MTBO WOC & JWOC

[Scott]

Apparently this is happening somewhere in Portugal, and got underway today with the Sprint. There were a couple of good results for the girls - Emily finished in joint 11th in the senior WOC, while Helen Clayton was 9th in JWOC.

The next race is the Middle on Tuesday.

[Scott]

Also, there are maps on the website - I hadn't seen a sprint MTBO map before, but (not that surprisingly) the courses look as if they would make pretty good urban (not sprint-length) foot-O courses. I wonder whether there's the potential for a combined event - foot-O in the morning, and MTBO on the same courses in the afternoon? Although getting permission for an urban MTBO event could be challenging .

[Stodgetta]

It was the first time Stodge has had an urban sprint MTBO race in a major competition, up until now all the World Cups, Euro & World Champs sprints have been forest based. I don't know how common it is in other countries for urban MTBO events to be held?

Stodge is keeping his blog updated - http://www.stodgell.co.uk - with race reports, photos, maps etc.

[AndyC]

In the Guildford race thread there is a comment about needing "O" shoes for a section (and I experienced something similar at Saltburn recently where I lost time taking the shortest route because I was in road shoes) but that is going to be much more severe in MTBO because a bike shod to be fast on urban roads could be useless in mud or sand. So "Urban" events might mean additonal cost/ hassle for competitors or compromise decisions?

[SeanC]

Not sure about the serious sort of urban racing, but for the informal evening black and white map type of event, it might be interesting for the orienteers to challenge a local cycling club, and might be an interesting news story for local papers.

[mharky]

Some good results from the girls there, well done and good luck for the rest of the week!

@AndyC... All I'd use is a different set of tyres. It's not that expensive. Any top rider would have a selections of tyres for very muddy vs dry conditions. Having a pair of slicks isn't going to break the bank. You're not allowed cyclo-cross bikes, and you wouldn't want to take one down a massive flight of stone steps anyway.

[AndyC]

MHarky
I'd also think about changing gear ratios to lose useless granny gears and get a higher top -lose suspension on a smooth area and consider a larger frame for greater stability and accelaration (losing tight handling as a downside).
But tyres would be the key -centre ridge are better than slicks as they reduce contact area almost to 700C levels.
And I'd be much more worried about taking a bike UP a set of stairs!

and I forgot- best wishes to the team and keep up the good work -there's medals to be had

[Stodgetta]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvfvIuO5AwA&feature=player_embedded
is a condensed headcam video from yesterdays sprint race....

[EddieH]

When he looks to the side I think he's about to crashhh

[stodge]

I ride the same set of fast rolling tyres all year. Knowing and being used to how tyres handle is better than constantly changing them. You just vary the pressure of the tyre for the conditions - ie higher for urban, lower for forest.
I rode the Strathpuffer 24 in the snow on the same tyres I rode the urban sprint on !

[Roger]

You're not allowed cyclo-cross bikes

What defining feature of a cyclo-cross bike makes it illegal for MTBO? (Not quibbling -- I'm just interested to know where and how the line is drawn.)

Having done a couple of local league cyclo-cross races on my mountain bike, I'm led to believe that disk brakes are the discriminator (or one of them) in the reverse direction. All seems a bit niggly to me, when apparently it's perfectly legal to have two bikes at a cyclo-cross and a flunky to remove the clogging mud from one of them while you ride the next lap on the other.

[mharky]

I think they use wheel size as the defining feature, 26" vs 700cc, however there is a new set of rules just out and I not sure what it says in there.

Interestingly (for bike geeks) the UCI have now declared it legal for CX bikes to have disc brakes...

[Stodgetta]

Helen Clayton has just finished in 6th in the JWOC middle race
W20 is finished, M20 has only had the first few finishers through, and the senior competition is ongoing.
Well done Helen!!!

[ifor]

Full results
http://mtbwoc2010.fpo.pt/images/stories ... sults.html

Looks like a hard day meant to be middle, mens winner 55 women 52 but in practice 66 and 60.