Mountain Biking
The competitive edge ...

  After a brief tryout in 2002, I decided to enter a few Trailquests. These events, also known as Mountain Bike Orienteering, last from a couple of hours to all day and even span several days at International level. Karen came along on the first event and had a great day but prefers to keep her cycling on a non-competitive basis so now I either ride on my own or with Dave B, long time friend and mad MTB mate.

  We've been competing in the Veteran class, a long standing cycling term which means people over 40! 2009 saw Dave P move into the supervet class and in 2010 it's Dave B's turn. We ride in events organised by NYMBO / EBOR, mostly in the North York Moors although they are spreading out to the Pennines as well. They've joined up with the CLOK club for a few events in the last couple of years, which has also widened the range of events open to us. They do some fun events as well, called lanequests; there's usually a summer evening series and a winter morning series. Three or four events, based around a pub so that riders can have a drink and a chat afterwards - they're great fun.

  In a season, competitive events used to be mostly 2 hours, nowadays they're mostly 3 or 4 hour events and often include a round of the National series, which tends to be 5 hours and leaves us feeling dead for about 5 days afterwards. Events mostly require 30 checkpoints to be found in the time limit, between 5 and 30 points for each checkpoint and points lost if you exceed the time limit. Sometimes the route is pre-planned but usually you pick your own way around the checkpoints, not many people get all 30. 2007 saw the introduction of a marathon event, with 3 different courses. For some strange reason we do the longest 45 mile course which is spectacular and hard in equal measure. We enjoy the riding, but try not to be too serious about the results, after all we don't train enough to be really good and there are too many pints of beer waiting to be drunk ... It's a great experience, the people are good and the riding is usually brilliant, come along and have a go.

   Here's my league results for the last few years, comments on each season are a bit further down the page.

Visit one of the following websites and look for more details

North Yorkshire Mountain Bike Orienteers at www.nymbo.org.uk
or EBOR at www.eborienteers.org.uk
or CLOK at www.clok.org.uk

Also try these for info on cycling and general orienteering

British Mountain Bike Orienteering (BMBO) or the British Orienteering Federation

2010 - 14th March 2010

  13th March After riding in the January and February Lanequests on the Tandem, with Karen on the back collecting clues, the Daves are planning to have a really good run at this season's NYMBO Trailquest series. The first event was based at Terrington, in the Howardian Hills near Malton and the weather was just about perfect. Sunshine and cloud, not too hot, although that cold NW wind could have been a little less strong. We headed south from the start and rode a good loop, heading west before climbing back up on to the plateau for the run back down to the finish. Aching knees and thighs were proof that neither of us is fit enough yet, although Dave B's recovered from his knee op and was racing up the hills. Looks like I need to try harder in the next few weeks :-) We even got a good score, one of our best for the 1st ride of the season, it's just a shame that everyone else seemed to have a good day as well.

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2009 - 1st September

  31st August Having missed most of the summer events due to being busy leaving work and having lots of holidays, it was great to get back on the bike riding around the North end of Dalby Forest. Dave B was away on holiday so he missed a great day, warm and breezy, and a good course which which was challenging and enjoyable. After such a long break, I rode to enjoy myself and had a great day out, even managed a reasonable score. It was really crowded in the forest, more people than I can ever remember seeing, probably because it was the August Bank Holiday weekend and the weather was good, an unusual combination...

  15th & 16th May This was a two day event based at Gilling East with overnight camping, although Dave B and I only managed to be there for the Saturday. The ride was a fixed route around the checkpoints, number of checkpoints varying with age / class, only 25 for us M50s. After completing the 1st map of 15 checkpoints, we abandoned as we were too slow and Dave B's knee was playing up again, he gets the op next week then we'll see him fly again. Weather was sun and showers with a south west breeze. It's a great area to ride, we thought that the course could have been better if it had covered a wider area instead of staying in the forest, we got to ride the same tracks and fire roads several times.

  18th April Broxa Forest near Scarborough was the venue, Dave B was otherwise occupied and I rode solo. It was a great course, good weather and I got a good score helped by making some decent route choices for a change, the long downhill finish picking off 5 extra checkpoints really helped. Loads of people said they'd had a good day, probably the most enjoyable ride I've done for a while.

  21st March Pocklington, East Yorkshire; for the 1st ride of the year we had great weather, warm & sunny with a cool breeze. Having moved into the supervet category, based on age not skill, I had a good ride but Dave B had trouble with his knee and didn't have such a good day, at least we enjoyed the ride, nice to be out again. I did take some pics but as they're of Dave B mending punctures I won't show them :-) Oh, the squeak has come back in my Specialised FSR Rockhopper, not too bad but it'll have to be fixed before the next ride or it'll drive me nuts.

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2008 - year end

  After getting a couple more rides and the marathon, which we did quicker than last year, the season came to a halt as I was just too busy to get out and ride. I keep promising that next year will be better, one day it really will be.

  18th May A quick call to Tim at www.tftuned.com saw a replacement U-Turn adjuster, a new cassette from www.chainreaction.com and a couple of hours with cleaners and grease saw the bike something like normal and missing it's squeak, a bit like Sir Thomas Thom of Appledore...

  10th May A long drive out to Grinton in Swaledale for a 5 hour ride. In complete contrast to last month, it was the hottest day of the year so far and there was hardly any mud to be found. Dave B had to come back to base half way through with a football injury causing some problems, I carried on and nearly destroyed the bike and myself in the process. Some long, hard climbs were taken slowly, followed by fast, rocky switchback descents. By the end of the ride, I'd worn out a set of brake pads, the cassette is shot, the "U-turn" adjuster on my Rockshox Psylo fork is broken and I got a puncture coming down the hill in to Reeth at the end which nearly caused me to loose control and crash in to a couple of ramblers crossing the road. Oh, and the suspension has started to squeak. A lot. VERY LOUDLY... A strip down and rebuild may have cured it, we shall see.

  12th April Wykeham Forest for April, Dave B couldn't get there so I went on my own. Water is what I remember most, forest tracks covered in mud and water, I haven't got so wet and muddy in ages. It was a great fun ride, unfortunately I got lost in the first 5 minutes and then followed someone who was even more lost than me. After 15 minutes, I'd got my bearings properly sorted and started to get some points. The event was in 2 parts, get as many checkpoints on map one then back to base for the second map. It's a new format and it seemed to work well.

  8th March With a forecast of wet and windy weather, the opening event at Malton looked set to be hard work. As it turned out, a strong wind made riding hard but the rain held off. The downhill finish with the wind behind us was fabulous, we had to slow down as we went past the 30 MPH speed limit signs coming back into Malton. A poor score, largely resulting from Dave B. getting 2 punctures in 100 yards and we lost a lot of time fixing the second one. We'd have lost a lot more if I'd let him throw his bike as far away as he wanted to :-)

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2007 - 25th June

  9th & 10th June The 2 day event based at Hackness was blessed with good weather and beautiful surroundings, 2 fabulous days riding. Dave B was available and we had a thoroughly great time even though the scores weren't brilliant.

  I couldn't resist stopping for a picture of these animals, as we passed through a gate they came over to see what we were doing. Alpacas, I think, if anyone knows better then so be it...

  The finish was a bit exciting on a gravelled car park, I don't think anyone fell off but it was a bit touch and go for those of us finishing with only seconds to spare.

  12th May The May ride was based in Nidderdale, lots of rolling hills and long bridleways. There were some problems with navigation, including missing signposts, unhelpful farmers, redirected permissive paths and some dodgy map reading. However, it was a great day out even though I didn't get a good score, still not fit enough for a 4 hour event.

  14th April In complete contrast to Cropton in March, the April ride in Wass Forest was so hot it felt more like August. Hot, sunny, no breeze and tracks so dry the only thing to hold a rider back was personal fitness. Dave B couldn't get to Wass, Dave P. found the heat a bit challenging although it was still a great day out and a reasonable score as well.

  17th March The first ride, in March, was at Cropton forest, extremely windy and a bit cool, the next day most of the UK was covered in snow. It was great to be back on the North York Moors and we both enjoyed the ride, we just need to be a bit fitter and collect a few more points. We all walked the hill in the picture, it was too boggy to ride.

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2006 - 29th April The second ride of the year was at Great Langdale, based around the village hall and riding up into Langdale Forest. Rain in the morning on the drive up there, sunny but with a biting cold Northerly wind during the ride, a great day was had by most. We had a good ride, thoroughly enjoyable, not too much mud, great scenery and only a little blood... The next event is at Catterick on Saturday May 27th, details on the EBOR website. We'll be missing the next couple of events due to other commitments.

		Great views in the Langdale area.
Registration				Waiting to start
			Hill climbing, Dave B style
		All over for another day

31st March The first ride on Saturday 25th March was the first warm day for a while, although it followed a couple of very wet days making the Wolds mud and clay very sticky, definitely a good day for narrow tyres and riding the roads as much as possible. It was a good day out but Dave B's tyres were too good at collecting mud and we were both pretty tired by the end of it.

On the left, Dave B is clean and tidy. On the right, 4 hours later and we we're both a little less clean...

24th March The first ride of the season is a 4 hour event setting off from market Weighton School, it's about 5 minutes ride from our house so I guess I ought to be there...

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2005 - 23 October Since June,I just haven't managed to get to an event, health problems and other commitments have just made it impossible. I miss getting out to the moors for a days riding and 2006 is going to be different, the winter fitness campaign starts here...

4th June After missing a couple of events for health reasons, I finally got to compete in another event, at Cropton Forest near Pickering in North Yorkshire. After a few rain showers on the drive up to the start, the afternoon event was warm and sunny, a pleasant ride even though I struggled a bit after a long lay off. The bridleways and fire breaks were rideable, the tracks through the trees were soggy and difficult on foot never mind on the bike. I'm still picking thorns out after landing on a gorse bush whilst trying to negotiate a very stick track without hitting any trees. Good points because no-one got real high scores, so a successful and enjoyable ride, better than I hoped for.

10th March The season started in February, with a 3 hour ride at Knayton in the North York Moors, just North of Thirsk. Pouring rain and snow on the way up there wasn't exactly inspiring, especially knowing Dave B was at home packing for a weeks holiday in Tunisia. Still, Karen & I will be heading for Fuerteventura next week, something to look forward to whilst the snow is falling here. 6 Checkpoints where cancelled because of the snow on Arden Great Moor, so only 24 to get round .. hmm. In the end it was a good ride, especially as I avoided the highest moors, knowing I wouldn't get all round the course anyway. By heading East of the A19 and then across for the checkpoints at the West side, I avoided the worst of the weather, although it was still pretty wet and took around an hour to get the feeling back in my toes. I'm not sure which bit of this was fun really, although I'm sure it'll get better as the weather improves later in the year.

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2004 wasn't a great season for results, but we had a couple of good rides, although Dave P. only managed 6 events in total, Dave B did rather less. Here's a couple of pictures from the July event, cold, wet and windy, mud everywhere. A bit too tired to take pictures after the event.

That horrible looking grey mist amongst the trees turned into rain a few minutes later, it never really stopped again all morning. The Pickering event was part of a 2 day weekend, 5 rides including a night ride. We didn't stay for Sunday, and we certainly didn't fancy the night ride. The weather on Sunday was even worse, so we probably got the best of the deal.

There's no relationship between the catering caravan and the nearby portaloo facilities. The Fat Pigs catering team does a good job of supplying food at several EBOR events each year, and very welcome it is on a cold wet day such as this.

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Pictures and text are copyright © Dave & Karen Petty- All Rights Reserved, please don't copy anything without our permission. Thanks, D & K.