Initial Impressions of MTBO in Europe

Tuesday, 27 June 2006

Before leaving Australia a number of people mentioned that the MTBO courses in Poland (and for that matter Finland) would be flatter but harder to navigate that the average MTBO course in Australia. This wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear since I prefer courses that are more open, have quite a few climbs and can be attacked rather than scrambled. So as I set off for my first MTBO training ride the day after arriving in Poland it was with some trepidation.

After a short ride from the hotel we were at the designated start area. Facing forward from the start area I was presented with basically one road forward which was sloping slightly upwards however to my surprise was covered in ankle deep sand. Getting to my first check point involved starting with 5 metres of riding before getting off the bike for a slow walk through heavy sand. Was this serious ? Was the whole course like this ? Things soon got less sandy however and it was soon possible to reach normal riding pace.

After riding a bit further and navigating clumsily through a few check points with Paul D riding behind me giving me orienteering tips the complexity of the track network soon started to hit home - things were pretty different - and I was fast starting to realise that the warnings about the navigating complexity of the maps in Poland were right. I was soon wishing for a few more sandy patches to give me more of a chance to study the map.

Click here for more photos from Poland