Training Log Archive: CleverSky

The rogaine that I'm doing on Saturday is going to have live tracking. The tracking site is supposed to come online at 7 AM Saturday, and the event runs from 8 AM to 6 PM. If you're bored at any point on Saturday, you can check it out and see what I'm up to (and maybe more interestingly, how good the live tracking presentation is).

http://live.enabledtracking.com/Wildcat2020/

C • Which number are you?? 8

Cooper's Rock State Forest (WV), out and back on the Advanced Ski Trail (which had only a dusting of snow, and was a little muddy). Drove to Bernie and Liisa'a house last night, then to Glen Jean, WV today, and this was a little break to stretch my legs. The signs said that there was a historic iron furnace up ahead, but it was further than I was interested in going.

The "base camp" for this 10-hour rogaine, Summit Bechtel Scout Reservation, is pretty posh. We're hanging out in a sort of cafeteria that looks like an alpine ski lodge, and it's connected to the cabin rooms or whatever they're called, that are like pretty nice dorm rooms (albeit with six bunks, but we're only two to a room). Security getting in was like a military base (I was wondering if it was a military base), and there's free wifi. It appears to be an amazingly extensive place, far more than I ever dreamed of for a "scout camp".

So this is West Virginia, the most mysterious state in the USA. You never meet anybody from here, and nobody seems to have ever been here (at least, not deeper in than about 10 miles from the border). You hardly ever even see WV license plates. But I drove right through the heart of the place, from Morgantown to Glen Jean. It looks about like you'd expect, pretty lumpy topographically, lots of hillsides that show signs of having been strip mined at some point, fairly run down in terms of the housing, and quite a few places you drive by that have trios of crucifixes. We'll see tomorrow how it is for orienteering.

C • Run well... this one wasn't... 5

Well, this was a token effort, but I won't have a good chance later. Just up the street and around the corner and back, with a light wintry mix falling. Headlamp just for conspicuousness.

Snow dealings, round 7a: my driveway. About 3" of dense snow fell overnight, and it was changing over to something wetter. I never did anything with my driveway after the previous snowfall, and it had turned to ice which had largely melted, but some was left. With rain coming today followed by low temperatures, I decided to do a little clearing, so I just ran the blower up and down the driveway enough times to clear a path wide enough for the car. It didn't get thrown very far, too heavy.

Town Forest, In The Dark. A little loop-de-doo, mostly thin crusrty snow, with a few shiny gray spots. Crossed back over the Mulpus on an icy balance beam, though the MTB crowd has put in a small bridge over the side channel. The headlamp behaved fine, after I took it apart and wiggled and waggled the wires. I think it was the waggling that did the trick.

Fractal Trails, In The Dark. Out and back to the power line, none of the really twisty stuff. Almost darker than I had planned, as my preferred headlamp seems to have developed a degree of flakiness. I thought I saw a little variation in the brightness at one point last night, but tonight I had trouble getting it to turn on, and while I was running, it was flickering like crazy. Probably just a frayed wire, so I'll try to fix it, but it's also time to order a couple of spares (they're that cheap). A bit foggy, and some slushy snow on the ground, but no puddles.

To the post office and back, In The "Dark", to mail an important document to Wyoming. The moon is just past full, so I didn't need the headlamp to see where I was going, but I kept it on (plus shoe blinkies) for visibility. It had been a rainy day, warm enough for some melting to occur, but by the time of my late night run, the temperature had dropped enough to turn all that water to black ice. A number of slips, but no falls. And some fog added to the mystique.

Hickory Hills. The surface was a mixture of gray Zamboni-quality, and slightly raised patches with an orange peel texture, and some remnant snowmobile tracks, but they weren't bad. It was pretty much the same everywhere. I don't think I've ever done such a thorough job of hitting all of the little coves. Near the end I found a smooth straightaway across the middle of the lake, between parallel snowmobile tracks, so I did a couple of back and forths on that. Chatted with a few ice fisherpeople, who reported about 8" of ice.

As I was finishing up, a few flakes started falling, and it seemed like maybe there was a hint of a breeze. So I gave the sail a try, but although it doesn't require a lot of wind, it does need some.

Seemed like the woods would be a total mess after the ice storm, so I just stuck to the roads.