Let's go MBO! - But what's it all about?

All the gear...

Mountain Bike Orienteering is exactly what it says on the tin.  It's orienteering, on a MTB.  OK, hopefully you're with me so far... so if you know me, you're probably thinking "how the heck can she fit another hobby in?!" well the answer to that is, easily!  Because MTB Orienteering is really just another bike ride.  A timed one with cool checkpoints to find.  

You might have had experience of orienteering in its 'normal' form at school or possibly had a go at the more recent Geocaching? No? me neither, I hadn't really done any form of orienteering until I tried the OMM bike event last summer.  If you can plot a basic route on an OS map, and recognise landmarks etc. then you are halfway there.   If you're a cartophile like me then this is probably the sport for you (providing you like bikes too, of course!).

The premise of MTB orienteering is this -

• Enter the event online, then turn up ready for a day ride, 
• Tell the people at registration your name (no forms to fill in) and receive a "dibber" wristband, 
• get ready to go with your bike/gear etc. 
• go to the start area, "Dib" into the start control box with your wristband (there is a marshal to help) and receive a detailed map with the checkpoints on.  
• You then have a time limit - normally 3 hours for a winter event - in which to find as many checkpoints as possible, get back to the start area and "dib" in to stop the timer. 
• If you are over on time, you receive penalty deductions from the points you have earned whilst visiting the different checkpoints (these vary in value from 10 - 20 points each).  The later you are, the more points you lose.  

Me "dibbing"!

You then eat cake and drink tea/coffee whilst perusing your printout which shows you how you have done!  And that's it!  The results are usually up on the event webpage the following day.

Obviously there is a lot more to it as far as being good at it goes!  I am very much learning the ropes.  It turns out that you can be quite fit/technically good on the bike but if you don't plan a good route or are over ambitious about the amount of checkpoints to visit you will probably be beaten by a few septuagenarians! but, essentially, anyone can rock up and have a go, and it really is fun, results are irrelevant unless you want to get good at it!

How do I get involved?

Caz dibbing in style!

Firstly, you join the British Mountain Bike Orienteering governing body (the BMBO) as either a full member (for about £6 a year) or as a day rider (which is free but adds a £1 surcharge per event).  You then get a MTB number which you need to register for events.

Then, you find an event  - for example - The Dark and White Events Trailquest series (my local one).  The location of the events are not specified until 1 month before (to stop you from swatting up on the area!), you enter online using your MTB number and that's it, just turn up on the day.

A great pair!

You can enter as a solo or a pair - I recommend doing it as a pair as it's more fun (in my opinion).  It is advisable to choose a partner of similar skill/fitness otherwise you will find one person just feels like they are following their partner around!

What do I need?

Basically, you just need a bike, helmet and some waterproofs! However, the following items will help you on the day - 

• A map board to attach the map to your bike - these can be homemade or bought, I have one from ebay which cost about £5 and is waterproof.  
• A highlighter pen - to quickly draw your route onto the map or highlight the checkpoints you aim to get.
• A rubber band or an accessible pocket to store the "descriptors" which describe where the checkpoints are (these are on an A4 sheet and usually in a plastic wallet)

Gear-wise, I usually carry a backpack containing the following - 

Check out Pearl loaded with mapboard

• Spare pump, tube and levers
• First-aid kit (mini)
• Phone, keys, money (standard!)
• Waterproof overtrousers (this may not be required but sometimes you are made to carry them)
• Food, energy gels and water
• Compass 

You can buy your own dibber, but I usually just rent one for the day (you specify this on your entry - it's about a quid more per event).  The benefit of having your own means you can put it on a retractable keychain thing rather than fiddly wristbands but really, it's fine to just hire one unless you take it up in a big way!

Useful items for after the event include - 

• Dry clothes to change into/wear over your muddy/wet gear
• Change of shoes
• A towel to protect your car seats
• A binbag to contain your wet/muddy gear!
• Babywipes for hands/faces!

So basically that's it!  There are other types of orienteering such as running ones where they can be a bit more sneaky with controls - they sometimes make them difficult to find when you get to the specified location, but from my initial experience of an OMM Bike and two Dark and White Events Trailquests, its really more about getting out in the countryside and finding bridleways and tracks which you may never have found and seeing somewhere new.  

It's also a great workout/training as you have the time pressure of getting back, so you ride harder than you would on a normal ride out.

In a nutshell it is well worth having a go at, and I hope this has been useful to anyone thinking of trying this sort of thing or wondering what it's all about!

TLF

My OMM Bike Peak District

The week before last saw the final preparations for my first ever orienteering style race, and my second bike event of the year (a Duathlon in February being my first).  As part of my OMM Ambassador role I get the fantastic opportunity to enter OMM events and write about them, so I decided to try the bike event rather than the "Lite" (running) event as it was something different and Caz could do it with me.  

Team GVS ready for action!

In the lead up to the event Caz (my teammate) and I got our kit together and put in quite a few miles on our bikes (road and MTB) and were pleased with our fitness.  Caz has had experience of navigational events before in both running and on bikes, whereas I have never had to use navigational skills before, so I was really excited to give it a go!

At the beginning of the week I had my bike mini-serviced at The Bike Factory - who kindly supplied us with gels, bars and hydration for the event, and, on Wednesday, I competed in my second fell race of the year - the Herod Farm Fell Race.

An array of nutritional goodies

Herod Farm Fell Race in Glossop, Derbyshire is a Category AS race covering 3 miles and 340 metres of climb. Having never done this race before I was quite keen to have a go, especially as I had heard it called "Horrid Farm" by other Goyt Valley Striders!  

Me with Estelle and Helen

I found the course suited me down to the ground as it started off with a proper hill right from the off, and it reminded me of a mini version of the Famous Grouse fell race, which I had done well in last year, managing to be first lady Strider home.   

"She's behind you!"

After the first hill came another hill, one which most of the field walked up due to its gradient, little did I know that the next hill would be a monster! I literally had to use my hands to help and not look down as we ascended the nab (slowly!).  

"Wheeee!"

It was with jelly legs that I reached the summit, and it took a bit of persuasion to get them running again!  I really enjoyed the fast downhill sections which followed, especially a lovely steep smooth grassy field where I managed to pass two runners!  I really went for it at the farm track we had started up, as I knew the finish was imminent.  

Again, I was really pleased to be first lady Strider home, 11th lady overall out of 36 and 3rd in my age category with a time of 34:48, full results can be found here. Definitely not horrid, definitely Herod.

OMM Bike Peak District

Map boards were a brilliant addition to our kit

I was really excited waking up on the Saturday morning, the sun was shining and I felt that I was as prepared as I would ever be, Caz and I looked the part in matching outfits to represent both of our clubs - on Saturday we opted for the Chinley Churners (our cycling club) in our "Beer, Cake, Bikes" tee shirts, buffs and hoodies (which were a good talking point and much admired), and on Sunday we opted for our Goyt Valley Striders kit.  

Caz owns a workwear embroidery and printing company and supplies both of the clubs with merchandise so we were kindly kitted out by a&c workwear for the weekend.  

Wearing my Rotor Vest

Obviously, I also wore my new OMM products which had arrived just in time!  - namely the OMM long sleeved tee which served as an excellent base layer, and I actually washed and dried it overnight and wore it both days.  My new Kamleika Jacket was absolutely brilliant, it is soft, doesn't rustle at all and fits perfectly.  I stayed warm and dry both days when wearing it.  

Team Churners!

The second day was much cooler with stronger winds so I wore my Rotor Vest as an insulation layer, which was really good as it is so thin but lovely and warm, in fact I had to remove my jacket after the first climb!  My trusty OMM Last Drop 10 backpack served me well yet again and fitted all the necessary kit in (just!).

Dexshell overshoes in action

I wore Dexshell overshoes on both days - I found they were quite hard to get on, and Caz had to help me with the zip, but once done up they fit really well and my feet stayed clean and warm both days - on the first day we encountered a calf-deep river crossing and it was a few seconds before the water seeped into my shoes.  They dried out over the course of the day so I was really glad of the neoprene keeping my feet snug.  I really gave them some hammer up the boulders of a green lane where we ended up pushing our bikes and the bottom of the overshoes stayed relatively in tact - a big ask!

So, we had all the gear, but did we have any idea what we were letting ourselves in for?! The answer is yes and no, we both anticipated that we would push ourselves and get as many checkpoints as possible, but on day 1 we managed to spend too long getting a 50 point control and it really set us back.  

Control 31 was our nemesis!

The map covering a wide area

We had decided to try to map a vaguely circular route taking in as many controls as possible.  This we did but the terrain was unknown and we found ourselves taking some paths which were slower than taking longer road options. We were also less confident at knowing whether we would be going up or downhill, it was tempting to think north is up and south is down!  We got quite adept at reading contours and meters by the end of the competition!

Eating my way to more space!

Our bike map boards were a Godsend, we could navigate on the move which was brilliant, and we managed to keep moving most of the time.  We had been really organised with food and made everything bitesize and mostly accessible - though at one point I literally had to eat a load of food to make room in my pack for my jacket!


We managed to get 12 controls on the first day, passing through Hurdlow, Glutton Bridge, Hollinsclough, Hardings Booth, Fawfieldhead, Hulme End and Biggin. We were pleased with our route and we ended up doing 27 miles which wasn't too bad considering some of the steep and technical terrain.  Going into day 2 we were well up for the challenge of another go!  In fact, we both said we would have liked 5 hours on both days rather than 5 on the first and 4 on the second!  

Caz with Parkhouse Hill in the background

On day 2 we changed tactics a little and decided to forget trying to get to tricky 50 pointers.  We headed north of the start at Parsley Hay crossing the A515 and heading to Alport.  We seemed to be picking up controls much more often and we were pacing ourselves well.  We saw some lovely places, the village of Alport was stunning and we loved the scenery around there.  After about 20 miles it started to rain slightly, and the wind seemed cooler.  We were crossing exposed arable moorland so we put our jackets back on and continued to our next control.  In the end we managed to get a couple of bonus controls - a total of 11, again covering around 26 miles.


The organisation of the event was excellent.  All of the OMM staff and volunteers went out of their way to accommodate everyone and it was really simple to know what to do - basically get your wrist SPORTident dibber at registration on day 1, have it cleared by "dibbing" it in the little box on both mornings, choose a start time for both days and off you go!  All really relaxed and fun.  The food provided was lovely, especially the cakes!

After the event - tired but happy!

Checking my compass!

I was relieved not to have to wear a competitor number as I didn't want to put holes in my new gear with safety pins!  All of our information was stored on our dibbers which was great!

Overall, our aim was to get as many controls as possible without getting lost, and without coming last! We really pushed ourselves and felt we couldn't have tried any harder. Out of 29 entries we were 21st overall, which for our first go wasn't a bad attempt and the main thing is we had fun!  

Since the event, we have printed out all of the splits to see what the more experienced competitors did differently, the main difference being that they went for as many 50 pointers as possible and travelled further than us. 

Our route planning however was good and we followed similar routes to others so that was reassuring.  On the whole we both really enjoyed the weekend and would definitely do it all again!  Thank you OMM!  

My next blog will cover tips for first-time fell runners, along with more race reports, until then, happy running!

TLF