Tim Evans is organising 2 MTBO events in Yorkshire this weekend with winning times of 60 minutes. Please enter by April 29th if you want to reserve a map. You can read more about the MTBO league in 2016 here

Sunday 1st May Penistone Moor near Haworth starting at 1400 Enter here

Monday 2nd May Swinsty & Beecroft near Harrogate starting at 0900 Enter here

Hambleton Hills Organiser’s Comments

Thanks to Michael Brough for another excellent course in this great area on the edge of the North York Moors. The weather didn’t look too promising when we arrived but it did improve as the first riders set off down the hill. However, it has been a very wet winter so some of the tracks were still very soft and the bridleway which followed the stream below #57 was even deeper than normal. Thanks as ever to Jens for another excellent map, Geoff Moorhouse, Karen Blackburn, John Dixon, Frank & Sandra Appleton for helping on the day and Dave Lloyd, Karen & Richard Clark, Ray Morriss and Tim & Edwin who helped Michael collect the controls after they had finished. Thanks also to John & Sheila who welcomed us to their farm despite being in the middle of their very hectic lambing season. Their farm is also a camping and caravan site so check out www.bungdaleheadcamping.co.uk if you want to go back for a more leisurely visit.

Congratulations to Ian Nixon for nearly clearing up with 513 points closely followed by Graham Tibbott (495) and impressive riding from Rik Thompson (M40-470), Conrad Ellison & Tim Evans (M50-both 442), Roger de Faye (M60-385), Tony & Angela Brand-Barker (X50-355), John Aspden (M70-340), Jill Ellison (W40-309), Chris & Roy Partington (Gen-305) Clare de Faye (W60-250).You can follow their routes using the splits file and course map on the NYMBO site.

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride as usual and, being non-competitive, chose to stay in the forest on the plateau before heading down Wass Bank – encountering a few envious looks from the riders grinding up in the opposite direction. Then it was into White Horse Bank but leaving out the lowest 2 controls to give me time to get 54 and 59 from the top after climbing up the road – which was busier than usual due to Sutton Bank being cloesd for a while. It worked too well so that I was back early especially as the final climb up to the finish wasn’t as bad as expected.

There were a couple of controls that caused problems as they weren’t exactly where marked on the map – sorry. So if you couldn’t find 38 or 46 or wasted time and were late please let me know and I will adjust your score or time.

John Dixon has offered to look after the results again so the new league table (with some familiar names already in the lead) is on the Results page.

I am planning the OMM Bike event in the White Peak District on April 23^rd/24^th. Entries have closed at https://www.theomm.com/omm-bike-peak-district-2016/ but you can still enter the 3 hour course via the BMBO site. Or I can always do with help over the weekend putting out and collecting in the controls.

The next NYMBO event is at Knight Stainforth in the Yorkshire Dales where you can ride around fantastic scenery for 5 hours on an excellent course planned by Alex Pilkington. Don’t forget to approach along the minor road through Stackhouse from Settle along the west of the River Ribble rather than the (B6479) Stainforth road.

Finally, Matthew Streets & Pete Swanborough are doing some fundraising for the local hospital unit. Matthew’s daughter, Grace, was born last year with a rare medical condition called Congenital Hyper Insulinism.She is doing ok but needs ongoing care so they will be riding three long distance MTB events to raise funds.

The first event was on 3rd April is Round 1 of the Adventure Cross Series, Moors and Shores from Dalby Forest, then the NYMBO Moors Marathon in July and finally the Kielder 101 on September 3^rd. NYMBO will be donating £50 after the Marathon so please visit https://www.justgiving.com/Streetsswanborough1 if you would like to support them

Hope to see you at another event soon

Steve

Planner’s Report

Considering Friday’s weather forecast, the weather turned out to be superb on Saturday. During the planning in January the tracks were very wet and muddy and judging by the state of some the riders and bikes on Saturday nothing had changed. I tried to plan the event with plenty of route choices. Hopefully, for those taking part, you all agreed with this. The start and finish were never going to be easy, as you can testify as you had steep climbs which ever way you went. I would like to thank everyone who helped make this a successful event, especially Steve, Jens, the control collectors and the energetic riders. Thanks also to the Fosters for the use of their farm as our base with such great views.

Michael

Thanks to Tim Evans for an excellent course, Jens for another well-drawn map and the Royal Oak for their hospitality. 38 riders took part in the final winter event and congratulations to the winners. Everyone seemed to enjoy their rides as the orienteering gives purpose to a ride which we probably wouldn’t have bothered with when we saw the forecast. Here are the results so please let me know if there are any mistakes.

Staveley Results

It was close in both men’s categories where Nathan had an excellent ride to win with 457 point, 2 points ahead of Phill Collings 453 then Graham Tibbott 446. Martin Vesty won the Veteran class with 445 just one point ahead of Neil Reed with 444. There were 3 Generation pairs – Male – Dave & Gabe Collins 297, Female – Jemima & Lois Parker 251 then Mixed – Jonathon & Tessa Buckley with 219 in their first event.
Karen Blackburn won the Ladies section with 268 points while John Deighton & Ceri Williams were the first Mixed pair with 225 points.

I’ll ask the leaders to post their routes. I thoroughly enjoyed my ride as usual because it brought back memories of many rides when I lived in Aldborough and also planned my first 5 hour event using many of these tracks. My route was 2 30 19 21 23 5 15 29 20 22 13 28 18 8 25 12 24 17 10 1. Fortunately, I didn’t get caught up in the hunt like some riders.
The league starts next month with a 3 hour event in the Howardian Hills. Karen Clark has been checking out the bridleways and booked Terrington village hall. Its a beautiful area so I hope you can make it.

Thanks to Dave Lloyd for a well-planned course which took us along the better bridleways and quiet country lanes through picturesque villages in a small window of good weather. Thanks to Jens for another excellent map, the White Bear for a warm welcome and 27 riders for believing the forecast and enjoying the course.

Here are the results. Please let me know if there are any mistakes

Stillington Results
Congratulations to the category winners.
Generation Luke & Adrian Parker 250
Senior Men Phill Collings 231
Mixed Andrea & Steve Foster 200
Veteran Men David Day 190
Women Karen Clark 183

I’ve asked them to post their routes on the NYMBO page. Here is the map so that you can follow them.

2016 Stillington 50000 Working Drawing with Controls 11th January

I thoroughly enjoyed my second ride of the year and my first dry one. I went via 11 and 16 (as I hadn’t ridden those bridleways before) 1 8 14 2 26 (as I hadn’t ridden it for years) 10 22 9 15 27 finishing with 18 (the only muddy one). I rode 36k. and finished 10 minutes before it started snowing. (I also got home in an hour unlike last month when it took 4 hours).
Our final winter event is on February 20th from the Royal Oak at Staveley near Knaresborough and Tim Evans has planned another challenging course. Hopefully it will be drier than it looks on some of the photos he has sent me from his planning rides.
Steve

Thanks to 33 riders who ignored the forecast and rode on Rik Thompson’s excellent course around Tadcaster. It was the coldest, wettest day this year and the only redeeming feature was the absence of wind. Despite this everyone seemed to enjoy their rides when they had thawed out in the very welcoming Coach & Horses. It has been said that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes. After today, I’m not going to use that expression again as no kit was good enough to keep us dray or our feet warm. As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed my ride but decided at Bramham that I wouldn’t be staying out for the full 2 hours so didn’t venture south of the A64. My route was 7 27 16 26 11 1 8 20 22 13 18 28 17 21 6 9 and I’ll ask the winners to post theirs. Here are the map and results

2015 Tadcaster 40000 TH Working Drawing with Controls 24th November

Tadcaster Results

The only thing I didn’t enjoy about the day was the 4 hour drive trying to get home through the snow to Richmond. I ended up leaving the car at Skeeby and walking the last 2 miles. Hope it’s still there in the morning and everyone else got home safely.

Hope to see you at the next event at Stillington in January.
Merry Christmas from Rik and me at the Coach & Horses

Steve

We have only had two comments about how to improve the numbers of riders at our events. One suggestion is that we have a few Sunday events and the other is that we need to advertise more on the Web, Facebook and Twitter. We need to start applying for dates and permissions for next year soon so please let me know what you think of these suggested events.

This is only a provisional list so please don’t print it out or send it to your friends yet as I haven’t cleared the dates with BMBO or checked with any landowners for permission.

We still need a publicity ‘officer’ and planners for Wykeham and Malham so please let me know if you are interested.

There are only 10 events on this list so it will be your best 5 events to score next year

There will also hopefully be 2 MTBO events organised by Tim Evans and Andrew Windrum

I haven’t fixed a date for the 10th Moors Marathon yet so please let me know if you have any suggestions

I am also planning the Spring OMM Bike event in the Peak District on April 23rd/24th

Hope to see you at Tadcaster

Steve

Here are the results from yesterday

Hunton results

Fortunately, the forecast was correct so the wind died down and the sun came out but it was still too cold for our feet to stay dry. Thanks to Jens for another excellent map but I must apologise for marking #22 in the wrong place! Thanks to Tony and his staff at the Countryman Inn for a warm welcome – especially afterwards. Congratulations to the category winners especially in the very competitive Generation class. I thoroughly enjoyed my ride as usual but, looking at the snow further up Wensleydale, I  was glad that the highest control on our course was at 268m. My route was        3 20 27 22 11 21 15 16 10 29 12 23 9 5. Please can you comment and add your routes? Hope to see you at our next event at Tadcaster on 12th December

Thanks to John Dixon for working out your scores. Here is the league table

LEAGUE 2015 after 11 events

Please let me know if there are any mistakes.

Congratulations to the 2015 NYMBO Champions

Graham Tibbot -M21; Conrad Ellison -M40; Tim Evans -M50; Ray Morriss – M60

Sheila Pearce – W40; Helen Bagley – W50; Karen Blackburn – W60

Ruth Greenwood & Graeme Murray -X40; Andrea & Steve Foster -X50; Karen Clark & Steve Roberts -X60

Chris & Roy Partington _Gen; James Martin – Y18

Prizes were kindly donated by Yorkshire Dales Brewery and Richardsons Cycles.

Thanks to Steve Roberts & Karen Clark, Peter Swanborough, Graham Fielding, Ben Martin, Andy & Corinne Parsons, Andy Murphy, Michael Brough, Conrad & Jill Ellison and Dave Lloyd for planning the 2015 NYMBO League events. We will have a similar format next year but I will make sure that there aren’t as many so close together at the end of the season

Here is the map so that you can follow the riders routes

2015 Boltby and Silton Working Drawing with Controls 12th October

Thanks to Dave Lloyd for an excellent course and congratulations to the winners

Splits are on the Results page so please let me know if there are any mistakes or if you want to claim #54

Planner’s Report

The bridleway between Black Hambleton and High Paradise must be one of the best in Yorkshire so it was no surprise that those of you who finished that way, with the
wind at your backs, had the biggest smiles. Starting high always poses the problem of when and where to regain the height lost but even those who slogged to the finish
from Boltby seemed satisfied with their efforts.

I hope the notes provided beforehand helped. The felling in both forests and the manicuring of fire breaks (unrideable earlier in the year) in Silton significantly changed the
appearance of both areas between initial planning and the actual event although I know that this did not put some of you off venturing onto some of the more difficult tracks
including the downhill section.

I know that some people rode past 54 . The bracken there was head height, completely obscuring the boundary stone, and the control was not visible from the track so it
was double taped. If you punched 35 and 39 let Steve know and you can have the points. Sorry I can’t do anything about time lost for those who rode past then went back.
Generally I’m not altogether in favour of taping every control. My philosophy when planning is that whenever possible the site should be a specific map feature which can
be navigated to and the control should be fully visible from the track (not hidden) whatever direction it is approached from.

Apologies to those of you who visited 40. Had I known that the farmer would harrow and re-seed the field next to the road, plough to the edges of the fields to the SW of the
bridge and that a team of horses would be parachuted in to mess up the section of the track south of the bridge I would not have used it.

High Paradise Farm provided a very civilised event centre and fitting venue for the end of season presentations so thanks to Ginny and her team for their efforts. Biggest
thanks are saved for the volunteers who helped collect the controls afterwards Zoe Cowgill, Carl Vincent, Adrian Baskerville and Andy’s (Conn & Windrum) who waited until after the prize giving and still had everything back by 6 o’clock. It take almost a full day to set out the controls beforehand so It is sobering to think that Andy Conn almost cleared up with time to spare.

Dave Lloyd

Boltby & Silton Forest Organiser’s Comments

Thanks to Dave Lloyd for another excellent course in this great area with fast forest tracks, moorland bridleways and undulating minor roads. Thanks as ever to Jens for another excellent map, Karen Blackburn and John Dixon for helping on the day and Andrew Windrum, Carl Vincent, Adrian Baskerville, Zoe Cowgill and Andy Conn who helped Dave collect the controls after they had finished. Thanks also to Ginny for an excellent event centre at High Paradise Farm where the cafe will be open every weekend until the end of January

Congratulations to Andy Conn winning M40 (and overall) with an impressive ride visiting almost all of the controls for 500 points with Andrew Windrum just 4 points behind; John Houlihan on a rare MBO ride M50-475; Graham Tibbot M21-431; Angela Brand Barker W50-405 and first Woman; Sue Booth W40-394; Ray Morriss was back on form M60-389; Steve & Andrea Foster X50-349 and first Mixed again; Ben & Steve Collins Gen-319; Karen Blackburn W60- 310.You can follow their routes using the splits file and course map on the NYMBO site.

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride as usual and, being non-competitive, could choose to only go down and up the escarpment once. I decided to clear Boltby Forest before heading down the new track to Brickshed Cottage (which will be marked more clearly as a permissive route next time). Roads to Silton then up through the forest and finish along the excellent Cleveland way with a following wind spotting 54 on the way which you can claim if you missed it.

It was good to see a few more riders for the final event of the season but we could do with a few more next year. Thanks for staying to collect your prizes and applaud the leading riders. Thanks also to Yorkshire Dales Brewery and Richardsons Cycles for their sponsorship. The Tee shirts were paid for out of the profit that NYMBO made this year.

I have already got planners for 10 events next year so please let me know if you would like to plan one or help on the day. Offers are always accepted!!

The winter events start next month at the Countrymans Inn, Hunton (near Bedale) on Saturday 21^st November and I have got planners for the other 3 so the details are on the web page.

I hope you can make it to one or more of them.

Steve

Here is the updated league table which is also in the Results section

LEAGUE 2015 after 10 events

Many of the categories are already decided but there is still an opportunity for some riders to improve their scores at the final event at Boltby & Silton Forest on October 17th.

M21 1st Graham Tibbot 2nd Ben Martin

W21 & X21 No Competition

M40 Conrad Ellison is leading but David Cowgill, Phill Collings and Andrew Windrum can all overtake him unless he improves on his 71% from Swaledale

W40 1st Sheila Pearce 2nd Jill Ellison

X40 1st Ruth Greenwood & Graeme Murray

M50 John Rawden is 3 points ahead of Phil Upton but Time Evans could still overtake them both

W50 1st Helen Bagley

X50 1st Andrea & Steve Foster

M60 1st Ray Morriss with 4 riders capable of 2nd place

W60 1st Karen Blackburn

X60 1st Karen Clark & Steve Roberts

Youth James Marin has a 2 point lead over Nathan Parker

Generation Chris & Roy Partington have a 50 point lead but can still be caught by Steve & Ben Collins or Nathan & Adrian Parker

The event centre for the final event is at High Paradise Farm where the café will be open all day so I hope you can make it and stay for the league presentations at 4.30. Prizes have been kindly donated by Yorkshire Dales Brewery and Richardson’s Cycles and leading riders will also receive the ‘highly coveted’ NYMBO Tshirts.