Training Log Archive: O9Man

First game of the season. Not bad, we won 4-2. I made a bad play on the first goal where I pinched like a herp-a-derp and didn't do anything even remotely reasonable and they went in on a 2 on 1 to score. I was on the ice for their second goal too but it was a 5 on 3 and no ones fault really. I kept the +/- even by being on the ice for one of our markers. Otherwise a couple of nice plays, and our goalie commended me on having a 'hammer' of a shot.

Frigid River Adventure Race

I'm guessing at 75 km. Ever seen a map with contradicting scales on it? One spot says 0.6 cm = 1 km and another says 0.8 cm = 1 km. Both were suspicious given what my odometer was reading. All in fun I guess.

'Bout 15 minutes into it I had NSAR and I bikewhacking because I didn't pay attention and take the nice paved road. Whoops. Fortunately it only cost us some scratches and about 20 minutes.

SNAFU was when my break pads seized 10 minutes before the race. TARFU was when my bike light (head mount) shorted 3 minutes before the race. FUBAR was when my bar mount light shorted in the rain. 35 km/hr in torrential rains at night with a Petzl Tikka is scary.

The Frigid River AR is notorious for ambiguous control descriptions and vague control placements. It lived up to it's notoriety! We spent too long on one control: "200 m NNW of tower, 10 m S of small trail." The tower compound was about 40 m long (perpendicular to the "bearing") so picking our starting point was fun. We actually tried form the far ends and the middle and a few other spots with no luck, sometimes going closer to 1000 m! Eventually we figured that the small trail was the road we cam in on as it continued along passed the tower, but it was more of a W bearing and also still well in excess of 200 m. We never did find the control which was a single piece of flagging tape. See my discussion in the forum.

Otherwise things went well, things were wet wet wet, but I was thrilled to learn still not as wet as my race Storm the Beach. That was nice to hear.

C • If your light's pooched 4

Frigid River Adventure Race

The morning was easier and we nabbed quite a few controls on foot which were largely uneventful. One comical highlight was rummaging through a pile of bait apples for a snack to turn around and find an automatic camera taking pictures of us.

While Bo has been orienteering for a couple of years now, he's always been in the back pack or the chariot. This was his first meet on foot. While we only did about 3.5 km, there were some mean hills and some really tech off trail work.

Bo loved calling a halt to our progress so we could look at the map, each time insisting that I unfold it. It didn't take long before he could pick out the red control markings and demand that we go to that one next. He's still developing a concept of what the map really is as Dora the Explorer's map has given him some false information. He really loves being in the woods, and I love having him.

Only on the steepest parts of the trail and a few times off trail did I carry him, maybe only about 750 m worth. But that 750 m was a solid work out for me! Man did I ever get a sweat on negotiating slippery cliffs with a squirming three year old in my arms! I actually fell one time... but managed to do some really fancy footwork to keep upright and avoid body slamming my son.

Look out AR world, this kid is going to be the best navigator ever!