\nMy normal technique is not to hang about at the start, just make a decision which control to visit first and get going, probably in less than 30 secs of getting the map, then plan my route on the fly. If you are going to be in the top few you really have to get most of the controls anyway, so this normally works for me.
\nBUT \u2013 Sunday was different; it was very well planned with lots of options. You would have had to been Superman to clean up, particularly with the condition of some of the tracks after the previous week\u2019s weather, therefore I essentially blew it. I should have left out two lower value controls, towards the beginning of my chosen route at Mam Tor, which took in large climbs, rather than scooting around trying to get them all. When I realized this it was too late, I was already committed. I then compounded it by desperately trying to collect controls on the dash for home to improve my score when I was already late.
\nI could roll out some excuses about a dodgy bit of mapping by a dam which was obscured by the control circle which lost me a few minutes, or about the 20 or so horses I had to stop for, or the busy road I could not cross and the nightmare chain suck on the granny ring, but it was the same for everybody and it evens itself out over the 3hrs and is part of the event.
\nIn \u2018trailquest\u2019 events with a fixed time you are penalised for being late on a ramped scale, i.e. a couple of mins late is fine, more than 10 and you start haemorrhaging points. Suffice to say I was 13 \u00bd mins late and lost 35 of my 205 hard earned points and ended up well down the field.
\nSo time to take some positives forward, I felt I was very strong on the hills, particularly the climb up to Mann Tour from Castleton, and I\u2019m sure if I had picked a different route I would have been up there with the leaders. Lesson learned, perhaps spend another 30 secs looking at the map before starting and don\u2019t assume I\u2019m going to get them all but a couple …..
\nOh and to rub salt into my wounds I lost my Garmin 305 – GPS tracker and heart rate monitor \u2013 I had one small crash and some of the tracks were extremely rocky and it must have fallen out of its bracket \u2013 like I said, a bad day at the office….
\nResults available here….<\/a>
\nMark Stodgell<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Event report \u2013 Dark and White Winter League rd 2 \u2013 Hope \/ Castleton My first 3hr event since my \u2018proper\u2019 training began in July of this year. To be honest I had high hopes of doing well, although I am considering the league as good training as opposed to a target for this year … <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/span><\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.stodgell.co.uk\/pics\/2008\/smmam1.jpg\" "\\"Mam")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 ![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.stodgell.co.uk\/pics\/2008\/smmam2.jpg\" "\\"Old")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/span><\/div>\n