Training Log Archive: RLShadow

Actually a combination of a dog walk and a "pre-mapping" visit to Genesee Valley Park, one of the parks that we're planning on totally re-mapping.

I mainly wanted to get a feel for what areas that are currently mapped we want to have on the new map vs what areas that are currently mapped it might not make sense to have on the new map. For example, the golf course, since I'm assuming we're prohibited from using it for orienteering, just like in Durand. Even today, there were quite a few golfers out, so scheduling a meet very early in the spring or late in the fall isn't a way of making sure there are no golfers to contend with.

If we absolutely can't use the golf course (which I'm pretty sure is the case), then it might not make sense to map some of the small areas alongside the golf course, which we'd have access to but are fairly small and not that interesting by themselves.

Also, if the map is mainly a Sprint map, the map would be way too big to fit on a reasonable sized piece of paper if we were to include everything that is currently mapped. Not to mention that there's no way that a sprint-distance course could venture that far south.

On the other hand, the area on the NW side of the Genesee River (where the ice rink, swimming pool, and tennis courts are) is probably worth mapping. It's about the same size as the currently-mapped portion of the park that is north of the canal.

My GPS (the latest "new" one, from about a month ago) continues to mis-behave. The main issue with this one is a new one, relative to previous ones. It spontaneously likes to turn itself off. One thing that nearly always causes it to go off is putting it on my wrist. It'll be on, having acquired satellites, then I go to put it on, and I find that it's off. I can turn it on and it will be fine, for a while, then something else (not involving pushing the on off switch) perturbs it and it's off again. This must have happened around 8 times today. I used the time and distance from the club GPS that I was carrying.

Plus, I just noticed that although the 205 says I went around 5.7 miles, it only has a track that is from the last time it spontaneously went off until I got back to the car.

Indoor pickleball at the rec center. Around 12-14 people. Overall, I played about as bad as I've played in a while. Not the most enjoyable day. Next time will be better, I'm sure.

Whiting Road. Mainly checking out trails that had been mapped as indistinct to see which ones should come off of the map. The need to do this came up as a result of the Trail Challenge, where one potentially very important indistinct trail was essentially non-existent where it was supposed to intersect with Whiting Rd. It caused lots of the people in the race, myself included, major problems, because once at where the trail was supposed to be, there was no easy alternate way. I felt particularly bad because Rob S. asked me prior to the race (we could see our maps before the start) about that trail and whether it would really be passable, and I assured him that it would be!

It turns out, based on my outing today, that the trail really does exist still, EXCEPT for about 15-20 meters closest to Whiting Rd. Since the vegetation is very nasty in this section (at a minimum medium green), with the trail non-existent, there was really no reasonable way to navigate from Whiting Rd to where the trail really did exist.

Several other indistinct trails need to be taken off of the map totally or else shortened. In several other cases, the trail exists but no longer intersects the blazed trail.

In one case, though, a mapped indistinct trail got "promoted" to a regular trail.

Also, two new or semi-new maintained trails weren't on the current map, and I now have them mapped.

A discouraging thing is that the vegetation mapping really needs to be improved. In some cases, it's because it has actually changed, due to clearing of brush by the town, or just from changes over time. In many other cases, though, I just didn't do a real consistent job of mapping it in the first place. Mapping trails is easy compared to accurately mapping vegetation, which is why this observation is so discouraging.

Webster Rec Center. Six people -- Cheryl, Jayne, Robin, Dwight, Mike S. but only for 2 games, and me.

Tues afternoon drop-in pickleball at the Rec Center. 12 people at the max.

Mid day walk. Cool (37 deg) but not that windy so it was reasonably pleasant.