Race At Bottlelake Forest 11 July

[XCguy]

This coming Saturday (11 July) afternoon there is a mountainbike orienteering event at Bottlelake that is open to anyone to enter. These events are heaps of fun and you can enter as an indivdual or as a team. This particular event is partly an experiment as it using a new format which should be a lot of fun and quite socialble. The start is at 2pm (mass start), registration from 1pm and for 3 person teams their last legs will be ridden in the dark! There is a bad weather plan for a different format so if it is snowing or whatever you won't be hanging around for a long time getting cold

The format uses three different maps (A, B and C) and works as follows:
> for three person relay teams - the first rider will go out and ride course A, come back, tag the second rider who will ride course B, then the 3rd rider will ride course C, then back to the first rider again who this time will ride course B etc etc until each rider has ridden every course.
> for 2 person teams - the same format as above will apply with both riders riding 3 courses
> for individuals - they will just ride all 3 courses back-to-back.

Experienced mountaimbikers Ian Edmond and Nora Audra have planned the courses so they will undoubtedly be good!

Entry is $25 for seniors, $15 for juniors and $65 for a family team.

They will be using electronic punching for the event and so there is a small fee ($3) to hire an SI card if you don't already have one.

NOW THE IMPORTANT BIT! As this is the first time they have run this event format they have no idea how many riders to expect, so PLEASE E-MAIL CLAIRE at claire.heppenstall@xtra.co.nz if you are thinking of coming - this is just an indication, you don't have to pay until the day so if you pull out it doesn't cost you anything, but they need to know so they can get an estimate of how many maps to print.

If you have never done this type of event before and are feeling uneasy don't fret as there will be heaps of experienced people there who can show you what to do. And it's super easy and only as competitive as you make it

Feel free to PM me if have any questions.

[kender]

Sounds like a fun event, but what's the orienteering component?

[XCguy]

Sounds like a fun event, but what's the orienteering component?

The orienteering component is that you're riding following a map, not following arrows.

The map is a detailed trail map of the forest and will have a series of circles marked on it. The objective is to visit each of those circled points (called controls) and return to the finish as fast as you can (if you're wanting to be competitive). There will be a marker at each point that confirms you've been there.

The navigation is easy and all riding is on trails. All you have to do is decide which is the best route to take to get from one control to the next. A well organised event will ensure there are usually multiple options between any two controls to make you think about things like "shall I take the faster but longer gravel road or the shorter but slower singletrack?". To aid with these decisions the riding difficulty of trails are also shown by the type of line (dashed or solid).

What may seem confusing at first is actually pretty easy and these types of events tend to become quite addictive once you've done one or two.

Something that does really help is being able to mount the map on your handlebars. The top guys use a flash mapboard that costs $100 or more. I have done dozens of these events using a board I made up for about $15. But if you just want to try of these events to start with then a simple method is to put a bulldog clip on the top of itn icecream lid that is cabletied to your handlebar stem.

For those who want to make a cheap board then I have instructions on my site here... http://www.mountainbike.orconhosting.net.nz/mapboard.htm

[TMouse]

What sort of distances are involved?

[XCguy]

What sort of distances are involved?

For this particular event I really don't know but am guessing about 30 minutes of riding per map (so 1.5 hrs total per person). For many of these events you are able to choose a long or short option but this Saturday is a different format to what we have done before.

If you want to know for sure then best to email Claire using the address in my first post.

[pb]

The original post mentions riding in the dark, so must be a bit longer than 1.5hrs. Since it starts at 2pm, must be at least 3 hours or so long.

[XCguy]

The original post mentions riding in the dark, so must be a bit longer than 1.5hrs. Since it starts at 2pm, must be at least 3 hours or so long.

That's why I said "per person" - the three person teams may finish in the dark

[pb]

Right you are.

[XCguy]

I have just heard from the organisers - they expect the top guys to be doing around 25-30 minutes per map/course, but average riders to be doing around 45 minutes per map/course. They will have a mass start for all remaining riders at about 6.30-7pm so everyone gets back at a reasonable time.

[XCguy]

Brilliant day for it today - sunny, calm and reasonably warm. Great courses and good to see some vorbers there

Shame these events don't get a bigger turnout as there are so many of you out there who would love this style of racing.

[TMouse]

It was my first time and it was fun - but mentally exhausting and a couple of the checkpoints kept hiding from me I'm sure. Blardy things kept moving around so they were always behind me

Would be great to do this again (tho I suspect I'd almost be faster if I walked the course...) however next time I'll check out your mapboard instructions. Would have made life a lot easier I suspect.

Thanks for a fun event