Race Evaluation
Susquehanna Stumble: Long Stumble
peggyd
| 1. | Set out with the crowd, reading map and deciding to go to the controls D-C-A-B to minimize climb. Saw Joe B. at control as I approached; Pam right ahead of me. | ||||||
| 2. | Fairly straight. | ||||||
| 3. | Lots of climb. We went to the right of the worst rocky areas. | ||||||
| 4. | Climb wasn't bad at all. Pam still in sight ahead of me. | ||||||
| 5. | Contoured around the hill. In a long train. | ||||||
| 6. | E. East to the big trail; dut off shortly after it headed uphill. Saw Pam and Tim Good ahead in the rocks turning uphill. | ||||||
| 7. | H. Contoured around the hill. Hit a terrace right near the box line and turned to the south east. Pam missed a bit to the downhill side of the hill and I nearly caught up with her again. | ||||||
| 8. | G. To the trail junction. Tim G. cuts off on the indistinct trail to I; I think this is not the optimal route. | ||||||
| 9. | I. Down the trail to the stream bend. See Tim Good heading back to G and know we made the better route choice. I fall just before control. Pam is just leaving as I get in; I never see her again. | ||||||
| 10. |
Did not plan ahead Took a chance Lacked concentration Hesitated +00:30 | F. Head roughly straight to the control, but am not very careful. Drift a bit high and hesitate a bit relocating. See Ken Walker at the control; he seems to be heading back to I. I never see him again, either. | |||||
| 11. | Nice running down the spur and to the other side of the knob. Just as I approach the control, a guy I don't know blasts past to punch in ahead of me. | ||||||
| 12. |
No attack point Bad route choice Bad map reading Followed by others +08:00 | A bad route choice: decide to avoid the reentrant with all the rocks by going around to the left on the trails -- that's not too bad, but then I don't pay enough attention getting off the trail. See Jim Pugh ahead of me in the woods and lose my focus. Once off the trail, I am not sure where I am. Finally stop at a terrace to try to relocate. Viktoria, who has been following my every step, wonders if the thick vegetation ahead is "the green." No doubt it is, but there's lots of green in this area. I head back to the trail to relocate. We've climbed too high; I head off the trail bend just north of the line between 12 & 13 and cruise right into the control, using the line of o'ers coming out as a handrail. | |||||
| 13. | Straight. A couple guys I don't know (perhaps speaking a foreign language?) are just ahead and they are right on the compass line. | ||||||
| 14. | Down through the rocks straight to the trail. Catch the small trail that leads right to the control. | ||||||
| 15. | Straight. | ||||||
| 16. | Across the bridge and into the map exchange. Didn't take a split here. Eddie tells us we're 6-7 minutes behind Pam, which sounds pretty good but I don't believe it, given the big error on 8. | ||||||
| 17. | Up the trail. Tim Good is just ahead. I'm feeling anxious to pull away from Viktoria, so I run up the trail and push up the hill, passing Tim. See a guy I don't recognize just ahead. | ||||||
| 18. | Contour around the steep rocky stuff to the terrace. | ||||||
| 19. | Try to run up the hill, but starting to feel tired. Hit the trails and run strongly. The guy I don't know misses or chooses not to take the indistinct trail; I take it and come down the hill through the rocky knolls, coming into the control just ahead of GIDK. Eat my first Cliff Shot on the leg; it's very tasty! | ||||||
| 20. | GIDK is a bit faster; we're both clean on a straight run to the control. | ||||||
| 21. |
Ran too fast Bad distance judgement Not thinking clearly Lacked concentration +04:00 | K. I choose to go to K first in order to use the road and trail. Brain turns off a bit on the road and I inadvertantly turn onto the ride paralleling the road. Get back on the road and get to the trail. It's small but followable. When it peters out, I continue down the spur way past the control. I come to some mountain laurel and think it's the green just before the control, so I keep going to the right of it, when I see a pit and a terrace and realize I'm 300 meters downhill past the control. Have to go back up... No fun. | |||||
| 22. | M. The green rocky stuff isn't bad; find the white bits and come out onto the small trail just before the four boulders NE of the control. Head straight for the control. | ||||||
| 23. | J. Zigzaging on this scramble, but it's a trail run all the way, and downhill. | ||||||
| 24. | L. Slow in the rocks -- know that I'm tired and could easily hurt myself. Hit the trail, find the indistinct trail, and the control is right there. | ||||||
| 25. | UP the hill very slowly to the road. The road is uphill, too, so I don't move too fast. Lots of cars zoom by. I Have my second Cliff Shot; it tastes like vanilla frosting and is definitely too sweet. | ||||||
| 26. | Crawl back up to the road, as contouring through the rocky green woods to the parallel trail doesn't sound like fun. Hit the road at the hilltop, and it's downhill for 600 meters. As I approach the road junction, I see Mihai walking along the trail and figure he must be hurting. I ask if he's okay and he says something I don't understand but he doesn't scream in agony so I figure he's not mortally wounded. | ||||||
| 27. | Hit intermediate terraces just fine, but am tired. | ||||||
| 28. |
Confused parallel features Tired +03:00 | A. I think I'm north of the first rocky bit east of 26, but I hit the trail down near the ditch. I come to the reentrant west of the control and follow it downhill, but get into the steep rocky stuff before realizing there's a parallel reentrant to the west I'm in. Have to climb back up. I see Mihai punching in as I trudge up. | |||||
| 29. | B. A bit slower than I did this leg 3 hours before! | ||||||
| 30. |
Bad map reading Could not relocate Tired +05:00 | D. Straight down through the steep rocks. Hit the terrace halfway between the controls but then I lose contact. Get in the rocks again and don't know where to look. Head to the trail to come back up from below. | |||||
| 31. | C. Just like before, only slower. | ||||||
| F. | A nice run-in downhill in non-rocky woods, and the trail back to the finish. |
Total Time Lost - 00:20:30