Cropton Forest Event – 20th April

The extensive network of forestry roads and minor byeways will, as ever, provide fast route choices to all parts of the competition area. However, once away from the main roads, paths and tracks will not be so reliable so route choice, even for short legs will be crucial. On the day of my final planning visit in mid-March the area was under 6” snow so no matter how favourable the weather may be in the coming weeks conditions are unlikely to be the same as last year’s event at the start of the season. The choice of control sites has taken this into account.

There has been extensive felling in both forests but this has not affected the state of the forest roads some of which have been even been improved. The emerging Moors to Sea (M2C) cycle route cuts across the area from west to east and this has brought with it improved track surfaces in some places. Other improvements  include re-routing of the bridleway currently through Rock Cottage (SE 754/947) to the north (there are notices at the start & finish),  and  upgrading to bridleway of the track passing the front of Middle Farm (SE 805/920) which now continues down to Newtondale.

I have used the following definitions in the written control descriptions:

1. A road: = any metalled or improved surface navigable by a standard family saloon and includes forestry roads.
2. A track: = a wide (car width) route through forest or farmland, may include rides and bridleways.
3. A path: = narrow, single track route, may include public footpaths
4. / (forward slash): = a junction between two different features
5. The description of the control site will usually give  compass direction in relation to the map feature

Dave Lloyd 14/03/13

This event has been rearranged for Saturday 5th October. All entries have been transferred to the new date but please let us know if you want your entry fee refunding. Further details later.

Having seen the weather forecast and talked to Dave Evans (the event planner) we have decided to cancel this Saturday’s event at Pocklington. We think it would be irresponsible to encourage 70 pre-entered riders to travel to Pocklington then ride for up to 4 hours in blizzards and sub-zero temperatures.
Here is the local forecast:

Friday: A bright, very cold, but icy start. Most parts will stay dry and bright with some sunshine but feeling very cold, especially later as a southeasterly breeze picks up. Clouds thickening through the night with outbreaks of rain, sleet and snow spreading from the southwest, turning to snow at most elevations by morning. A bitterly cold wind.
Saturday: Heavy snow and blizzards continuing through much of Saturday, slowly dying out during Sunday. Monday is mostly dry with some sunshine. Very cold and windy throughout.

Dave has also been unable to ride many of the bridleways during the last month as they have been too wet, icy or deep in snow so he wasn’t optimistic of many of you being encouraged to leave the road network without regretting it.
We will rearrange this event for later in the year and transfer your entries to the new date but refund any riders who can’t make it.
We hope you agree with this decision and can make it to our next events at either Allendale (NEMBOS) or Cropton Forest (NYMBO)

It’s one week until the first proper NYMBO event of 2013. Dave Evans has planned an excellent course on the better bridleways and country lanes on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds. You can read about Dave’s planning on the website. Hopefully, despite the wintry conditions in the last week the tracks will be as good as they were at this time last year. Please pre-enter by Wednesday to guarantee a pre-marked map and it will save you £1 if you do it online at BMBO. You can find the event flier here

2013 Leagues: Jens Strain has produced excellent posters for both the NYMBO and NEMBOS 2013 leagues – please print off copies for your local bike shop and your friends/riding groups and encourage them to have a go.
There are no major changes for 2013 but the 2 hour course has been replaced by a Novice option (at half price). BMBO membership is no longer free so please make sure that you rejoin for the year before your first event – it’s only £6 (and there are now discounts from a range of brand sponsors).

New for 2013: We’re going to experiment with publishing the area map (without controls) for each event on the web sites at 8pm on Tuesday before the event. The start and finish will be marked so that you can find the event and hopefully it will be less daunting for newcomers than seeing the map for first time when you register.

Last year we didn’t do quite as well at getting the results published as we would like. So this year, there’s a new results area, that’s a part of our website. This will include the main results table and all the splits in one place. To test it the 2012 event results are all there if you want to have a look. It’s not quite finished yet, so any feedback would be welcome.

The website is also having a spring clean! Based on feedback, the menu is improved, the layout and design has changed and some of the clutter has gone. It also now works properly at www.nymbo.org.uk Please do get in touch if there are any other improvements you would like to see.

Want to help out at an event?: We have a small but enthusiastic band of helpers but if you want to join them (and get a free ride) please let me know. There is always space for a few more – especially control collectors after the event.

Hope to see you at one of the events in 2013!
Steve

I last surveyed this area in 2009 and vividly remember a beautiful warm, sunny day in 2009 when the ground was dry, the riders all thirsty and hot and not a drop of rain fell. It won’t be like this  on 23rd March!

On the second of three visits to The Wolds, roads were closed after heavy snow the previous night, roads were flooded with meltwater, tracks were unrideable as I began to re-think my plan and complete the whole ride on minor roads!  The third visit was drenched in sunshine and even though some tracks cut up badly, they were mainly rideable, so Garry Wright and I completed the survey and hopefully have planned out a course that will challenge the young and energetic, encourage the beginners whilst opening up the wonderful views across the western Wolds.

The ride consists of road and bridleway, so whatever the weather, you will be able to ride most of the route.  If the weather improves (or just stays dry) then the bridleways will be excellent.  Both the 4 & 2 hour events should allow riders to explore many of the small country lanes and bridleways around Pocklington, Millington and Huggate, with some riders making it to Thixendale.

A word of caution about the landowners, who are not the most encouraging when bikes appear, so please note the out of bounds tracks and close all gates that you open.

Enjoy.

I received this email from Rebecca Watson and thought it might appeal to some of you as competitors or marshals. If you are interested please look at their website – address at the foot of this article.

Marie Curie Cancer Care are currently running an event called the Great Escape Challenge which is taking place on the 17th to 19th May this year in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, near Harrogate.

We are looking for approximately 35 volunteer marshals to help make this challenge a real success and wondered if some of your mountain bike orienteers would be interested in volunteering.

This exciting volunteer role is open to anyone that enjoys the great outdoors, maybe has an interest in events, sports, and has a reasonable level of fitness. This is a fun opportunity to meet like-minded people and enjoy an active outdoors event in the Yorkshire Dales.

Volunteers will be working in teams and exact roles will be allocated on the day. The type of activities include: setting up the course base, marshaling the challenges, registering participants and breaking down the event base. Ideally we need volunteers to be there from 08:30 on Friday morning to 19:00 on Saturday as a minimum requirement.

We will provide food and comfortable accommodation over the weekend. Reasonable travel expenses will also be reimbursed, upon request. Volunteers are also invited to join us for the prize giving and celebratory party on the Saturday night and leave on Sunday morning.

I would be greatly appreciative if you could advertise this opportunity amongst your group members. I have attached an information sheet, further outlining what volunteers can expect from the event. I have also attached a volunteer information form, to be completed by willing group members.

Further details about the event can be found on our website http://greatescape.mariecurie.org.uk/

Thanks, Rebecca Watson

Despite a foggy, a rather chilly, start to the morning it was good to see the sun burning through as the morning went on to give us a lovely clear day for the event.

We had a great turnout (which meant Steve printing some extra maps), and everyone seemed to have enjoyed themselves on the ride whatever route they took. Having planned two previous events in the same area, I tried to “winterise” the controls to allow everyone to get a good ride without being bogged down anywhere – and I think I managed to achieve that whilst ensuring a reasonable mix of on and off-road controls. I tried to make the area smaller than before, but with hindsight I would have made it even smaller. The high value controls on Caulkley Bank made that a popular choice for route choice, with some choosing the road over the bridleway (although it was rideable) between 28 and 22.

Planner’s hindsight means there are a few control switches I could  have made but it seemed to work out ok. I tried to avoid the inevitable “number on telegraph pole ” clues, and chose a mix of ‘ride through’ and ‘stop-and-think’ clues. I had a few comments about the maths involved but I like to test everyone’s skill, including reading historic plaques (control 11).

A couple of early returners couldn’t find control 2 so I thought it may have gone missing but later riders seemed to have found it – everyone got points and I’m sorry if it was harder work to find a 5 pointer!

The Malt Shovel is always a welcoming place and we are grateful for their hospitality. It was great to see so many happy, and mostly muddy, riders returning.

Thanks to everyone for taking part – the results are here (updated Sunday 17th 10:24): Hovingham Results (v3)

Dave

Online entries have now closed with 30 riders. Jens is printing 40 maps so there are 10 places available for entry on the day. The forecast isn’t bad for February so looking forward to an excellent couple of hours in the Howardian Hills

Beckwithshaw Results

Thanks to Tim for an excellent course, the Smiths Arms for the perfect event centre and Yorkshire for having such beautiful countryside. I’m so glad we postponed the event last week and managed to re-arrange it for today.

Beckwithshaw (photo courtesy Al Powell)

If you entered online and couldn’t make it please let me know (if you haven’t done so already) and I will credit your entry for the next event. Martin & Max won overall 53 points ahead of John Rawden (M50/60 winner) in second place. Chris Dodd used local knowledge to win M21/40 with 362 points, Karen Blackburn was first lady again with 290 points.

The winners routes will be posted on the NYMBO site and the next event is in a fortnight at the Malt Shovel, Hovingham on Saturday 16th February. Hope to see you there.
Cheers
Steve