A coaching article in Punch, the magazine of the combined Wellington area orienteering clubs, used the Whitby course as an example of route choice possibilities. But it was written in a bit of a hurry, and the story doesn't match the accompanying map!
If you have joined an orienteering club you should be on the mailing list for Punch, so print out this corected version of the story and have another look at the map! If you haven't joined an orienteering club, remember that events in the Wellington area give discounts for orienteering club members. And some clubs have an attractive (half price!!) subscription for new members.
MTB-Orienteering is normally restricted to the track network. (Foot-orienteers think this is really simple until they actually try reading the map on the ride!) So a big aspect of MTBO is choosing the best route. The course planner will have set the controls in such a way as to give you two or more choices wherever possible, and even an apparently straightforward leg may be just setting you up for the next good teaser.
Take a look at part of course 1 at Whitby in May, and the leg from the cell-phone tower #483 to the track above Brady’s Grave #418.
The classic route choice in orienteering is “shall I go over the hill or round it?” In this case, standing at the cellphone tower and and pointing the north end of the map at the sun, you might be able to see that a straight line to your destination involved a severe down and up. Your first thought should be, can I avoid it?
There is a possibility for avoiding some of the climb, it involves going through the control which was un-numbered on the day but which we have here marked “A”. It involves crossing only two contours compared with four which would be involved in climbing from the stream to 418. And although it looks a long way further, you know and I know that while the downhills can be thrilling on a bike the uphills are awful. They affect you much more on a bike than on foot, and this makes it important to look much further off the beeline for possible options.
As to whether the extra distance is worth the saving of 2 X 20m contours, look at (a) the ridability of the route and (b) the ease of navigation. The route through A is all on a solid black line, ie the fastest category of track. What’s more, once you get to A it’s easy navigation, you’ve got that yellow (open) area B in the middle of the forest to tell you when you’re getting close, so you don’t have to count off all the intermediate junctions. This route is far easier to follow than navigating the maze of (slow and wiggly) tracks near the beeline.
It would be interesting to get intermediate times from some of the top riders to see whether this is actually the case. Many foot-orienteers have a split-time watch and record the time at each control. The comparisons afterwards are fascinating! It could well be that an expert navigator could get through the middle faster than going round, so we’ll just take a look at some of the sub-options there.
It seems that all these possibilities would have to pass through junction E. To get there you’ve got the green line at C and past the top of the numeral 482. But the green line (allowable route along with purple crosses put in to avoid a traffic hazard on the road up) had short dashes so there was the possibility of a really slow section there. The single-track D could have been an option, and it makes the little maze of tracks around 482 easier to handle. Go for simplicity every time!!!
For the second part of the route I would write off track F because of the slow section on it, and the main choice is whether to climb the hill on G or go down the stream and use H. If you can ride uphills well it may even be worth going right out to the street in order to ride up ridge I past the grave. My choice would be H, because I think I would be off my bike and might as well take the direct route, although that would be influenced by how slippery I had found the steeper tracks so far. G involves climbing to a point above the control, and having to come down again.
So plenty there to tease the brain. The important lesson is to think laterally, avoid climb
if you can, and give bonus points to the better track conditions and simpler navigation.
They will pay off in the long run. Or should I say, ride…