San Francisco Night and Day Challenge ­ 2006
Steve Jaber, team What, me worry? ­ 7 hour duathlon solo entrant

The idea of the Night and Day is simple, get as many points in the allotted
time by visiting various checkpoints strewn around the City. My event, the 7
hr. duathlon, allowed me to run the first half and then ride my bike the
rest of the time. For reference, Iım 54 and in pretty good shape, but
certainly nowhere near the top of my age group. The things I had going for
me were a familiarity with the City, experience doing multi-hour events, and
a curiosity about how to plan the most efficient strategy.

My goal was to try to get 450 points on the run and 550 on the bike for a
total of 1,000. I thought this would get me in the top ten overall, and this
turned out to be true. My strategy was to run in a tight radius around the
event center and then stretch out on the bike to hit further checkpoints.
The thinking was to run as little mileage as possible to conserve energy and
spend time on the steeper hills early since they are easier on foot than on
a bike.

The wild cards I ran into on the run were as follows. Itıs hard to predict
how fast you will be able to run given the twists and turns in the streets,
itıs difficult to navigate when the streets are ending every block, and itıs
hard to plot alternative routes if you fall behind on your pace.

To expand, I thought I could average three miles per hour but I couldnıt
maintain that pace due to the difficulty of navigating through the twisting
streets. The maps we were given had almost no street names on them so I had
to constantly try to navigate using another map. There were a couple of
times when I couldnıt figure out how to get somewhere even though I knew I
was only a few blocks away. Everything looks different when the streets are
curving up and down and dead ending into other similar streets.

I should have plotted the checkpoints on my street map, but I didnıt have
time to do that. Even my regular street map barely showed the street names
since some streets only go for one block. In hindsight, I think I would have
been better planning a route with more miles where the layout of the
checkpoints was easier. I did consider this originally, but didnıt see any
more logical route. As it was, I was only able to get 410 points during the
run after falling behind on my pace at the third checkpoint. But 410 would
have placed me 16th overall in the three hour event, so it looks like others
had route challenges, too. And forget asking people where things are as most
people donıt know the name of the street one block away.

One strategy that worked was to return to the start area extra early so I
could change, eat and be ready to go right at the half way point. My
objective was to maximize the daylight hours and I was the first duathlete
to leave the transition area. With it getting dark around 9 pm, I had an
hour and a half of good daylight left. Also, I did everything in my van;
plotted my initial route, changed and ate. I found it easier to be away from
the event centerıs distractions.

My bike strategy was to get to two or three high value checkpoints while it
was still light and then to utilize more familiar and better laid out
streets in the dark. One problem with doing the duathlon is that you have to
come back to the even center to get your bike and then travel back out to
get to the new checkpoints. In this was, the duathlon is inefficient and
easily costs 30 to 45 minutes.

I had been too aggressive in route planning on the run and didnıt want to
repeat my mistake on the bike, so I decided to skip my first two planned
checkpoints. I was still able to get to the beach, Golden Gate Park and
Sutro Park while it was still daylight, netting me 240 points in the
daylight. I then followed a clockwise loop to end up back at the bottom of
Stanyon street. I pre-rode the route from there back to the start to see how
long it would take. I was surprised by the number of teams that arrived back
at the finish line late and wonder whether they miscalculated the time
needed to get back. Since you lose major points by being late I didnıt want
to make that mistake.

My bike ride netted me 520 points for a total of 930. As it was, I was 12th
out of 25 in the duathlon. I failed to make my 1,000 point goal and feel I
could have netted more points on the run by choosing an easier route and by
picking up some of the lesser value checkpoints on the way. I planned to
skip many of the 10 point checkpoints to concentrate on high value points.
In the end, I had the 2nd highest number of points per checkpoints visited
in the seven hour, but what does it matter to have a high ratio if you canıt
make enough points overall.

I wish I had been better at thinking about my options during the event. I
tended to get locked into my original plan and saw later where I could have
picked up 30 or 40 additional points by diverting from my route just a bit.
Also, itıs very frustrating trying to find checkpoints you know you are
close to. I spent fifteen minutes at one checkpoint until I realized I was a
block off. Is it better to continue to search when you think you are close
or just ³let it go² and move on to the next checkpoint?

Next year I will try to think my strategy through a little better before the
start, try to identify ³optional² checkpoints I might visit, and not be so
aggressive in my route planning. Otherwise, everything else worked pretty
well. Thanks to the staff, Eric and Terry, for a well-run event. And to the
volunteers who were there all night helping us.