Rogaine 3 - Slater Road

Oh my god, this was epic! Okay, well I knew that from the moment I heard there was going to be a rogaine at Slater Road but when I got the map my fears were well and truly confirmed. Slater Road is the map of Rob and Marquita's farm...mostly a huge pine forest out the back filled with mountain bike trails. What makes it so tough is just how steep it is (and I mean steep) and the forest is not clean running like much of the pine forest we run in at Woodhill.


So I picked up the map and really had no idea where I was going to go. In hindsight (what a wonderful thing) I probably should have taken the advice I gave my parents (!) and tried to get a whole heap of the farmland controls which were on the flatter area and definitely easier to get to. Instead I headed straight out into the bush and spend a good 75 minutes bashing about in it before picking up some of the farmland controls on my way back to the finish.


Looking down to the event centre (where the hut is under the trees...which are all part of the map).
I didn't get nearly as many points as I hoped for (well, I guess at least I didn't plan too cautiously this time then!) but at least managed to work out a route to get back to the finish without being over the time limit, picking up a few points along the way.

Despite everything it was good fun and I definitely pushed myself physically up some of those climbs. I really love this forest but it is real steep and super technical. I mean, I've run and biked up here heaps lately but I still get confused every time I go out! It's a bit of a shame I won't be around for the final rogaine in the series as I'll be in Christchurch for another event. Oh well, can't do everything I guess!