Eccup Lanequest
Posted in Mountain BikingI did my first ever mountain bike orienteering race last night. Only 2 hours but still has left me drained today.
The event was local to me, local enough to bike from work then bike home afterwards. I knew all the trails, the only difficulty was finding the checkpoints as they were fire hydrants, road signs etc etc and you had to answer various questions to prove you had been there e.g. what is the number on the telegraph pole, south side of road, how many rungs on the gate.
The evening before I had a quick fettle of the bike and ensured I was running smooth. I tried to put my map board on but the board wouldn’t fit on the handlebars. Ah no map board? I thought about grabbing some cardboard as it was all I had but predicted rain would have destroyed this and I had no zip ties. So option 3 was elastic bands and strapping the map to my arm.
After arriving at the pub/start and starting I realised that it may not be as easy as I thought just to strap a map to my arm. I understand why I don’t see anyone else doing it. Elastic band too tight, losing circulation, too loose dropped off, map in teeth, cannot breath, in hand, cannot brake or change gear etc etc. Decided losing circulation in my arm isn’t too much of an issue so strapped up it was, but it meant that I only had about 4 km square visible so couldn’t properly plan routes and often had to stop to re-arrange and re-fold.
Happy with the way I rode, and the way I kept pushing on. Especially from someone who has not really been mountain biking too long with any serious intent. Just a bit annoyed at not having planned ahead enough to fashion a map board from a for sale sign or similar. Near the end I was close to a further 25 pointer but just didn’t have it in me to get that and get back to base without being late. I figured I could have got some of the 25 points but lost the majority for being late so decided to head back to base.
Final results I came 4th in class with 340 points. Winner was Rik Thompson with 368. I reckon with a map board and less faffing around I could have got that 25 pointer. Putting me in second place. These things you learn. I should be happy with 4th as a first mountain bike orienteering race. Will definately do some more and am tempted by the 5 hour event in Swaledale this weekend but we will have to see. Another race tonight may finish me off for the weekend.
Some good results for the Valley Striders running club, with Maria Dixon first lady and Mick Loftus and mini Mick (Ronan) coming first in the generation class.
June 19th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
good result! have you looked at the open adventure site, i think they also sell map boards-just seen you have a link to them!..anyway, they look good
June 19th, 2009 at 11:18 pm
I have got one of those fancy twisting ones but my bars on my new bike are too thick.
Was eyeing up for sale signs on the way home this evening. Seen one abandoned in a hedge that I may go collect Sunday.
June 25th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
I use the OA cheapo one, and it’s actually pretty good.
As long as you can read the map without it being the ‘right’ way up, not having a rotating one doesn’t really make any difference.