Training Log Archive: robw

Australian Rogaining Champs at Capertee NP with Paul, 2nd
when we got the map we thought it would be possible to get all the controls with a route of approx 80k measured off the map as this was pretty similar to the ACT champs.
It was pretty hot on sat arvo and it took about 10min until we saw the first snake in a little rocky gorge which made me a bit nervous. The first 6 hours went pretty smoothly with no big mistakes despite some tricky forest with low vis native pine. At about 6pm we filled up with water and headed up on to a high plateau with big sandstone pagodas, this section was pretty awesome with the sun going down and amazing views over the whole course but also pretty tricky with none of the pagodas shown on the map, we got out of here just as it got dark which was lucky as it would have been very tricky at night.
The next section was also pretty tricky on a very steep hillside, we got the first few along here ok which was a relief but then maybe we relaxed a bit as going to the next one we realised we were navigating to different controls, Paul convinced me to take the one he was heading to and we headed uphill but it was hard to make sense of the huge gullies in this area and we spent a long time until we eventually made a decision to head out to relocate, after a while I saw a likely looking gully which turned out to have the control which was a big relief. Unfortunately this rattled us a bit and we had used a lot of our water for this section already and were no where near any more. Not long after this we ran out of water and really started to struggle which led to a few more mistakes from either not being careful enough or just not understanding the map which was a challenge for everyone.
Eventually we made it to the Capertee river which had a small amount of water which we filled up with even though it looked a bit dodgy, i was expecting to end up with giardia but fingers crossed it seems like the puritabs have worked.
This water allowed us to continue on our planned route even though we had taken a lot of time, our next goal was the all night cafe which we were looking forward to but when we got there at about 3am it was a big letdown with practically no food and only a small amount of water left.
The next section looked very steep and it was tough, we lost a lot more time looking for an open gully and then there was a horrifically steep section coming down a rocky narrow ridge in the dark. I started feeling sick here and was a real passenger, i had to put my jacket on and was just trudging behind Paul.
Once it got light i got some more food and water in and went to the toilet and felt a bit better although my feet were really painful and there wasn't much jogging going on. Paul started to feel bad not long after this and we were resigned to not getting them all and just walking through what we could. This last few hours was pretty tough mentally and physically and we made another big mistake which probably cost us the chance to win but to be honest by this stage I just wanted to stop.
It was nice to finally finish and a relief that any extra controls would have taken more than 30min so that we could finish a bit early.
In retrospect we learnt a few good lessons in this rogaine about being conservative at night, being well prepared in terms of water but also staying positive when mistakes happen.

C • epic 7

Spin on majura w tw, felt hot and the tracks were a bit gravelly which made auto alley harder than usual. Good fun though and going better than I expected after a few weeks with no riding. Did this on Sunday but AP doesn't believe that date exists.

C • 4th Oct 2

Run with grant on the pinnacle, hot and slow.