But some of you enjoyed it and came back for more on the Sunday, we now have a new MTBO map that will be great in drier conditions, and we are adding to those able to plan an event (the fourth new planner this year).
What can we learn: comments pasted in from those received so far. Feel free to send your bit to me.
Dave Rudge
I was on my way to do it again on Sunday morning, but my van suffered a fuel blockage on the way, Roadside Rescue carted it away, and I rode my bike home.... went out on the bike this afternoon and wrecked my disc brake hydraulics...
Its a great area you've got there, and I'm going explore it more in summer - when I expect many of those sledge tracks might be rideable... Riding through the flock of emus was a new one for me
Tom Clarkson
Although I may have finished my course, and come away with only a few bruises, there were a lot of comments out there from people that were quite angry and grumpy at the conditions, the course lengths and what sounded like general unrideablity of the trails in the area. My first thought on hearing a lot of this was 'get hard and get on with it...' and as these comments were from the majority of riders that DNF'ed, I wasn't too worried at the time. I wonder however, if its worth sending out an e-mail to all entrants to placate them and make them feel they can come back and expect a mtb ride with a map, not another epic adventure that requires a torch, bivvy bag and cooker as part of the carry out kit with the next event that is organised. Let them know we MTBO'ers are not always as sadistic as the event in the weekend might have made us out to be and that we hope they will return!
I definitely feel we need to continue to encourage the organisation of events and help out where we can but at the same time, I also think we need to remember when organising events where our sport is at, and that we are keen to attract people from as many sporting sectors as we can. With this in mind I think we really need to watch our course lengths, especially those of courses 3 and 4 (if there is a course 4). These are the introductory level courses which we want to encourage new comers onto to get out and give it a go.
Courses 3 and 4 in my opinion really need to stay on the flat as much as possible, allow maximum use of the 'nicer' trails and roads if possible and try to be shorter than the time being aimed for to ensure that the time advertised actually fits. The only reason someone should take longer on one of those courses in my opinion, is if they make lots of navigational errors. This would mean that Vet women get it easy and the Junior girls but I think the majority of Vet women would probably be OK with that, and juniors should not really be pushed to great physical lengths at that stage anyway.
Course 1 is mostly accurate in terms of getting the winning time right, but with course 2, perhaps in future we need to advertise that the winning time is based on the Vet Men category, not the Open Women, so that women wanting to give it a go don't go out thinking its going to take them just over 1.5 hours. I think I have only ridden one event where this has actually been the case for the womens course!
Christina Renhart, Auckland
Rob Garden, Auckland
After many weeks of Track discovering, track clearing and track marking… Many late evenings, and into the night sessions of map plotting and pondering. I was more disappointed than most as the weather collapsed towards the weekend of 19/20th June 2004.
Thursday was dry and bright for the first session of control placements and a time to get to know the Quad Bike, generously loaned by Kapiti Four x 4 Adventures which was going to carry me deep into the valley and high onto the ridge tops.
Friday dawned grey and wet and stayed that way. I travelled to both ends of the course through steady rain from the southern heights of Titi to the Slippery slopes of the northern boundary. And after more than eight hours my rear was very familiar with the quads wet saddle!
And the rest as they say is history…
The courses had all been finalised earlier in the week so that they could be sent off to the printers.
The Tracks. Which would normally be soft at this time of year became saturated and slow after 24 hours of rain as the course times indicated. With better weather I believe the times would have dropped by one-third, which would still have left them challenging but achievable for the majority.
Finally I hope the dreadful conditions of the 19/20th June have not put you off riding an area close to Wellington that holds a variety of scenic and challenging riding.
I would like to thank those who assisted with control recovery, which meant we were all on our way home mid-afternoon Sunday: John Rowland (John –the –butcher) Peddled off to the northern end. Graeme Campbell who four-wheel-drove me to all the points up and around Titi, Graeme Silcock and Bill Brierley for still having the energy to get some in! Michael Wood for down the valley and up to the Pylon and Janice my wife for heading into the gnarly 24hour track area.
See you for the Next Maungakotukutuku Muster or MTBO at a different time of the year, Sun blazing, creeks dry and the birds singing!! (Well maybe)
Steve Meeres.
Issue 1 was the junction was very indistinct. Yellow tape was the only way to find it and it continued for some 20/30 meters until a old track was found. In fact I believe that the true track junction is located in a different position if you walk back once the taped section joins the track.
The second issue was the substantial log on the track some 30-40 meters back before the junction. From a safety perspective I feel it should have not been left off the map. Substantial obstacles are important for riders as they travel at speeds greater than runners (especially as this was a downhill section). Although everyone should ride with caution it would be prudent to mark such large obstacles in the future as slippery conditions make stopping suddenly even at low speed a challenge.
Dave King
As with a discussion from the previous event at St Pats Dave King's points may be issues of quality control as opposed to policy and intention. Certainly obstacles which require a dismount on an otherwise ridable track should be marked, both for route choice assessment and safety. I don't believe there should be any doubt as to what the organisers regard as a track, and I have put out lots of tape to clarify junctions, sometimes it is said too much. Both these are subject to the abilities of the planner, and sometimes unforeseen happenings such as getting stuck may upset the best-laid plans. Unless we decide to have an independent controller (so far only for nationals and up) some improvements may always be noted and we thank you for pointing them out.
Dave who was due to plan the fifth series event at Mt Victoria or Makara Peak has moved to Christchurch, so we are looking for a planner. It's too late to map Mt Victoria for MTBO (and its a sensitive area for biking) so we have applied to use Makara Peak. There are a couple of new tracks to plot but the map is basically complete. Offers?
Michael Wood
| Good Conditions | Wet Conditions | |
| Upper Middle | All can ride, skilled nearly as fast as maintained tracks, less capable have to slow considerably | Skilled riders substantially slowed, less capable unable to ride |
| Lower Middle | Skilled Riders substantially slowed, less capable unable to ride | No-one can ride |
The problem is choosing another line-type that is legible on the move, and distinguishable even when it is not close to the other line types. Different dash lengths will not do. I'll experiment with a dot-dash.
Michael Wood (Cartographer)