A great mixture of riding on a beautiful winter’s day

Here are the results

Ripon Results

and here is the map with controls

2014 Ripon TH Working Drawing with Controls 7th December

Thanks to David Day for another excellent course which was perfect for December with street navigation as well as some cracking bridleways, 7 riders cleared all 30 controls so everyone else got better scores than usual and there were no complaints. The South Lodge made an excellent event centre with a warm welcome and lovely food.
Merry Christmas and, hopefully, we’ll see as many riders at Biggin on January 24th.
Steve
PS Someone left some gloves and I still have a pair of cycling shoes from Grewelthorpe. Please let me know if they are yours.

Here are the suggested fixtures for next year so that you can plan your holidays around them.

Provisional events 2015

Thanks to the planners who have volunteered to do all of the hard work next year.  I will confirm these dates and venues once I have heard from the landowners and agencies.

Here are the results so please let me know if there are any mistakes. Thanks to Dave Robertson for an excellent course which was very enjoyable despite the fog and muddy conditions. Thanks also to the Malt Shovel in Hovingham for opening early and welcoming 47 grubby riders afterwards! Roz Bardon won the spot prize for guessing the location of the photo which was near #15.  Next event at Ripon on December 13th. Hope to see you there.

Hovingham Results

Here is the map if you couldn’t make it. 2 class winners have replied with their routes. I did get the highest score on the day but had seen the map beforehand and made a few suggestions. I also know the area really well but chuffed to get more points than Andy Conn for the first time ever.

My route was 8 22 16 25 7 1 6 26 21 2 11 12 4 10 14 24 29 15 19 23 28 9

Andy’s route was very similar except that he went to 17 after 7, 28 after 4 and left out 24!

2014 Hovingham TH 40000 Working Drawing with Controls 9th November

Treasure hunt MBO dates and locations:

SAT 15th NOVEMBER 2014 Malt Shovel, Hovingham YO62 4LF

SAT 13th DECEMBER 2014 South Lodge, Ripon HG4 1ST

SAT 24th JANUARY 2015 York/Malton area – to be confirmed

SAT 21st FEBRUARY 2015 Harrogate/Knaresborough area – to be confirmed

Full details and entry here

Nidderdale Organiser’s Comments

Thanks to David Day for yet another excellent course which used the intricate lane and bridleway network south and east of Grewlthorpe and the cracking moorland bridleways to the west. It was only 2C when I left home which brought back memories of our last visit to Grewelthorpe so I was glad when the sun broke through the fog to give a perfect calm autumn day – although the mist seemed to linger longer around North Stainley.

Thanks to Grewelthorpe Village Hall for an excellent event centre including refreshments and thanks to Jens for yet another excellent map.

Thanks to the helpers I was able to enjoy my ride after I got over my annoyance caused by #60 having been stolen. At least it was in an obvious place and replaced quickly by David with a punch but if you went there and haven’t got the points please let me know. A few riders decided to use the road between 60 and 59 but I preferred to head back through Ilton and over the moors before the superb ride across Fountains Earth Moor to Swetton.

Congratulations to Graham Fielding and Al Powell – joint leaders in M40 with 464 points – with John Houlihan only 2 points behind in M50. Ray Morriss won M60 comfortably as did Rik Thompson in M21. Jill Ellison was the highest scoring woman and Nathan Parker won Y18.

John Dixon sorted out the results very quickly so that the prizegiving took place promptly at 3.30. Prizes had been kindly donated by the Yorkshire Dales Brewing Company and Richardsons with engraving by Keith James Jewellery of Richmond.

Extra prizes and t-shirts came from the surplus money in the NYMBO account.

Congratulations to the category winners

M21 Rik Thompson W21 Jenny Sutton X21 Kelly & Dave Wilby

M40 Andrew Windrum W40 Sheila Pearce X40 Ruth Greenwood & Graham Murray

M50 Graham Fielding W50 Charlotte Somers-Cocks X50 Andrea & Steve Foster

M60 Ray Morris W60 Karen Blackburn X60 Karen Clark & Steve Roberts

Final thanks to the control collectors everything was in before it started to rain at 5.00.

The 2015 league will start again in March with a mixture of 3 and 4 hour events. Please let me know if you would like to offer to plan one.

Our winter events start on Saturday 15^th November in the Howardian Hills – details on the web site.

Hope to see you there.

Steve

Late PS Someone left a pair of cycling shoes at the village hall. I have got them at home so please let me know if they are yours.

Here is the map so you can check riders routes if you couldn’t make it.

Full report tomorrow but 4 quick points

What a great day to finish the season – cool but dry in sunny and stunning countryside looking down on the fog banks beyond Ripon

We were disappointed that #60 was stolen so please let me know if you went there and didn’t let us know at Download so that I can give you the points.

Someone left a pair of cycling shoes. Please let me know if they are yours

2 riders didn’t download so I have emailed them. Reminder to everyone that if you start you must download so that we know you are back safely – and don’t just rely on seeing an empty car park!!

If you check my route on Strava you may notice that I forgot to turn if off at Grewelthorpe so I have got some remarkable times on my drive home to Richmond. I’ll check my bike computer in the morning!

Here are the league positions after 10 events so only one more chance to improve your score. Some classes are already decided but others are up for grabs so I hope you can make it to Grewelthorpe on October 11th. Please let me know if there are any mistakes or any of your scores are missing.

NYMBO League 14 after 10 events

Richardson’s Cycles of Scarborough and Yorkshire Dales Brewing Company are sponsoring the prizes again this year with engraving by Keith James Jeweller’s of Richmond – as well as the highly sought-after NYMBO tee shirts. So here are the riders in contention and the score they need to improve.

NYMBO League 14 qualifiers

M21 Rik Thompson’s leading by 15 points so it depends on Ben Martin – and the famous Dixon/Duckworth/Lewis formula for planners

W21 looks like Jenny Sutton if Brittany rides with Peter in the Mixed category again

X21 Kelly & Dave Wilby are the winners

M40 Andrew Windrum has maximum points and is the overall Men’s Champion. Conrad Ellison is definitely 2nd so it’s between Phill Collings and David Cowgill for 3rd place although Mark Rowley has an outside chance

W40 only 2 points separate Sheila Pearce and Sue Booth and one of them will be the overall Women’s Champion

X40 Ruth Geenwood & Graeme Murray are the winners

M50 Graham Fielding is the winner and it’s unlikely that Tim, Michael, John or Phil will be able to improve on their lowest score enough to change their order

W50 Charlotte is leading despite only having ridden 4 events so Helen and Ceri both need a good score to stand any chance of overhauling her

X50 Ralph & Chris have a 4 point lead but Steve & Andrea still have one more score to count so it all depends on the final event

M60 Ray Morris is the winner and Geoff will probably finish 2nd so it’s up to John Dixon and Dennis Jaques who finishes 3rd

W60 Karen Blackburn is the winner

X60 Steve Roberts and Karen Clark are the winners

Y18 Nathan Parker is the winner as are Adrian & Luke Parker in the Generation category

The prizegiving will take place promptly at 3.30 in Grewelthorpe Village Hall on Saturday 11th October

Here is Saturday’s map. It’s a large file but you will be able to follow the riders’ routes from the splits if you couldn’t make it

2014 Dalby 30000 Working Drawing with Controls 29th August

Dalby Weekend Organiser’s Comments

Thanks to Dave Lloyd for yet another excellent course which ensured that we used the full variety of forest roads, broad tracks, purpose-built and older singletracks in order to visit all of the controls. The weather was disappointing but we were still able to make good progress in this bike-friendly forest.

Thanks to the Fox & Rabbit for an excellent event centre but the Start was 3km away in the forest to avoid you having to cross the very busy A169 in a hurry twice. I hope you enjoyed the warm-up and also the opportunity to check out the route back to the Finish. (It wasn’t that bad)!! Dave had put out the tape to help you find the controls as soon as you reached the right feature and Jens mapping was excellent as ever.

Thanks to the helpers I was able to thoroughly enjoy my ride having decided to head anti-clockwise to climb gradually near Givendale then clear the plateau by using the excellent Red route section between 52 and 56. I ignored Bickley and made the decision with over an hour left at Jerry Noddle to go down the slithery bridleway towards Langdale for 44 and 59 before the climb back up to Crosscliffe which disappeared in a blanket of fog as I arrived. Through 54 and 34 then it was just a fast decent down the forest drive before the final climb out of Staindale.

Andrew Windrum (M40) showed that all the training in Poland had psyched him up for this event so that he cleared up with 7 minutes to spare. (Seriously, 3^rd in the World Championships is a brilliant result). Conrad Ellison (M40) had another excellent ride to finish 2^nd overall with 485. Ian Nixon (M21) finished 3^rd with 471 despite a (slowly-repaired) puncture. (His words not mine). Tim Evans won M50 with 463, Nathan Parker (Y18) scored 442 then Adrian Baskerville won M60 with 400. Adrian & Luke Parker were the only Generation pair and scored an excellent 383.

Sheila Pearce was the leading female rider with 399 and the other winners were Karen Blackburn (W60-305), Katy Cawthorn (W21-265) and Helen Bagley (W50-245). In the Mixed categories it was Steve & Andrea’s turn to beat Ralph & Chris by 10 points with 355, Karen & Steve won X60 with 280 followed by Kerrie & Peter Moore (X40-245) then Martin & Sarah Naylor (X21-229).

Thanks to the control collectors everything was in by 5.30 so that I was able to tidy up and get ready for the morning before heading off to the Fox & Rabbit for a delicious meal.

The weather wasn’t any better in the morning for the Moors Marathon but it didn’t stop 48 riders from enjoying the 4 courses – the only really unpleasant bridleway being the track from Lilla Cross to Breckon Howe. Thanks to the volunteer control marshals for giving you a warm welcome at 5 controls this year. They were Corinne Parsons, Mike Nayler & Carol Donnelly, Frank & Sandra Appleton, Roger Hartley and Michael Brough. Graham Fielding didn’t quite get round in 5 hours on the Long course but, to be fair, it is actually 104km (with 1900m climb) so a very impressive time. 16 other riders completed the A course but only 2 riders finished the B course – 4 riders opting for the shorter route after too many sausage rolls at Breckon Howe. 25 riders enjoyed the C course and the ride over Goathland Moor was better than expected but there were only 3 riders (and me) opted for the beautiful short course around the Hole of Horcum. However, everyone has to climb out of the Newtondale valley from Farwarth Crossing so apologies for the sting in the tail at the finish but there really isn’t another option. I worked out the distances a few years ago without the benefit of Strava, Viewranger etc so I will update the information for next year. I am also happy to amend the routes if you have any suggestions. Another good day despite the murky weather and £250 will be donated to the Scarborough & Ryedale Mountain Rescue Team. It would be great to see more riders next year so please let your mates know.

Our final NYMBO league event is at Grewelthorpe near Ripon on Saturday 11^th October. David Day has planned an excellent course on the Kirby Malzeard Moors. The starts are an hour earlier than usual between 10 and 11. Parking is at Newholme Farm Caravan Park which is 500m from the village hall where hot refreshments will be on sale before and afterwards so please support them. Prizegiving for the BMBO and NYMBO Leagues will take place at 3.30 so please stay to collect your prize(s) and/or applaud the winners.

Hope to see you there or at one of the winter events which will be announced soon..

Steve

Wykeham & Broxa MBO Organiser’s Comments

2014 Wykeham and Broxa 30000 Working Drawing with Controls 31st July

Thanks to Dave Evans for an excellent course which tested our navigation as well as our fitness. It is very different terrain to Malham but the weather stayed dry for both events – unlike the rest of the country. Thanks to Wykeham Estate and Hackness Village Hall for an excellent event centre.

I was disappointed to overhear a few experienced riders moaning about ‘hunt the thimble’ and ‘******* ridiculous’ without thinking about the effort that goes into planning and organising these events or considering that they might actually have made a mistake. If you have got some constructive criticism, please think about it and have a quiet word with me after the event. If you have only got negative comments, then keep them to yourself or ride somewhere else. I had difficulty heading up the right track out of Wrench Green, finding 53 due to a fallen tree, 58 as I read the wrong description and 45 which was further down than I expected but they were all my fault.

All of the controls were exactly as marked on the map and as described on the description list except for #58 which caused a problem because it just read ‘100m north of …..’ with the word ‘junction’ missing. I have credited 3 riders with this control so please let me know if you couldn’t find it and I will adjust your score. Unfortunately, Dave forgot to put out any tape which would have helped some riders find some controls more quickly so I will remind all future planners!

I thoroughly enjoyed my ride, despite those 4 mistakes, having decided to head clockwise into Wykeham then across the valley through Broxa onto the northern escarpment so that I finished down Whisperdale. Everything went according to plan and some of the views were fantastic. These are working forests so there have been a few changes which Dave hadn’t spotted such as the new track between #47 and #42 and the new forest road between #45 and #51. Jens will add these and others to the map before next time – but thanks for another excellent map. Thanks also to the helpers especially Geoff Moorhouse who stepped in at the last minute so that I could have a ride.

Rik Thompson (M21) took advantage of Andy & Andrew’s absence to record the highest score of the day for the first time this year with 463. Graham Fielding (M50) came 2^nd with 435 and Martin & Max Vesty tied for 3^rd place with John Galway on 400 (2^nd M50) who was riding for the first time this year and used his local knowledge to good effect. Conrad Ellison won M40 with 395 and Geoff Moorhouse won M60 with 376 – – funny how the person in charge of download always seems to do well!!!!

In the Women’s section, Jill Ellison won W40 with 280 followed by Karen Blackburn W60-260, Ceri Williams W50-240 then Brittany Scowcroft W21-235. Andrea & Steve Foster won X50 with 358 well ahead of Ralph & Chris Defty (293), X21 Simon Walker & Katy Cawthorn (310) and X60 Karen Clark & Steve Roberts (275). Finally, Brendan & Evan Smurthwaite won the Generation class with 205 points thanks to Max & Martin riding M21.

John Dixon will add these (and Malham) results to the league which will be posted in the next couple of days. We have decided to ignore Kevin Smith’s brilliant score at Malham for the NYMBO League so your percentage will be based on Graham Fielding’s score of 697.

I am planning the Westmorland OMM Bike event from Orton (near Tebay) on Saturday & Sunday 6/7^th September and Jens has drawn the map. It’s a great area that is rarely visited but online entries for the main courses have now closed. However, there is a Non-Competitive 3 hour course available each day and you can still enter online at www.bmbo.org.uk.

If you don’t want to compete but fancy riding in this area I still need a couple of volunteers to help me put out or collect controls from Friday to Monday. Please email me at stevewillis3@btinternet.com if you would like to help. OMM will pay your travel expenses and provide a free evening meal each evening!!

Our next league event is at Dalby Forest on Saturday 20^th September

You can make it a full weekend if you ride in the Moors Marathon on Sunday and camping is available at the event centre at the Fox & Rabbit.

Hope to see you at another event soon..

Here is the updated League table after the Cropton weekend

NYMBO League 14 after 7 events