Jeremy Sainter & Adrian Boyes (Dark and White) / 03.02.2011
World class mountain bike orienteering on the stunning bridleways, tracks & trails in the Dark Peak ...<br />
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It seems that over 200 other entrants thought the same way including a good number of first timers new to mountain bike orienteering. The car park filled quickly and it wasn’t long before Hope Sports Pavilion was bustling with masses of competitors, registering, collecting their free Clif bar and perusing the master map. Even before they had seen the detailed map people where trying to work out whether to go clockwise or anticlockwise.<br />
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As the wind wasn’t going to be a major factor it came down to which way you wanted to do battle with the epic Chapel Gate, up it or down it! Because let’s face either way it’s a battleground and as usual it didn’t disappoint. On the plus side it looked like the going was firm as the field in front of the pavilion was frozen rock solid and everyone was hoping it would stay that way.<br />
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So to the start and as soon as the first maps where handed out it was obvious that the route planners had done another cracking job. The mutterings and rumblings seemed to more audible than usual and there was considerably more map studying as competitors tried to figure out the best route. The super fit trying work out if it was possible to clear all 21 checkpoints and collect the 355 points on offer, while the rest of us just tried to work out a route that would give us a decent points tally without climbing too may hills, fat chance there then!<br />
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There was plenty to think about with a tough 30 pointer at the top of Chapel Gate and a couple of cheeky 25 pointers in opposite corners of the map just to tempt you out that bit further than you wanted to go, suffice to say people headed off in every conceivable direction.<br />
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Out on the course the going was pretty good on the firm ground but you had to keep a wary eye out for the frozen puddles and streams at high level which had formed some pretty big expanses of ice. It was a matter of don’t touch the brakes or turn the handlebars and hope you made it to the other side.<br />
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As expected Chapel Gate was tough, the hard ground possibly making it a little easier than usual, I’ll let you decide. But not for the quad bikes and 4x4s that seemed to be having a little trouble with some of the drop offs, oh dear never mind, they get no sympathy here! In fact I had to smile as I rode down past them and as they were trying to heave a quad up a particularly large stone step..
SleepMonsters
