CNYO SNOWGAINE-99 20-21 February 1999

SNOT Team (The Dominies) Postmortem

All right you bozos. After sitting down, accurately measuring, counting pts., etc., of what Barb & I did (team #6 - SNOT) and comparing what we SHOULD have done it looks like we actually did much better then the rest of youse! The following is what we actually did for each day followed by what we should have done--

Day 1: 37, 18, 35, 19, 31, 27, 17, 32, 38, 39, 28, 34, 26, 16, 14, 12.
Decided to ski by skating the whole thing (since even the woods were very "solid") & to do the south (flatter area) figuring we could cover more ground with fewer hills & more trails to rely on for skiing. As well we decided to head down along the west side so we could come back up along the flattest & widest road (Bargy Road, the snowmobile trail "up the middle") on our way home when we'd be the most tired. The idea was sound but we (all right, I) over extended us early by going too far west and not leaving enough time to get everything in the south after Barb started to physically break down. Our order of attack (unfortunately we didn't keep our splits between controls so we'll wait for Bob/Wendy to make them available):

• #37 - Wide roads all the way to warm up skiing rhythm
• #18 - Part narrow trail, part woods (down, mostly). OK but Barb not super comfortable with this form of bushwhacking.
• #35 - Across gully, ski woods to Hessel Rd. for a great (& long) downhill run (this was where the skating skis were superior to you classic yutz's) to pick up Backus trail. This trail not very good condition and Barb was having trouble with control. It was taking a lot out of her and the bit of woods skiing, although super fun for me, was very physical for her and I wasn't paying well enough attention to the amount of energy she was burning.
• #19 - Straight south to Van Wormer Rd., down to Backus Bend (now Rd?). This bit of trail was even worse with many bare sections, etc. Just under two hours to here and this was the first time for some food intake (another mistake). Barb feeling pretty tired by now but since we strapped the skis to our backs & were planning on hiking a bit she felt a little relieved.
• #31 - Straight up the stream bed. Barb almost run over by snowmobiles crossing the road. The hill side around the control is exactly the open, mogul type fun stuff I love to play on! Barb wasn't impressed & couldn't convincer her to put the skis back on. Bummer.
• #27 - Out to Wart Rd., skis back on & screamed down hill to plowed intersection. Luckily Barb didn't crash when grinding over the gravel kicked all over the trail by snowmobiles. It would have done her damage at the speed she was going. Hiked back up to ski trail, trying to get the Pekinese dog from the house on the corner to stop following us almost to the control.
• #17 - Wandered through the woods with skis on looking for a bridge crossing at the ski trail. There isn't one. After skipping across a narrow spot up stream & angling to Hisckock then to Winona Way we started to gut along by double poling since these trails were very narrow & not very good skating. Barb starting to get very weak from lack of sustenance and too much upper body work when bushwhacking (and along trails like these). I started to prepare an MRE (Meal Ready to Eat, a benefit of having a son in the Marines) of pasta while still moving along. Not an easy task on skis & still navigating & trying to keep the partner's spirits up. It was getting around noon (12:30+ at the control?) so getting back in time was going to be a problem based on the partner's condition.
• #32 - Barb fading fast. That's why we decide to skip 21 & 22. After jumping across the stream a bunch of times to get to the control and throwing the MRE onto the ground it lost all the heat from the chemical warmer. This was the whole point of the MRE, a nice warm high calorie meal to give a boost of energy midway through.
• #38 - Barb ate most of the MRE along the way but now that it was cold it wasn't very appealing. Still had the skis on most of the way.
• #39 - Walked across stream up the other bank and tried dead reckoning skiing to control. Much more contour detail then shows on the map & trail sketched in not 100% correct caused a bunch of wasted time trying to locate things (our first boo-boo). Barb feeling better along this leg but this was to quickly change....
• #28 - Our next (& last) navigating boo-boo but it caused more damage then the lost time. Coming out of 39 we scooted to the trail and were just sort of rough map reading details. After crashing a couple of times & crossing a second stream we (I that is, Barb wasn't thinking too clearly any more and was letting me point her in the right direction) figured we missed the east/west old logging track so went back across the second stream on the map and angled "up a hill" to pick it up. Come to find out there was another stream not shown on the map so we actually were on the south side of the first stream (the one next to 38). After 100-200 meters of slogging around in the wrong place and not being able to get anything to match we decided to just go north and bump into "something". Finally hit the west most swamp NE of 38 and figured things out. By now the damage was done. Barb used too much energy during this whole mess and the physiological effect also really zapped her. It was all I could do to get her to finish this leg and to get back to the road where the skiing would be smooth.
• #34 - Out to main road along old logging trail. Then along Hawley Rd to indst. trail straight to control.
• #26 - East/NE to Bargy Road to swamp, along property line. Barb's feeling real crappie now but spirits are getting somewhat better since we're at least heading home. (Notice we bagged 15. Would have gone straight line to 15 then to 26 if Barb could handle the skiing but I didn't even bother asking.)
• #16 - Angled north to Bargy & doglegged up/down North Church. We're moving good now and I even suggest going for 30. The answer was NO.
• #14 - I'll have to admit that Barb never got all the way to the top of the hill to the control. If any of YOU want to take it up with her, your more then welcome.
• #12 - She wasn't even willing to head to this one but I had to save some manhood.
• Base - Got to base with a minute to spare & a spouse who didn't really want to ski any more.

Totals came out to be 16 ctrls for 423(0) points in 7 hours at a rate of 16:12/km. I was hoping for something closer to 12-13 min/km with the skis, but...

Day 2: 11, 36, 10, 41, 33, 25, 40, 23, 29, 24, 13, 20, 30,
After beating the crap out of Barb yesterday we decided that ye ol' "walking/running" method would definitely make our day more enjoyable, especially since the north section has many steep gullies and fewer trails. Also we decided to travel a little lighter and only take the essentials for food & drink. The one smart move was to carry the ski poles for assistance across streams and along hills. Originally we were planning on using our high top O-shoes but at the last minute we decided to change to our boots to avoid soaked feet so we actually started 1 minute late.

• #11 - Started out trotting along to get warmed up and were surprised to catch Ed B. & Brad W. at this first control. (maybe they should have gone with their strength of running?)
• #36 - Angled north to trail & due north to control. Barb was a little hesitant about running as much as I wanted, remembering yesterdays early "burnout". Brad & Ed were at control when we got there. Still keeping up with the fastest team out there!!
• #10 - Angled to Road then cut in at camps. The downhill stretch of road made me wish we had skis at this point but that would change. That bit of advantage got Ed & Brad about a minute ahead of us but still saw them leaving the control. Just under an hour at this control and by the patented DMJ rough guestiment measuring device of "Mark's knuckle" we only did 4 in the first hour Sat. but we were already at 6 here! Boy we was really movin' now.
• #41 - Angled to road then good ol' orienteering across the hill, miss the gully and up to control. Brad & Ed went to 33, probably glad not to see us anymore...
• #33 - Limiting climb and good compass work to get to swamp along road north of control. Almost made a mistake by heading the wrong way along the main stream that almost completes a 360% circle. Cool area. Have been checking out the terrain all along this section of the area since this is where the A meet in 2000 will be. This is going to be CNYO's best map terrain wise.
• #25 - Back track along stream to minimize climb then along steep. Met the "loner" Bill. He went off a runnin' in the right direction.
• #40 - Mostly walked straight line to control, spiked it & Bill was there again. He went through the woods (SW).
• #23 - We jogged down hill on Dixon Rd., started walking left onto Mannsville Rd. and met Bill at stream crossing just before junction of dirt road (Wart?). Had a nice walk & talk with him the rest of the way to control. I think he was disappointed when he was heading off to 35 and we were going to 29. Got to control just before noon so I started to "cook" up another MRE, scalloped 'taters & ham today.
• #29 - Used trails almost all the way. Noticed that there was a lot of walking tracks (many in ski boots) along this poor trail. Glad we didn't have the stiff soled ski boots & extra equipment to carry. Barb was feeling very good compared to yesterday by this point. Spirits were high. MRE was ready when we got there & today it was nice and warm & yummy. Very curious that there was a whole bunch of tracks around control site but only two other sign-in's. Come to find out the control was on the ground for most others. Thanks to whoever hung it back up for us (although with my expert observation skills I would have found it with no problem). A protest of not allowing credit for those who didn't sign-in is being sent out now .
• #24 - Just good ol' navigating but feature is kinda ambiguous. The formline hill top just west is more distinct (& difficult).
• #13 - Into gully, along trail, cross road. The original plan was to now head back to base, change to skis & get 20 & 30 but with 3 hours to go we just decided to go on by foot.
• #20 - Along roads & new ski trail (I fieldchecked it a little bit Bob & will send the more accurate location sometime) and a bit along Winona Way before cutting x-c. Stopped a few meters off trail to patch a "hot spot" on Barb's foot and almost made a boo-boo on start up but relocated early enough not to cause problems.
• #30 - Road to ski trail to logging road. Ran a few times along road but doing so in boots real tiring at this point.
• Base - Through camps along road/trail & due north to Mannsville Rd. at Hessel. Finished at 2:50pm (5hr 50min).

Totals for this day worked out to 13 ctrls for 335(0) points over 23.5 km in 5h 50m at a rate of 14:54/km.

NOW; if we had at least two (or maybe three) hours to figure our routes before hand and still stayed with the base premise of skiing day one & walking day two BUT; with the following more optimum control picks that we would have naturally figured we would have kicked a few butts--

Day 1 - 14, 37, 18, 20, 27, 21, 22, 17, 32, 38, 39, 28, 34, 15, 26, 16, 3 12, 11, base. This works out to the same 26 km as we actually did (I even figured in the same errors around 39 & 28) in 7 hours but now points come out to 457(0) for the day but more important we get 21, 22 & 15 in the far south.

Day 2 - 36, 10, 41, 33, 25, 40, 23, 35, 19, 31, 29, 24, 13, base. This works out to only having to do 20.5 km which would have brought us in at 2:06pm (remember, we walked day 2 at a faster /km rate) with the balance of 359(0) points. That gives us all points in 12h 6m total "field" time. By my figuring that looks REAL close to the top mixed team's time.

NOW; let's really dream. If we walked/ran BOTH days not only would Barb be in much better shape on day 1 (remember, the double poling & bushwhacking was the big factor in her energy drain) but just using the same per km rate as day 2 for day one on the same 26 km we would have come in on day one at 3:30pm (and 2:06pm on day two) for a grand total of only 11h 36m "field" time. Isn't that even faster then Brad & Ed??

This is just stuff to remember come the Nova Scotia Moose II ROGAINE, where we DO have three hours to preplan optimum routes instead of the quick planning guess that killed us this time....

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BTW - Remember that I was the only one that went out during the last hour on Sunday & skied down to PU 15 and got part way to 22 before running out of time. My time per km worked out to about 5m/k. Not very good considering in the old days I used to be able to ski a flat trail like Bargy in 3+m/km. Guess Barb tired me out this weekend.

mark dominie