It was great to see 110 riders at Terrington on a Bank Holiday Saturday. Dave and Danny had planned an excellent course with plenty of route choice and the bulk of the controls were in the woods along the central ridge. It really is a beautiful area, the tracks were unbelievably dry despite last week’s snowfall and the sun came out for the afternoon. Thanks to Jens for another excellent map, the helpers for making everything run smoothly and the volunteers who collected all the controls while you were on your way home. Terrington village hall made an excellent event centre – although it meant an uphill finish from every direction.

We didn’t have to pay for access this month so we have donated £110 to Yorkshire Air Ambulance to thank them for helping Michael and Nick last month. They are both back home and recovering well after surgery. Hopefully, we will see them at an event before the end of the season – as well as Adrian Baskerville who had a serious bike accident last month.

I enjoyed my ride as always but could only get out for 2½ hours as I needed to download the Start block and get back for the first finishers. I picked a scenic route so rode around Castle Howard then along the wooded ridge north of Terrington before coming back past Wiganthorpe so was very relieved to find the final track across the field was easy to ride.

Congratulations to the category winners especially Andy Conn for clearing all 30 controls in just over 4 hours; John Dixon winning M60 with his best ride for a long time and 4^th overall; Martin & Max Vesty continuing their winter form and winning the Generation class and 5^th overall; John Galway winning M50 at his first event in over 2 years – welcome back; Steph Fountain & Richard Schumaker beating all of the other mixed teams.

Unfortunately, there were a couple of problems. A number of riders couldn’t find the start of a bridleway from the B1257 and unwisely decided to climb over a nearby locked gate. Obviously, this is unacceptable and naturally annoyed the farmer who I spoke to later to apologise on your behalf. Bridleway gates are rarely locked and, if one is, you would be told about it as you were told about an electric fence across a bridleway on another part of the course. The same farmer was spraying a field when he saw a rider using the old railway line which is a marked as a footpath (and overmarked as out of bounds). I don’t think this was a lost rider but someone trying to cheat which is why we issue bike numbers. Unfortunately, the farmer couldn’t see his/her number but if he had he/she would have been disqualified. I also saw 2 riders open a gate in front of me despite a bright yellow 6x2ft sign marked private with a bridlegate 5m to the right. Fortunately, I was able to stop them before they reached the farmyard but, please remember that we have no right to use a track just because it’s there. Please stay on the bridleways or stay away. Our reputation as mountain bikers is not enhanced by this type of behaviour and makes permission to use private tracks unlikely in future.

Finally, but far less importantly, I am sorry for the wait at registration for riders who had paid and pre-entered. We are still coming to terms with coping without Dave & Sue. There will be an extra desk next month for paid pre-entries who have their own SI dibbers!!

I hope some/most of you will make the trip up to Blanchland for the first NEMBOS event of the season next Saturday (14^th April). It’s a brilliant area and Martin Edwards has again got permission to ride many private estate tracks – including another couple that we couldn’t use last year. There are also a few controls inSlaleyForest for the orienteers amongst you so hope to see you there.

It’s busy next month with 4 events in a week!!

Saturday 12^th May Keldy Cabins, Pickering Forest

Andrew Windrum has planned a Medium MBO event in the morning as part of the BMBO National League using Dave Evans’ controls for the NYMBO 3 hour Score event in the afternoon. You can ride in both but if you ride in the morning you have to enter non-competitively in the afternoon.

Wednesday 16^th May George & Dragon, Hudswell, Richmond

2 hour NYMBO Summer evening Score event around Swaledale

Saturday 19^th May Grassholme Reservoir, Teesdale

4 hour NEMBOS league event – same area as last year but all new control sites and even more private estate tracks to ride

Hope to see you at one or all of them.

Steve Willis

PS Our apartment in Samoens is still available for a few weeks in the summer and the chairlifts are open to mountain bikes in July and August!!

Here’s the link there full results & splits.What a fantastic day with unbelievable tracks considering the fact that these hills were covered in snow on Wednesday. Danny Chan and Dave Robertson had planned a great course which took us through all the best parts of this beautiful area and congratulations to Andy Conn who managed to visit all 30 controls

Spreadsheet also here Howardian Hills

It was great to see so many riders at our first league event of 2012. Thanks to Tim for an excellent course, Jens for an excellent map, Duncombe Park for a perfect event centre and access to some superb private tracks and final thanks to the usual band of willing helpers.
There aren’t many mountains in Ryedale but there was plenty of climbing. Most of the tracks were excellent to ride but some made you work harder than expected. Duncombe Estate had allowed us to use even more of their private tracks as it was between the shooting and nesting season. I decided to go for a scenic ride taking in 2 tracks I have never been able to ride before. Across Reivaulx Moor which was a bit wet but still very fast then down Beckdale which was brilliant. Many riders came back and said how much they had enjoyed their day and Andrew Windrum showed that the course wasn’t too large by scoring 450 points out of a possible 515!! Congratulations to him and all of the other category winners.
There were a few problems with it being the first event of the season. Dave & Sue Relton have retired from SI management as they want to ride (and enjoyed the views in Ryedale and around Reivaulx Abbey). Chris & Ralph Defty volunteered to step into their shoes and did a great job. There were queues at registration so thanks for your patience and we will sort out a better system for registering next month. It was my job to tidy up the entries once everyone had started but I didn’t manage to get in all of the changes – especially if riders used their own dibbers instead of hired ones. If your result is still incorrect please write a comment on the NYMBO web site and we will sort it out.
Tim also had problems planning as he couldn’t go onto the estate until the end of the shooting season on February 1st. This is why we didn’t find out about the nesting bird restrictions near #10 until Thursday. It also explains why I didn’t spot that the tracks from #13 to #30 and through Oscar Park Farm hadn’t been marked as permissive. I hope this didn’t spoil your ride. #30 was also put out on the wrong junction so if you didn’t find it or anynother errors in the results then please let me know. The simple results are on this web page and the splits have been posted on the Ebor web page with a link from the NYMBO page.
I sorted out the online entries and it took ages so please help next month by checking your details on the BMBO site. Register your SI card/dibber if you have one, add the name of your town or club and make sure that you are in the right class and gender! It also looks better if your name is written in this format eg Steve Willis – not STEVE WILLIS, steve willis or willis steve.
Hopefully we will see you next month at Terrington on Easter Saturday (7th) or Blanchand the following weekend (14th) and the details of the summer evening events have been posted on the web pages.
Cheers
Steve

PS Both riders who needed hospital treatment for chest pains on Saturday are ok but still in James Cook Hospital. Hopefully, they will make a full recovery and will be back on their bikes before the end of the season.
PPS Muddybums will be sponsoring the NEMBOS League this year and Tony Harker will be bringing a selection of sporting goods to all NYMBO and NEMBOS events. Please support him by buying some kit – it is excellent and competitively priced.

Online entries have now closed and we have got 121  pre-entered riders for this Saturday so there will be 19 spare maps for late entries and entry on the day.
This is the first NYMBO League event of the year and the National ranking list will replace the old National League for 2012. All events on the BMBO calendar, of 3 hours or more, that use SI or Emit will be included in the ranking list. Only riders who provide a current BMBO membership number will be included in the rankings.
So please make sure that you have renewed your membership for 2012.
See you on Saturday

I wanted a gentler ride today so I checked the final 10 controls for the event in May which starts at the George & Dragon in Hudswell. Hazy sunshine and the usual spectacular views especially on the new bridleway below Willance’s Leap.

Sorry for my mistake. This is a 3 hour event not 4 hours as I wrote last night. We are up to 30 pre-entries now but hopefully everyone else is going to get online this weekend.

Our first league event of 2012 will be held at Duncombe Park in Ryedale on Saturday 10th March. Tim Clarke has planned an excellent course and Duncombe Estate have allowed us to use even more of their private tracks this year because it is between the shooting and nesting seasons. This is a 3 hour event but don’t forget that there is a 2 hour league option if you don’t want to ride as far.
Online entries cost £11 but postal, email or on the day entries will cost you £12 – less deductions for BOF membership or your own SI card.
We have only got 20 pre-entries so please enter by March 6th to guarantee a map – then Jens knows how many to print. We will have 20 spare maps but if you decide to send an email after this date or just turn up and enter on the day you run the risk of only having a black and white map. Hope to see you there.

It was great to see 45 riders having a go at Andrew Windrum’s second attempt at planning courses in Gilling Woods. Everyone was relieved that he got it right this time so that the winning times reflected the Medium course distances. Congratulations to all of the category winners – particularly Killian Lomas (A course), Graham Fielding (B) and Nathan Parker (C). It was great to see Dave & Sue Relton on the other side of the SI desk and out on their bikes. However, it was disappointing to see a few riders lose their time through mispunching. Unfortunately, in this discipline of MBO, you have to get all of the controls to qualify and there are always extra controls to confuse you in the forest. It was great of Ebor to allow us to use the woods after their important orienteering fixture – but it also meant that there were over 60 extra controls in the forest!!
Thanks to Dennis Hooton for drawing up the courses and having them printed on waterproof paper. Thanks also to the volunteers who helped by collecting in most of the controls. Unfortunately I then locked two of them in the forest when I left so they had an anxious 20 minute wait until I got back and let them out!!
Our MBO Score league starts on March10th with a 3 hour event at Helmsley in Ryedale – and our next MTBO event will be at Pickering Forest on May 12th – in the morning before the Score event.
Final apologies to riders who paid too much online. Please claim your refund for BOF membership or your own SI card at the next event. I have amended the online entry form this evening.
PS I still prefer riding in Score events and from an organisers point of view they are far simpler and safer as you know that everyone will plan a route to match their ability and will take no more than 30 minutes longer than the time limit.

Max & Martin Vesty – Generation Team and 2nd overall
We set off looking to pick up 14 & 7 on the way to Brompton and we immediately ditched the first one (14) having looked at the muddy field. 15 points missed but we felt we’d do better using the time elsewhere later. After 7 we quickly picked up 2 and rode out to 30. We then headed further north to 29, 27 and 28 via 16, to avoid the direct bridleway to 28, which again we felt would be heavy going.

We then picked off 1, 24 and 17 and had decided that the better route for the remaining time would be to go further down the east side riding the short main road and lane to 20. The muddy lane to 18 was the muddiest we had it for the whole ride but then onward to 21 and 26 (the last 30 pointer) gave cracking views over to the Cleveland hills with the wind behind us. The bridge for 25 was just down the hill and at the road junction after 25 we had 9 mins left which ruled out grabbing 10 and 4. From here we headed as direct as we could back to base via 12 and with Max on my wheel it was team Moonglu time trial style back, with just two mins over the 2 hours needed to finish with 353 points.

Edwin Oliver Evans – Youth and First overall
Managed not to muck it up like the previous one. Here is my route for today’s race: 14, 7, 2, 6, 30, 11, 29, 27, 28, 16, 24, 17, 20, 18, 21, 26, 25, 4, 23, 12, 22, 5, finish.

After a wet start everyone managed to stay dry and the snow showers didn’t arrive until after we all got home. Thanks to John Dixon for planning the course, Jens Strain for another excellent map and the Fox and Hounds for a warm welcome when we finished.
Edwyn Oliver-Evans got it right this time to not only beat his Dad but also Andy Conn – which not many people manage. Andy got his usual 400 points with 1 penalty but it wasn’t enough to win overall. Martin & Max Vesty finished second again with a brilliant score of 353 to win the Generation class. Pippa Archer was the first female rider, Ralph & Chris Defty outscored the other mixed teams and I manage to beat the older riders. I enjoyed my ride having decided to head south so that I could ride along the Landmoth ridge with brilliant views on all directions. I then noticed that 4 of the 30 point controls were north of Northallerton so headed up there but only had time to visit 2 of them.
My route was 12 4 23 10 25 26 21 18 20 24 17 13 19 29 11 30 7 and I’ll add the other winning routes when they arrive.
This was the last winter MBO event so the first league event of the year is only 3 weeks away at Duncombe Park near Helmsley in Ryedale. Please enter online if possible and I hope to see you there.
The league posters are online the web page so please download a copy for your local bike shop or biking group.
The results are below so please let me know if there are any mistakes

Bullamoor results

Race report from Martin Vesty

Today’s route was immediately determined by the location of the 30 pointers. We had also decided to avoid as much bridleway as possible with the damp ground likely to be heavy going for young Max’s 13yrs old legs, despite the super light Moonglu Whyte’s C19 we were both riding.

We set off looking to pick up 14 & 7 on the way to Brompton and we immediately ditched the first one (14) having looked at the muddy field. 15 points missed but we felt we’d do better using the time elsewhere later. After 7 we quickly picked up 2 and rode out to 30. We then headed further north to 29, 27 and 28 via 16, to avoid the direct bridleway to 28, which again we felt would be heavy going.

We then picked off 1, 24 and 17 and had decided that the better route for the remaining time would be to go further down the east side riding the short main road and lane to 20. The muddy lane to 18 was the muddiest we had it for the whole ride but then onward to 21 and 26 (the last 30 pointer) gave cracking views over to the Cleveland hills with the wind behind us. The bridge for 25 was just down the hill and at the road junction after 25 we had 9 mins left which ruled out grabbing 10 and 4. From here we headed as direct as we could back to base via 12 and with Max on my wheel it was team Moonglu time trial style back, with just two mins over the 2 hours needed to finish with 353 points.

More top riding from young Max !