Occassional thoughts about orienteering
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| okansas.blogspot.com Occassional thoughts about orienteering |
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Monday, January 05, 2004 C is for CamelbakYou probably won't see me wearing one during an O' meet, but I'm a big fan of Camelbaks. In fact, I own several models. My current favorite is the Classic.Camelbaks at the World Champs Although the weather was hideously hot at the long WOC this summer, I was surprised to see orienteers running with Camelbaks when I browsed photos from the event. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised. When the weather is hot having water with you makes a lot of sense. I've carried water bottles during O' races, though I haven't yet carried a Camelbak. Eric B. and his Camelbak Eric B. wrote about using his Camelbak during O' races: A small Camelbak (I use the Classic) with 16-32oz of water is hardly noticeable once you get used to it. I started doing a couple years ago for all events longer than Red and found that it didn't slow me down at all. (I can do most Red courses without drinking unless it's hot.) Spike would no doubt refer to this as Adventure-racerish, but I find that stopping for water is an unnecessary break in concentration. By having water with me all the time, I can stay focused on the navigation. Eric thinks I'd view orienteering with a Camelbak as "adventure-racerish." That's probably because I've expressed surprise when I see adventure racers at local O' races wearing packs to do a 5 km course. I suspect that they wear the packs to practice for longer races. I don't think they are expecting to be out so long they need to carry water. Which brings up another issue I've written about before...Should O' organizers be expected to provide water on the courses? Given how easy it is for competitors to carry water, it seems reasonable to expect the competitors to provide their own water (as long as you let them know in advance). C could also be for COOOOOOOLD Here in Kansas City is it cold. The forecast for tonight is for a temp of -4 F (which is something like -20 C). That's cold. It isn't just cold out, it is also icy. Saturday started out warm, above freezing. As the temperature fell, the rain began. Rain turned to freezing rain, then we had sleet. In places the sleet and ice is thick on the roads and sidewalks. I looked out my kitchen window a half hour ago and saw a kid ice-skating up and down the road! I grabbed my camera and headed out to get a snapshot. 
posted by Michael |
7:53 PM
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