Lots of photos, GPS tracking logs, Routegadget, maps and more on http://www.mtbo.hu/series.php/apres
Hungarian MTBO
This years first World Cup rounds were centred on the little town of Tapolca near Lake Balaton in Hungary. Our accommodation was a pretty little hotel in an old mill next to the side of the mill pond, very tranquil (except for the clock tower bongs at 6am). The food both at the events, in the event centre and the local restaurants was excellent and I enjoyed sampling the local specialities, though I do like paprika !
Hungary’s IOF advisor, Sandor, and his team, as always, provided excellent organisation, from the event office to the races themselves. MTBO in this region is characterised by open grasslands rising up to scrubland and forest on the slopes above, criss crossed by various vehicle and animal tracks, some large and very fast some tiny and technically challenging. In Hungary you are generally also allowed to cycle anywhere so options to cut across bring a new route choice challenge, particularly to those riders from countries where this is normally prohibited.
The addition of the derelict Army base for the sprint this year was brilliant and all riders I think would like more of this sort of exciting terrain.
These World Cup races were the 3rd year in a 4 year plan where the culmination is the hosting of the World Championships (Elite, Junior and Masters) 2012. As well as live results published to the internet, live GPS tracking was trialled which I believe was a success and it is the intention to use it next year together with live commentary to bring the exciting racing to virtual spectators all around the world.
With the 2012 Champs looking like the best yet, its a ‘no brainer’ to want to go to next years races, its more of an issue for me deciding what I would like to ride – Elite or Masters as next year I will be eligible for both !
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World Cup – Hungary, Mass start long distance
The mass start long distance race is Hungary’s signature event, ideally suited to the fast open grassland, with upland forests above. As usual a light aircraft circled overhead filming the action as 80 elite men lined up, bikes 50 metres to the front for the Le Mans style start.
The courses are ‘gaffled’ using a series of loops with some common and some split legs meaning that you might racing with someone who then splits on to a different part of the course before rejoining for another few common legs later on. All the riders eventually complete all the legs, so everything ends up fair.
On “Go” I hung back a bit, reading the map and folding it on the way to the bike rather than sprinting towards it and riding away map in hand like some, however I still got a good start and ended up in one of the lead packs, fighting my breathing to keep things under control, but loving every minute of it.
The first loop took about 15 minutes before we had a spectator control and a compulsory route back past the start. Although the commentator said I was in the second chasing group I was surprised to be then be caught by MTBO superstar Denmark’s Erik Skovgaard Knudsen, who I promptly tucked in behind as he seemed to be going my way. As we cruised along a narrow track I kept with him comfortably and it entered my mind that maybe he isn’t really a superstar and I could perhaps stay with him. I then realised he was sorting his map out and regaining some composure (he later told me he had had a crash a few minutes before) before he suddenly exploded out of the saddle and simply disappeared putting at least 150 metres into me by the end of that fairly flat leg, awesome riding…..
We came around to the spectator control again after another 15 minutes and then it was out onto the course proper and the hills. I was riding strongly and keeping pace quite well, but on the stiff climbs I was being dropped by successive groups. However, I soon found I was catching them on the navigational legs and descents, so not losing too many places. The course then went down into an area of vineyards, rural farmsteads, tracks and roads. We looped around there for a while before a final map exchange to keep thing clear.
I had a heart stopping moment riding cross country when I rolled straight over a broken bottle. The next 5 seconds went very slowly until I realised I had got away with it, the front tyre staying up, it would have been a very long walk home from there if the tyre had shredded!
Due to some late restrictions by the Hungarian nature authorities we then had some long legs out via a small town and some country lanes round a huge area of out of bounds before another big climb back over to the last few controls.
I made a small error at a control near a church in the town finding myself at the entrance door with a congregation singing away inside. I made a hasty retreat down the hill to punch the control but felt a little guilty, I’m sure I would have been silhouetted nicely in the door way as I relocated, but it wasn’t marked out of bounds.
I played cat and mouse with some faster riders though the last few controls and punishing final climb, using my navigation skills and control flow to keep pulling then in. After a fantastic piece of fast single track descent it was just me and a Frenchman, having dropped the two other riders. I kept ahead through the complex track junctions and quarry but made a little error losing a few seconds on the penultimate control which enabled him to get back in the lead.
I absolutely nailed the last descent trying to catch him but realised I was going far to fast towards bottom as the track steepened. The rear wheel skidded this way and that in huge tank slappers on the loose gravel and grass as I tried to scrub off the speed, which I’m sure looked fairly spectacular from the finish arena. More or less in control but still going fast I felt I could come off the front brake and skid round the rear wheel to take the bank down to the control and catch him but managed to high side it instead and went over the handlebars doing a proper superman impression. I landed square on the temple of the helmet, bike and me tumbling down the hill!
Very shaken but not beat I gave it everything to try and re-catch the Frenchman but it was too late he was already in.
On the line I was very wobbly and the marshal wanted to get me to the ambulance, having seen the crash, but I fended him off and went off to see the riders who I had been tussling with for the last 45 minutes or so.
After a drink and some food I thought I had better get my knee cleaned up before the long journey home so queued in line at the ambulance, however seeing Alan Hartley being patched up by the medics after a really nasty fall early on (fair play, he finished even though looking like he had been in a bar brawl), with all sorts of painful looking chemicals and sprays, even a syringe was produced at one point, I took myself off to the showers instead. Hot showers surrounded by tarpaulins in the middle of a field, result!
I ended up 48th which I was really happy with, finishing the weekend with a set of results that firmly now put me in the World’s top 50, the winters strength training paying off, I just now need to do some more…..
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
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.
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!
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!
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 🙂