British Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships
Day 2 of 2 - Quantocks
S>5: Lost 1min as CP was further on than I thought
5>3: Lots more tracks on the ground so a little hesitant otherwise OK
3>19: Lost over 5mins as went too far past CP
19>25: CP was a little higher than I had anticipated! Long hike a bike
25>20: OK (out and back)
20>21: OK
21>26: OK
26>22: Stopped for 3 mins on the ridge to try and work out what to do next. I stuck to plan A but there were plenty of other options!
22>7: Lost 3 mins as tree was further on than the the one I was trying to find. Got distracted by Teifion too!
7>4: I wasn't 100% certain where I was after getting back to the ridge so took it cautiously and used the compass a lot to check.
4>8: OK
8>18: I stopped a lot on this leg as it was difficult to read the map whilst riding. The organiser used orange brorken lines to show permissive paths through the forest. This was very difficult to see. he should have used blue as he had done in previous races.
18>10: Big climb to this CP and just beyond it.
10>6: I wasn't sure whether I should go for CP6 but I took an educated gamble and did an out and back. It was a bridleway cut up by horse hoofs so not fast.
6>2: Lost a little bit of time as I stopped at the wrong track junction looking for the tree.
2>F: Dropped 01 which cost me becoming British Champ. :-( Even though I was 3 mins late I should have got it, come back say 4 minutes later and finished a nett 4 points up on my actual score and beaten the eventual winner by 1 point!
But to be honest, Ifor Powell wold have won overall had he not got his bike pinched. I think a combination of his local knowledge and map reading skills would have kicked both my arse and Graham's [ Sorry to be hear about your bike Ifor :-( ]
Check out the average speed! Show show tough it was.