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Wednesday 16 October 2013

A Quick Exercise

I will hopefully do a final preview of the Auckland Champs once start lists are out, but we are on the road to Auckland as of early this morning, so it may be difficult. Here is a technical exercise for you though.

Get a piece of map - like this one snipped from the long terrain for this weekend:


Complicated right? Now pick a point, perhaps say the high point just north of the centre of the map. Imagine this hill in the terrain forget about the point knolls and depression, just the hill and the ridges going off in three directions. Smooth out the contours of the ridges, iron them like the crinkles in your shirt. Feel the re-entrants coming up between these ridges, put your hand out and carve their shapes in the air in front of you, don't worry about the slight undulations in their bottoms. Rotate your computer slightly to the left and peer up that eastern re-entrant that curves up from the track struggling over a broad saddle and then ploughs down the reentrant on the other side forgetting the U, the form line, and even the tagged depression. Put both hands out this time, tilt the screen back and starting with your hands together at the saddle push each hand out down the edge of the valley feeling its firm shape. Keep your thumbs in, and use them when you feel able to brush the detail on the valley floor. Flow the fingers out feeling the terrain, as the valley fades away and you hit the track.

You've got to be in the right mood.


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