Switchback Ridge · Meet the driver

Trail Storm

At the wheel: Tomas Rusk

Subaru 2018 Outback Wilderness

The route on the back

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Tomas Rusk knows how to keep a track open. He is trying to learn when to hand somebody the map and leave in time to take his own run.

Walk it toward the sheds

The actual trail survey begins at the drain that spills into a field in winter. Tomas tells new workers to walk it in the other direction first. Go toward the sheds and the steep bit seems to go on forever, which is what most people remember from a first visit. Set out toward the drain and you can see the spots where a loose rock is worth moving. He offers this advice in a tone that makes it sound like a choice. He always walks towards the drain.

At home, his husband Robert is writing directions for an electrician who has never had to reach their house by the lower road. He asks Tomas to glance at them. There is exactly one place where the instructions send a person the way Tomas would go, and Tomas has quietly rewritten the rest. Robert puts his in the electrician's envelope and asks whether he can have the other sheet for a walk with the dog.

Who gets the back of the map

Every season one trail marker goes missing. Last year the one on the cattle fence turned up in a field where a child had used it to make a road for her toy cart. Tomas drew her a temporary sign about the same size as her hand. Later he took the Subaru to a little practice course near the Hill Shed and did much the same thing for a grown man who couldn't remember which way the path bent after the timing hut. The course was closed for their session. Nobody had to get there quickly.

His first sketch gave the man so much information that he couldn't find the mark he wanted. He asked Tomas to use the other side. For the second sketch Tomas made a line and drew one box where a person might stop to have a look. The man asked whether he could take both sides home. That surprised Tomas more than it should have.

“Can you reach the first gate from the way I've sent you? Okay. Keep those directions, then.”

Tomas Rusk · Looking at Robert's letter to the electrician.

Movement above the crack

Pippa from Rally Raptor calls him over when she wants a view of a bad joint. He stands with both feet still and watches her Escort cross the surface. He can see how far the whole car moves sideways even when the driver only feels a bump. She returns the favor at the end of the same stretch, where the 2018 Outback Wilderness needs room before a bend. Tomas tends to give it a very wide approach. When he is already thinking about the worst thing the next car might find, an entire handspan of good track remains unused.

He and Saira from Jungle Titan checked an access lane at the garage before a closed practice. She had brought a cardboard cutout of the depth of her Toyota. Tomas tried to lay it flat and follow it like a plan. She asked how tall he thought gravel was. He put it upright and tried again.

Do not wait at the hut

Tomas wants several laps to try an entry closer to the inside edge while he can still see enough to commit. When the booking closes, he is usually the person locking up the shed. He asked Robert to come up and take one look at the plan for a shared practice. Robert copied three instructions onto the clean side of a scrap. The last told Tomas to go when his name was called.

The sheet is clipped to the dash before the car goes in. In the pocket under it there is still a complete map with every depression, ditch and rock marked. On the drive up Tomas debates whether to leave it in the car or hand that over too.

“You get the whole back. I only need a place to start.”

Tomas Rusk · After turning over his course map.

Mic at the pits

Turn it over

Mack Why's that map folded?

Tomas Rusk The long version shows every ditch. The short version shows where to stop. Take the short one unless you brought lunch.

Mack I always bring lunch.

Meet the voice behind the microphone