Training Log Archive: CleverSky

Team Trials Long, Pond Mountain, 13.2 km, 500 m, 18th. Fairly epic, pretty physical, temps in the upper 80s I think, and challenging to read the 1:15000 map -- last time I try this without bringing magnification. A lot of times I really couldn't see the detail and just went to the circle using major features, and hunted around. I'm using a pretty relaxed definition of "spike" when I claim 20 clean legs. Some of the controls were not that easy to see, and I was in about the right place, but didn't spot them right away. There were only two places where I had errors shown as more than a minute. One was #7, where I got too far to the right and overshot, and when I came back to the control, I was on the wrong side of a fallen tree that took me a while to wriggle through. I also had a bad route on #4, because I had an impression that the lighter green wasn't bad based on having gone through the western end of it on the way to #2, but diving into the heart of it turned out to be very slow. The real clunker, though, was #12 (note that there's an extra split on my track, so this is what appears to be #11 to #13). I picked a route that I think was quite fine, around to the right and past #1, but my execution was a disaster. I headed off to the NE, and figured I just needed to hug the base of the slope, but wasn't paying very good attention and failed to climb up to the shelf I needed to be on. As a result, I contoured around to the right and was eventually baffled to find myself heading south. I had no idea what was going on, and even wondered whether I could trust my compass, so I tried checking the sun, but it was basically dead overhead and of no use. So I just headed NE and hoped I could find something I'd recognize. I haven't been this lost in a long time, turns out I had looped to the south of #4. The plan eventually worked, and I got back on track, but not before 12+ minutes was down the drain. I has aspirations of breaking 3 hours, but that mistake put me over. I had the next to last start, and didn't see many people out there, just Steve Tarry twice (passed him halfway to #11, and again on the way to #14), and Tom Svobodny, who I first saw at #7, and several times after that, including leaving the last control. Next to last start, next to slowest finishing result, and the next to last person out of the woods.

80 situps. I usually do these on a carpeted floor, but this time they were on a padded bench, and it was way, way harder. I had to stop a number of times.

A little spin on the Incubus, loop to West Townsend. At this speed, 50 miles would be something like 3:10. Not that I particularly think I could keep going at this speed for 3+ hours. Gilchrist Rd. in Townsend has been freshly paved, and is very nice. Maybe they'll get to Tyler Rd. soon.

Pearl Hill. I had a kind of short loop in mind, as as soon as I got started and felt my lack of oomph, I knew I had made the right choice.

With Nancy, out the pier and back to the Rochester Harbor lighthouse.

With Nancy, out the pier and back to the Sodus Outer lighthouse.

With Nancy, out the jetty and back to the Oswego West Pierhead lighthouse. Not as arduous as the one at Ashtabula, half of it was like a really bad sidewalk, and a lot of the rest I could have managed on a mountain bike. But it had its moments.

A stroll around the Buffalo waterfront with Nancy, checking out some lighthouses and stuff. Time estimated.

Around the neighborhood from our Airbnb. Very humid. (Ignore the part of the track after I got in the car.)

A walk on the beach at Presque Isle, and back on the road bike path.

Presenting the newest orienteering* physician, Dr. David F. Ellsworth, D.O., at the commencement ceremony of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine, flanked by his mother Maryanne, and his aunt Nancy.



*He has orienteered a few times, primarily ski-O, but not recently. Maybe we can get him interested again.