Training Log Archive: Charlie

Event: WCOC Paugussett State Forest
 

Very handsome black-throated blue warbler hopping around while I was loosening up in the hot tub before heading out to find lampshades at Paugusset.

C • Don't think I've ever seen ... 2

Green course at Paugusset. apparently a re-run of a course from September 2015, but I wasn't there, so the first time for me. But I've been lost at Paugusset before.

Started out cheerily enough.
1. Up the trail next to the stone wall, then between the walls and right to it, except no flag. Oh, there it is, on the slightly bigger cliff to the SE. Pretty sure it was on the wrong cliff, but no real problem.
2. More or less up the stream bed, bearing left in the reentrant and aiming for the R side of the marsh. Around and past, heading up the reentrant on the R side of the hill and right in.
3. More or less on compass. A little hiccup when I came to a bunch of bikers on a trail who were interested in telling me all about a woman who had lost her black lab. I promised to look for it. I thought I had been at the big trail, but I wasn't there yet, came to the wall before the big trail and was a little surprised about it, but then pretty easy. Stone wall, marshy stream, edge of the knoll, second marshy stream, and I could see the boulder ahead.
4. Fought my way SE to the narrow trail, a little funky following it through marshes and deadfall, to the corner of the larger trail and then off the next corner, angling up the hill and into the twilight zone. I was pretty sure I had come to the exact spot, but no flag. Almost just kept going, but searched all the hills heading south as far as the reentrant, back and forth, then dropped down to relocate off the marsh where I ran into Bill and Nellie scratching their heads on the unmapped mtn bike trail. Joined them for a bit, but decided I had no idea, so I went NW in hopes of finding the stone wall N of the control. That done, I headed south along the knoll and the large (if overmapped) cliff, to the area more or less on the NW edge of the circle, where I saw Bill, who had already found the bag. So I looked around there for a bit and turned it up, in a location that looked nothing like what I was expecting,, and if my track is to be believed a place near the N edge of the circle which may not be mapped. Lost 16:30 there, compared to what my watch said when I first got there.
5. Another disaster. I really can't be trusted in this area. What happened was that I was further N than I realized, wandering through some really big features for quite a long time until I finally found something solidly identifiable. Looks like another 10 minutes lost here.
6. I suspected this one might be hard, and I wasn't disappointed in that. Got over fairly near, found a likely looking boulder with no flag, which might be the one generally to the WSW. Wandered down to the marsh, up the reentrant maybe as far as the bigger boulder, then decided I needed to cross one more spur, confirmed when I saw Nellie coming the other way. Probably 5 more minutes lost in this charade.
7. The rest is more or less fine. Up the reentrant N of the marsh that is along the line, just S of the pond beyond it, up and over the renetrant to near the nest pond, then W to the trail following it as it switchbacked generally NW, to the junction then left on trail all the way. Saw Bill just behind me there.
8. Nice leg, NNW to the reentrant, then NW up the hill, crossing my track from 1 to 2, aiming left of the marsh and seeing the rocky knolls before the cliff and right into it.
9. Down to the top of the cliff pretty expeditiously. Oh, at the foot of a 4 m cliff. How to get down? Very carefully.
10. Followed stone wall right along the line. Got down to the area but searched a bit because the boulder was behind a rootstock.
F. A little slow on the trail.

A fine day, started cool but warming up fast.

Map

GREEN - Splits

First time in a while. Not bad, but had to charge the battery first.

W. Simsbury and W Granby excursion. Getting better. Nice to be out.

In the gym with Eric, usual stuff, plus one leg stand ups, GH raises

Dog walking at the lake. She had her stitches out first so she did some celebratory swimming and rolling around. Quite a fine day for the dog.

Warm day, and time to get a little more distance. Flirted with going further, but this was enough. Have to build up in the next 4 weeks for our trip in Croatia.

First shiitakes from the logs we put up the winter of 2017.

in the gym with Eric, more or less the usual stuff. A little tender in the R hip, otherwise ok.

With Rhonda. Her first ride of the year, I think.

With R&S at the lake. Sassy has three more days under restrictions until stitches come out on Thursday, so she was pulling pretty hard on her leash. Perhaps some sled dog genetic material in there.

Another spin around December's night o course, since the streamers are up. Drew a little blood, which makes me think that shorts aren't ideal for this sort of training.

Mt Tom Brown X day 2. Chase start, first starter of the 70+s, but behind several M-60s, including Glen, Dave Hunter, Tom Nolan, Ken Sr.

1. Felt rather slow on this, from the remote start triangle I immediately started heading up the wrong trail, fortunately corrected after only a few steps, then around the pond on the trail to where the trail bent east and up the reentrant. Very surprised to see Ken arriving from the SE a bit ahead of me.
2. A little behind and to the R of Ken, but more or less keeping an eye no him, around the left side of the marsh, sloshing through the stream because I didn't see any reasonable rocks to hop on, then easy up on top of the hill, getting closer to Ken.
3. Ken more or less disappeared on this leg, although I caught glimpses a few times. More or less straight on the line until I picked up the trail on top, took the trail to the end of the marsh and then around the hill with cliffs on the right and on compass. Glad to see the rock up ahead. Ken and Dave Hunter were in sight, but a ways in front.
4. NE to the big trail, cut the corner at the junction. Ken and Dave only intermittently in sight on the trail run E, maybe 75 M ahead, but then when I cut in to the woods got closer, and not all that far behind at the control.
5. A little awkward down the cliffs to the water stop.
6. Dave was in front, headed too far left and never saw him again. Ken was a little further R and in front, we converged near the control.
7. On compass, trying to go straight. On the way across the sideslope passed the dot knoll with a flag on it and the little reentrant after. Crossed the stream and saw Ken going too high and to the left. I was maybe a line high myself, but no problem running down into it.
8. Obviously would have been better to go straight. I went just right of the line under the cliffs 2/3 of the way there, and then turned up the reentrant expecting to see it. I just didn't go far enough and then started wandering. Really dumb. I ended up going back and forth, wandering down into big rock features down to the SE. It was all complicated by a black smear on the map right over the circle. Didn't figure out until later that it was just magic marker on the plastic, easily rubbed off. 14 minute error, as it turned out! Anyway kept coming back to the same place and finally realized it was further up the reentrant and got it. Yikes!
9. Fortunately recovered my equilibrium, headed up the reentrant a bit and then across the big sidehill to the second big reentrant. Up that, maybe not quite high enough, but climbed up on top and then it was easy to keep going up and get to it.
10. Looked at the complex straight route, trail to saddle to sidehill, etc. and decided to duck out to the road instead. Up the reentrant to my right to the top of the ridge, found the little trail segment to get down the other side, then out to the road. Long slog on the road to cut in and angle toward the trail and the reentrant. Couldn't see the cliff at first because it was tucked around, but easy enough.
11. Up to the trail, down the trail that goes down the reentrant.
F. Thinking about Ken's fast finish of yesterday, kicked it up a notch.

So a mostly excellent run with one real stinker. Still first in M-70, so that's pretty fine. Didn't get hurt, so a real win there. Standing around after in the rain waiting for maps I got chilled enough that it was hard to start the car with fingers that cold. Ran the heat on high until G&L came back.

Map and route.

C • Mt Tom 3

BrownX2 - Splits