BMBO - Ruardean (North Forest of Dean)
SAF (Small Area Format)
I decided to go anti-clockwise on the blues first in the following order:
S>2: I had gone down here to test out the bike prior to the race so knew exactly where to go.
2>24: Long road section and decent climb.
24>4: Descent on gravel road and then mud track.
4>20: One minor error when I popped onto the road. I turned left instead of going straight on. Lost 40s. I remembered this from last year's event too.
20>16: Cautious due to complex network of tracks
16>14: OK
14>12: I've got 'lost' in this area before so I took it easy. Still made a minor mistake (30s) but noticed quickly. Only 5th fastest on this leg.
12>22: Up road to MTB centre and then up steep track to forest road. Remembered this from last year too.
22>8: OK. Stopped too soon so lost a little time.
8>6: Stopped at jct and thought it was too soon so carried on only to realise it was the correct track jct. Lost 1m.
6>18: Fast descent on widened mud track and then started climbing gravel road after road. Realised my mistake and then turned back and went up steep road. Lost 40s.
18>10: Another big climb on road. Only 7th fastest on this - not sure why so slow compared to others.
10>3: Two options available here but I chose to get 3 then 23 instead of other way around.
3>23: OK once onto road.
23>9: Big descent into Upper Lydbrook and got stuck behind a slow car so lost a bit of time. Then big climb to 9.
9>5: Saw CP 5 earlier so knew where it was.
5>21: Stopped a little too soon as there was another track on the ground. Lost a little time.
21>15: Decided to pick up 15 (25 pointer) then changed the map over.
15>13: Fast descent on mud track and crossed old railway line as did on the 14>12 leg but in opposite direction.
13>19: OK
19>17: In two minds whether to go for 1 (10) and then 11 (20) with likelihood of coming back early or miss 1 and go long for 17 (25) and 7 (15). Decided to roll the dice and go long as there were 10 more point available. Only just paid off.
17>7: I stopped too early on the mud track at another corner fence post and thought somebody had probably pinched it. Then realised I'd stopped too soon. Lost 40s. Only 6th fastest on this.
7>F: OMG I forgot that the Village Hall was at the top of a hill! Somebody told me later that it's the highest point in the Forest of Dean. Doh! Totally underestimated this and hence why I was just over 6 minutes late.
Less than 4 mins in 'lost' time which is not too shabby.
Far happier than my performance here last year. Intensity was higher and there were far less nav errors. This showed in the results too as I was 4th overall (10th last year) and finished ahead of Mark Morgan and Richard Haynes.
Pos | Name | Age Class | Score | Time |
1st | Ifor Powell | M50 | 486 | 03:03:08 |
2nd | Mark Rowley | M50 | 486 | 03:03:49 |
3rd | Iwona Szmyd | W40 | 483 | 03:05:31 |
4th | Gary Davies | M40 | 461 | 03:06:02 |
5th | Mark Morgan | M50 | 447 | 03:02:50 |
6th | Nick Dallimore | M60 | 415 | 02:58:18 |
7th | Richard Haynes | M50 | 415 | 02:58:26 |
8th | Mark Ponsford | M21 | 400 | 02:51:27 |
I covered far more distance than last year too. I only did 46km last year. :-)
Last year's log for reference:
https://ar.attackpoint.org/viewlog.jsp/user_6793/p...
Ifor and Mark had exactly the same strategy for picking up the CPs as did Mark Morgan but he was slighly slower so had to drop two. Whilst Iwona and I had different routes, 15 of the legs were the same so I could compare leg times. Conclusion is that she was faster on 8 of the 15 and 1m 53s faster over those 15 legs.
| Leg time | | | | |
Leg | Gary | Iwona | Fastest | GD faster by | Iwona faster by |
B24>4 | 03:42 | 03:48 | Gary | 00:06 | |
B4>B20 | 09:32 | 08:52 | Iwona | | 00:40 |
B20>B16 | 05:33 | 05:50 | Gary | 00:17 | |
B16>B14 | 06:13 | 06:31 | Gary | 00:18 | |
B14>B12 | 06:36 | 05:39 | Iwona | | 00:57 |
B12>B22 | 12:26 | 12:43 | Gary | 00:17 | |
B22>B08 | 09:08 | 08:47 | Iwona | | 00:21 |
B08>B06 | 06:09 | 05:25 | Iwona | | 00:44 |
R3>R23 | 02:55 | 03:13 | Gary | 00:18 | |
R23>R9 | 10:29 | 11:52 | Gary | 01:23 | |
R9>R5 | 08:49 | 08:38 | Iwona | | 00:11 |
R5>R21 | 07:28 | 08:51 | Gary | 01:23 | |
R21>R15 | 10:56 | 09:17 | Iwona | | 01:39 |
R15>R13 | 07:04 | 06:17 | Iwona | | 00:47 |
R13>R19 | 07:26 | 06:50 | Iwona | | 00:36 |
| 54:26 | 52:33 | | 04:02 | 05:55 |
| 01:53 | | | | 01:53 |