Is this a good time to get a Map Board?

Paul McArthur / 19.03.2010

With the growing popularity of the Dromara Winter Trailquest series and the up and coming Trailblazer series, this could be a good time to invest in a bike map board.

For adventure racing, trailquests and mountain bike orienteering, map boards have become an essential piece of kit in the navigator’s arsenal. Ok, you can do without them, but map boards make your life and race so much easier and a board is one of the first things I pack into my kit bag going to an event…..they also make a great front mud guard. :-)

Over the years I have used both homemade boards and commercially made boards and they all have their pros and cons depending on budget, reliability and ease of use. However, over the last 5 years two boards have come to dominate the European adventure racing and MTBO scene – The Miry Board and recently the Nordenmark Board. Both these boards are excellent at what they do and I would recommend either of them, however of the last couple of years the Nordenmark Board has become a firm favourite and I think just pips the Miry board to being top dog in map boards. I won’t go into details as there are already a couple of great reviews that cover the boards very well…the reviews can be found here – <a href=" http://www.sleepmonsters.co.uk/gear.php?article_id=201"> Nordenmark </a> – <a href=" http://www.sleepmonsters.co.uk/gear.php?article_id=22 ">Miry.</a>

The great news about Nordenmark is that they have introduced two new designs – the ‘Extreme’ and ‘Light’. The Extreme is basically a version of the ‘Classic’, but without the easy ‘tool free’ mounting and dismantling system. However, the ‘Light’ is new board designed just for mountain bike orienteering and trailquests. It is light, simple and compared to most boards on the market today….cheap….over half the price of the ‘Classic’ and Extreme’.

One of the complaints with the Miry and Nordenmark boards were they where very different to get hold of in the UK. Contacting the makers directly (Nordenmark is Swedish and Miry is Cech) was the only option for most people, but this added to the cost etc. Lucky both can be purchased in the UK now, so there is no excuse not to get the board and take the hassle of folded bits of map stuffed down shirt fronts finally removed from your navigating nightmares.
You can get the Miry board from Facewest and the Nordenmark can be ordered directly from John Laughlin (UK adventure racer and all round good guy).