Saturday was my second MBO that I have entered and was a little unsure on how I would get on. My first event was a bit of a disaster, although my navigation was good my route choice was abysmal. I got to the finish with half an hour to spare and there were no controls worth riding back out for, big mistake.
The event was organized by North Yorkshire Mountain Bike Orienteering(NYMBO) and started from a little town called Tarrington close to Castle howard in North Yorkshire. The organization and set up of the event was excellent. I will definitely ride another NYMBO. I started my race at around 11.10am and after dibbing the start box I made myself stop and spend at least 5 mins taking in the map and planning my route. This helped a lot as I always felt in control and did not feel I was frantically riding around with no plan like last time. The only mistake I did make was not setting my watch going at the start so I had to guess when my 4hours were up. I have no idea how I managed it but I got back in 3hours 59mins and 2 secs. I think luck was on my side. I finished with 290points out of a total 525 and would say that my fitness was my only thing held me back. The riding on the Howardian hills is great and this race took me on some really really good trails in an area I would not have thought to go to for good MTB riding.
