Well the 2010 Trail of the GNU is over and I’ve recovered enough to think about a post (translation, I’m now only physically exhausted not both physically and mentally exhausted).
As Marinus mentioned the other day (The Road to Rocky Mountain House) we ended up in Alberta because neither of us blinked. And not flinching turned out to be a pretty good approach to the rally too. Made easier by getting car #1. Usually a somewhat dubious honor, it allowed us to be unaffected by the chaos and drama on the route behind us: 6 extractions, several stuck cars (cleared by competitors), and multiple mechanical issues. On the downside there were no tracks to follow, although that means there were no ruts to deal with except when the course looped over subsections. And we got to scare off a lot of wildlife, at least 3 dozen white tailed deer during the day. Fortunately none of them attempted to run across the road to get away from the red demon bearing down on them.
GNU appears to be relatively heavy on the Calc class cars. 3 of the 6 registered Unlimited cars had mechanical difficulties the week before the event (including last year’s winners Peter and Geoff Hill) leaving a small field of class competitors. But the 14 calc cars that ran the event were not going to be push overs. The 2009 2nd place was a Calc car, only 2 seconds down with 3rd going to a Novice team 3 seconds further down. We were gonna have our work cut out for us.
We started the first regularity under a startlingly clear blue sky and it went just grand until about .3k into the section when I noticed that the odometer hadn’t been zeroed at the beginning of the section. Usually we pull up to the start, auto-calc the factor, load the presets, and pull ahead. In this case we weren’t 100% sure of the rules at the start of a section so we pulled up to the start, auto-calced the factor, pulled back into the parking lot and waited for someone else to pull ahead of the zero point to wait out their time. No one did so we followed suit. Which means the presets got loaded at the last minute and I failed to notice the lack of a zero. While the problem was mostly fixable, in my hurry to get it done right away, I subtracted 47.011 miles instead of 47.110 miles leaving us just ever so slightly off (and myself a pretty puzzle of why that took so too long to figure out). Not the best start, but we eventually got back on track and it didn’t cost us too many points.
Regularity #2 was quite a bit more complicated and we quickly found out our 45 minute conversation on the way up about communication style wasn’t going to cut it. Marinus and I have never run together before, and this event turned out to be a bit of a trial by fire. A lot of instructions happening close together and just never letting up. On the up side, the extra repetition made it stick and I was never sitting there with nothing to do for the next 6k.
A few km into Regularity #3 a car comes zipping by in the opposite direction. Hmmm that looked like the Rallymaster I wonder what’s up? Sure enough a few more km and we’re crashing through frozen over puddles with no other tracks in sight. All the references are coming up so we’re on course and now the lead car!
We finished the first leg (4 regularities) with 7 points, in a tie for 1st with the next car back at 9 points. Not bad, but 4 of those points were from the the first reg. A generous 45 minute lunch break allowed everyone to relax (or at least finish their calcs), eat, brag/bemoan, and generally have a good time. I’m going to represent that break in the narrative by talking about CAST. For any non rally oriented reader who has wandered into this post, that means average speed: Change Average Speed To.
Now I’m a navigator, I generally don’t pay attention to CAST much. CAST is the province of a driver. To me they are numbers that get crunched, simple variables used to arrive at the perfect time (the ever elusive goal of both drivers and navigators). They are something you tell the driver, perhaps over and over again, perhaps just once at the change. Sometimes reality intrudes into my dreamy world of perfect numbers & zero scores and I am forced to sit up and take notice. Sometimes that is the relatively benign quiet zone as you crawl past some house perched next to the road or a pedestrian crossing. Other times you find out there is a problem from an announcement of the driver, often heavily laced with expletives and from which you might glean the printable words of “CAST” and “pray”. Or perhaps you come within inches of slamming the back end of the vehicle into a checkpoint car as your vehicle fishtails from one side of the road to the other (the driver insists we had a couple of feet of clearance when we went by, but my clenching muscles insist it was mere inches). Or as you slide off the road into the ditch in slow motion you might have time to think, “Perhaps that speed was a tad too fast.”
What little intelligence about GNU that has trickled across the Canadian Rockies and into the Team D files suggests that the event features briskly competitive CASTs. ”Briskly competitive” is code a responsible Rallymaster might use to indicate he has put in speeds you have no chance of matching (well not for long anyway) the whole time and you’ll have to slow down but he’s got to be circumspect about the whole thing because a) doesn’t want to scare people off and b) the event needs to be insured. Mind you, I’m not saying that’s an accurate summary of previous GNU’s. But I’m also not saying that isn’t an accurate summary of previous GNU’s. Someone who doesn’t like the event might say, “******* insane CASTS!”, with a scowl. An irresponsible supporter might say, “******* insane CASTS!”, with a smile. And then perhaps a little cackle just to let you know that descriptor should be applied to more than just the CASTS.
That is all background to support the statement that Marinus, who is no slouch as a driver, was understandably nervous about the event. Needlessly so as it turns out. Why? Was Marinus a self effacing super-driver who can totally kick butt? Was the GNU reputation a bit overblown? Was Marilyn a super car that who won’t take any guff from mere road conditions? Personally I blame Mother Nature! Significant warming in the two weeks between the checkout ride and the event dramatically changed road conditions. But roads recently covered in ice presented their own unique challenges. I believe Marinus is working on a hydro-centric post so I won’t steal his thunder on that aspect.
Did I mention lunch was pleasant and relaxing? Near the end of Regularity #5 (the first post lunch regularity) I turned to Marinus and posed the question, “Did we get a too complacent and/or relaxed at lunch or was that a significantly harder than the last reg?” At least one car got stuck, and one of the Calc cars nipping our heels got stuck behind the competitor trying to extract the stuck car and lost significant time.
The second leg featured a number of sections briefly looping across parts of previously run sections, much harder the second time through with 20+ car tracks to deal with. The leg culminated in a section called Corkscrew Mountain. A 27 km section that covered 4 pages of the route book, including one single page dedicated to a mere 3 km of that route, with 10 instructions (8 of which were cautions ranging from 1 to 3 in severity). That 3 km was basically a downhill section consisting of hard rights (exposure on left) and hair pin lefts run at CAST 55. 2 weeks before it was pure glare ice and that speed, according to a checkout worker was … well lets just say he ran it at under CAST. During the event most of the snow and ice was gone and I still heard no real complaints about the speed.
In the end, Marinus and I took first place (both overall and class) with 26 points. Followed by a tie for 2nd with 40 points. Both Calculator cars, Ryan Oliver & Jack Bensley won the tie (in a vintage 1970 Volvo) edging out Shane McAssey & Mark Geusebroek.
I had a ton of fun at the event, very glad we made the long haul out. I’m still a bit stunned we actually completed the trip. Will we be doing it again next year? … Perhaps. It’s a big long commitment and maybe once was enough. Marinus calculated if he drove home to Portland after dropping me off in Seattle he would have achieved an average speed for the whole event (including time spent sleeping, drinking, or otherwise not on the road) of 30 mph.
