Open 5
Open5 – North York Moors
Jeff PD / 11.01.2011
The bike checkpoints were all to the north of the event centre with some up and down the escarpment and the rest to the east in and around the valleys feeding the River Rye. The map showed lots of short sharp climbs but the bridleways could be linked together with nice quick country lanes, or so I thought. An anti-clockwise route taking in most of the checkpoints was planned and off I was to the start. Everything was going well - ok, apart from forgetting a permanent marker and so having to remember which CPs were dead - until I wiped out on ice on the road down to my first control (CP13). I'll be taking more note of marshals warnings in future! Things didn't get much better from there on; riding, pushing, sliding, changing my route, sliding, pushing and a little more sliding until I'd used half my time and covered very little distance.
Then onto the run which took us through the woods around the bank and for the most part wasn't icy (hooray), though the mud in Happy Valley made me wish the ground was slightly more frozen. The views from Hood Hill (which still contains the remains of a crashed aircraft according to the sign) and the White Horse were superb, possibly even more reward for the climbs up than the 35 and 25 points respectively. A couple of off track sections made best use of the area, keeping us away from the A170 and making sure we got as much climb as possible.
Another great event in a new area from which I've come away with three lessons: always keep a permanent marker in the car; buy some ice tyres; and come back to the area when it's warm, perhaps on a road bike.
SleepMonsters
