a very small turnout for what might've been the last orienteering-style Wild 100. And, as Buchness delicately put it, it was also the "worst course ever". The course checkpoints were unusual in several ways and I didn't mind a bit.
as I rode the long, mostly flat and uper gnary Red Run Trail into CP-1, I was curious why no one ahead of me was coming back out to get to CP-2. Finally, as I almost made it to CP-1, two other guys were coming back out of it. I spent a bit more time than necessary at 1 staring at the map trying to think of good reasons not to backtrack. Many other racers rolled in while I waited, all of them continued on down the trail, not back-tracking. There were at least 3 other ways to get to CP-2, and they were all shorter on trails. Looking at the map, you'd never think what I did from 1-2 made any sense. The route I took isn't even all shown on that map above. But it worked. I was the 5th person to hit CP-2, only 30 minutes behind Benji & Jonathon, and 15 behind the two other guys who backtracked ahead of me. Buchness rolled in to 2, having done a big climb that I didn't have to do, as well as a hike-a-bike. We left toward CP-3 together and both overshot it. He turned back sooner as I confidently and stupidly rode on an extra few miles, compounding my map reading error. By the time I found CP-3, I was the 9th person in.Leaving 3, seeing all the other riders behind me approaching 3, I could tell that my finish position for the day was finalized. Unless I broke something, there was no way anyone would catch me, and there were no more real decisions or trail choices to make. The rest of the way was pretty straightforward and on the easy side. Well, easy, other than climbing up Tea Creek Mountain Trail in the wrong direction... That was certainly no fun.
I opted for the Plus category with the extra checkpoint thrown in to race with Buchness and Quigley and get some extra miles to start my SM-100 training. It was a small field this year, maybe only 30-40 people overall.good news: Gil got a lot of feedback about his idea to abandon the orienteering bit, I think the Wild will remain the same, though with no bushwhacking at Forest Service's request.
3 comments:
What? No review of the "commemorative Wild 100 pint glass" and "Saturday night featuring local brews"? Interesting event either way...thanks for the education!
You speak as if you were there?
yet I did not see you
Nope, just read about it elsewhere after picking up on the event here. But if there were pint glasses and local beers, I shouldn't have to look elsewhere to get info should I? I've got relatives in Harpers Ferry and haven't found a beer brewed in WV yet that I could rave about....hopefully you've got some tips.
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