted it could have been tricky. Me and Jim executed the leg perfectly, staying on just the right cattle path all the way. We didn't push it, though, as there was no sight of the chase. | ||||||
| 20. |
Bad route choice Did not plan ahead +00:50 | I went down as fast as I could, crossing some 3rd green in the process. As I hit the main trail, I thought about going down the E side of the spur, taking the open and then rolling down, crossing the reentrant just before the control. This plan stood not long, as after I left the open, a steep earth bank was ahead of me. I went W to the reentrant's centerline. The waterpath was dropping abruptly, leaving several 2–3 m high cliffs in the middle of the reentrant. The reentrant's sides were steep and wouldn't hold a squirrel, much less 175 lbs. I carefully went down the waterpath, taking a couple of jumps from the cliffs but mostly just slowly stepping between the boulders. As the reentrant opened up, I gained speed and soon faced the bag. It was much better to continue down from where I had hit the main trail, find the small S–N trail, and pass the green on it and come a bit back. Wyatt did that. At some point inside the gorge, I became aware that Jim was no longer behind me. No wonder—I had made 5 90-degree or greater turns while executing the leg, and he must have gotten confused. | |||||
| 21. | I carefully went around the large spur, then down and up. As I walked up, I cramped. No sight or sound of anyone, going up. | ||||||
| 22. | It's almost over... | ||||||
| F. | ... and happy Syd was at the finish. 6:17, of which, in fact, only 3:40 was on the first loop. If I had known it was 3:40 and not 5 minutes, maybe I would have pushed the uphill and the #18–#19 a bit more. But then, the golden rule is "Must have 15 seconds on Syd in the finish chute!" |
Total Time Lost - 00:02:20