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The blog of Mark Stodgell, Orienteer and Mountain Biker. In his spare time works as an IT Director
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World Cup Hungary – Middle

After the success’s of the sprint I used the same warm up and relax routine before lining up to start on a podium. After getting the map we had a steep ramp down for a ride out to the map start some 150 metres away. I started steadily until I got my head into the map and then put it in big ring and gave it everything, taking the racing line through turns and soaking up the sometimes rutted tracks with my arms and knees.

As the course looped out and back, luckily when I met Alan (who started 40 mins before me) head to head on a narrow track we both thought continental and passed on the right, handlebars just inches apart, it could have been very messy !

After a road crossing I suddenly came across huge piles of rubbish and broken glass, an area of fly tipping we had been warned about but it was meant to be way off our route, and I had to get off and carry to avoid shredding my tyres. I was forced left but assumed I was on the wrong track and would have to go right to get back on to the right track for my attack point into the control.

I then spent the next minute riding along a deer track until I realised where I was and shouldered the bike for a quick climb up through the brambly forest to the open area where the control was located.

I took it easy on the next making sure I got it right before getting back on the gas for the rest of the course. Towards the end I got into a head to head with a Frenchman and and Italian, ducking and diving on different route choices. I unlocked my front suspension for the first time in the race for the flat out decent down a rocky track to the last control and then the slog out the bumpy finish field to the line.

I felt I had a good race and probably only lost 2-3 mins to my rubbish driven deer track adventure so was a little disappointed with 47th but looking at the results it would have only taken me to the mid 30s if I had rode that control cleanly.

So no World Cup points today (top 30) but another solid mid table result.

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MTBO World Cup – Sprint – Tapolca

Waiting for the start of the World Cup sprint event in Tapolca in a disused army base I tried some recently learnt relaxation techniques chilling generally for about 20 mins and was in a good frame of mind rolling up to get my map with a minute to go.

The warm up area was a huge grass runway, but there was a stiff wind blowing across it which noticeably slowed you when heading into it.

I had decided to take it easy, the goal being a clean ride with no mistakes rather than blasting it around.

The event I planned on MOD Stafford last month, helped me a lot, it being very similar terrain, only derelict and overgrown. I rode really well and lost no time to nav at all but at times it was very scary riding through the grass and leaves which often hid ditches, concrete blocks and kerbs. At one point I just had to lift my front wheel high at the last second and just clatter the rear over a series of kerbs in the grass and hope for the best.

Just before the road crossing I nearly T boned another rider (I think it was Em Benham but she didn’t notice me) and I ended up in a ditch avoiding her. This threw my concentration slightly and from then on although I didn’t make any mistakes I felt a bit out of control and was navigating by the seat of my pants.

Punching the last control on yet another tank (there seems to be a military theme to MTBO this year) I gunned the circuit of the athletics track to the finish.

I went up on the leader board in 9th but had to then watch my position slowly slide until finally the red group (top 10 in the world rankings and last to start) came in dropping me to 26th just 2 mins 38 seconds down.

This equals my best ever international result but really it was better as there were 77 men’s elite riders today and has given me a great start to the 2011 season.
http://www.mtbo.hu/series.php/lists/indexCommon

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MTBO World Cup 1 – Hungary

Today is the start of the first World Cup round in Tapolca, Hungary.

A small British team of Alan Hartley, Steph Fountain, Emily Benham, Helen Clayton and myself travelled out on Thursday to compete in the 3 events that make up the first round.

Friday afternoon following a warm up model event sees the Sprint competition. With a winning time of 20-35 mins and much of the race in an urban environment fast and furious racing is expected.

Saturday brings a middle distance race before a mass start long distance race on Sunday.

http://www.mtbo.hu/series.php/frontpage/index/event/3

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MTBO Camp – Ultra Long

My legs were already tired as we all formed up for the mass start ultra long race after the middle race and camp special of the previous day. On “Go!” there was bedlam as riders flew in all directions on the first of three randomly distributed courses to split up the field.

I got a great route choice to the first control on my first map and punched it in second place. I kept with the pack and was well up the field after returning to the start for my second map but I then made a big mistake, getting confused in a dense track network losing about 6 minutes. Now on my own I got stuck in, but realised these 3 maps were taking quite a while to complete.

Returning to the start for the 3rd time to get the first ‘proper map’ I was dismayed folding it up to see how far I still had to ride. The trouble was this was not the end of the course, there was yet another map after this one to complete.

I then started to make lots of silly mistakes, the tiredness and lack of concentration joining with the distraction of riding with fellow GB rider Dan Mathers who kept catching me.

After yet another mistake on a control fairly near to where the cars were parked and a quick look a my watch I decided to bin it and retire, saving my legs for the World Cup next weekend (I’d been riding for just under 2 hours when I got to the car).

Many riders then started to trickle in retiring from various points on the course. Alan, Dan and Steph finally came over the line after over 4 hours of riding, looking very crusty and hot. Looking at the long loops on the final map it was definitely the right thing for me to retire when I did rather than struggling on but well done to those who stuck it out and finished.

We then had to throw the bikes into their bags and race for the airport as we very very behind schedule. All agreed the race should be renamed Ultra, Extreme, Mega, Super, Dooper Long with Cherrys on Top!

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MTBO Camp – Devil’s Sprint Challenge.

This years punching sprint challenge used the EMIT punching system, which confirms a successful electronic punch with a small red LED that is often hard to see in bright sunlight (there is no beep as with the Sportident system). It is possible to get a punch to register with EMIT by not doing a full punch but it is more difficult to ‘speed’ punch accurately if relying on the LED, particularly if the EMIT ‘brikke’ is an early model without a screen.

I found that wearing it on my index rather than second finger as I do with SI enabled me to do a standing punch fairly easily and although I got a fairly good time in the the qualifiers I managed to not register a control and hence did not go through to the finals (although later Johan offered me a place, but I was shattered following my exertion in the camp special race and declined).

Great Britain’s Alan Hartley qualified though, and we all gravitated to the Army Camp vehicle training area for the dusk head to head racing over a figure of eight course.

After the first round, which was fairly exciting, we heard a huge rumble of an enormous engine starting up. Then a tank came roaring round the corner towards us with a folded up bridge on top. After just missing a minibus it slid to a halt, engine revving menacingly, and proceeded to deploy its bridge onto our speed punching course. The sight of this bridge being deployed in front of the tank was amazing, as you can see from the photo, seemingly defying gravity.

The revised punching course then went over the top of the bridge which caused a few mishaps, particularly on the steep off ramp!

Alan did well but was knocked out in the last round by World Champion Eric. The winner of the final was Denmark junior Andreas, again, who pipped me into second last year, although this time he decided to race in a tight singlet which attracted some interest from the UK women’s team. Somehow they managed to persuade him to remove it for the final, but a little bird told me Emily told him it was the British men who wanted him to take it off and ride topless!

Thanks to Johan for organising. I know he got very little sleep the previous night, his baby daughter preferring to be pushed up and down the road in her pram rather than sleep in a smelly army barrack room!

Thanks to to the tank driver, who we met in the officers mess later making full use of his payment for the evening (a free bar). Hats off to him as his English was still spot on even though he could barely stand or negotiate doors without help!

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MTBO Camp – Camp Special

After a hour or so relaxing, messing around on bikes, and generally being extremely childish, all 150 of us formed a huge pelaton that wove its way out of the town where we had had lunch overlooking the sea and sand dunes. Drivers coming the otherway on the narrow roads were forced to pull over and wait as we streamed past handlebar to handle bar, nobbly tyres roaring on the smooth tarmac. After about 20 minutes riding, we all formed up and were given 3 maps each ready for a mass start. Firstly we had a 1:15,000 traditional foot orienteering map with 18 controls spread all over it. Then there was a 1:25,000 OS style map with 3 controls, and finally an A-Z type map of the town with a further 5 controls.

I got a good position at the start and streaked off towards one of the obvious first controls in this 90 minute score race. It was all elbows as the track narrowed, but strangely an orderly queue formed at the control as we all waited patiently in line to punch it (very British). I then made the mistake of trying a shorter route on the more minor tracks to the next but soon had to bin it as the ridability was terrible and went back around to the major track options. I then got stuck in, ducking and diving with a group of very fast riders, my control order choice and navigation keeping me in touch as we split and rejoined around the forest. After enjoying a sweet single track I punched the last control on the first map and swapped to the 1:25. It turned into 30 minutes of howling tyres blasting time trial style around the narrow lanes picking up a couple of controls before navigating off road on a woefully inadequate map. It was then a last desperate race around the town on the A-Z map. My last control was on the top of a dune overlooking the town, and I realised at that point I was going to be on a mission to get in on time. I gave it everything (silly thing to do with an ultra-long race the next day) and picked up a few other riders on the way in who promptly jumped on for a tow.

I finished to my reckoning a couple of minutes late which would lose me 20 points, but the results show I was a couple of minutes early! I know many riders took it easy but I know some were gunning it as much as me, so I am particularly pleased with 9th, which I suppose could be considered my first ever top 10 international result 🙂

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MTBO Camp – Middle Race

The weather improved dramatically overnight and we all enjoyed the fantastic coastal scenery on the hours drive out to the venue for the middle race. Some bemused scouts, gathering for their Saturday morning meeting, soon got used to the 150 mountain bikes tearing around, warming up, and making sure bikes still worked after the sand of the long race the day before.

I started well but lost about a minute on control 3 after taking an early track junction. It took me a while to get my flow again but I picked a much better route choice than most on the way to number 8, opting for the fast forest roads rather than the more direct route. I did this again on 9 and found I was pulling past riders normally much faster than me. I had a wobble coming out of 14 and ended up losing the track completely and thrashing around in the brashings before breaking out onto a major track and relocating.

I had the last couple of controls on a bit of the map flapping away to the side of the mapboard in mid air as it was too big, but having such a good ride I didn’t want to lose time to refolding, instead however I lost 40 seconds or so after missing a track junction on number 17. I gave it all for the line and felt I’d had one of my best races for a while, especially physically. Having passed a few ‘names’ in the forest I knew I’d done well, but I was particularly pleased with 20th, and a few minutes faster would have taken me up a few more places.

Poor fellow GB rider Alan Hartley had a  bad day at the office, following a coming together between his rear mech and a big stick early on. Unfortunately this ended with him in singlespeed mode for the majority of the course but fair play for getting stuck in and finishing it, just a shame he coudnt get it to work on the middle ring.  I think he might need some sponsorship from http://www.onefgear.co.uk !

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MTBO Camp – Long race

Wind and sand, in fact so much a land yacht would have been more useful than a mountain bike. Stopped at the traffic lights even the minibus was being blown forwards by the powerful gusts, and after parking it was like being in sand blasting booth.

The morning was spent training for the long distance race in the afternoon. We all cut it short, worn down by the sandy conditions and vicious winds, and escaped to McDonalds, the only warm ‘cafe’ we could find for lunch.

Following a well earned McFlurry I felt ready for anything lining up for the start of the long race, which was only 15km due to the sandy conditions. I started at a run on a horrible, sandy track, but got going onto the better tracks and felt I rode really well. I struggled slightly with the map on number 3, the tracks seemingly not joining up as indicated but I soon relocated and was then joined by GB newbie, Dan Mathers, for a few controls. Luckily he was there to see me nail probably the best bunny hop I’ve done in years, over a log, which but a big smile on my face. The riding in the first part of the course was excellent with lots of technical single tracks (even if the map was a little ropey) and we were sheltered from the wind.

I lost about a minute or so on the way in to 10 in the complex path network but got a good clean route somehow to 11 where I caught Alan. We both slithered our way down a very steep sandy ride before the long leg across the map and the turn for home and back into the wind. I made a silly mistake taking an unmarked track on the second last, and Alan pulled back ahead. Punching the final control I took a risky route choice down a sandy track rather than out and round the road which was a mistake as the going was really tough, but throughout the course you won some and lost some to the unpredictable sandy ridability.

I felt fairly pleased with the race, feeling much better, my cold pretty much nearly gone. I was even more pleased to see the results – 25th, mid-table, top Brit and 16 mins down.