Done quite a few and enjoy them but somehow cant bring my self to call them Trailquests when talking about them
Bike Forum
[closed]
Are you put off MTB orienteering by the name?
-
Posted 1 year ago #
-
No, by the fact they aren't even vaguely fun.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Personally no - I'm put off by being dragged round orienteering events the length and breadth of the country from the age of about 3 to 18.
Phew, it feels good to get that off my chest - for so many years it was such a stigma, I just couldn't tell anyone....Posted 1 year ago # -
not at all - been ages since I did one, and I've got one on sunday
Posted 1 year ago # -
See, it seems like it's the sort of event I would enjoy. I've been map-reading and finding my way around the hills since I was a boy. I've done the old micro-navigation thing. Hell, I'd even consider fitting a map-board to the XC hardtail. Thing is, any time I've seen one of these events, the participants look downright miserable.
Posted 1 year ago # -
They're not called Trailquests any more. It's BMBO or British Mountain Bike Orienteering, trips off the tongue doesn't it?
We struggled for years being a great sport with a crap name, my theory fwiw is that no-one would brag about doing a Trailquest on a Monday morning at work as it sounded one step removed from Morris Dancing.Posted 1 year ago # -
Whtas up with plain MTBO?
Posted 1 year ago # -
I love doing them! mix it with a bit of running and maybe kayaking and its a top day out
You dont have to the fastest (although it helps) careful planning and good nav gets you right up the leaderboard Posted 1 year ago # -
I did the Open5 series last Winter & it was great fun
I'll be back again next month
Posted 1 year ago # -
Its not the name that puts me off it’s the whole ridding fast while map reading thing that puts me off
Posted 1 year ago # -
I like the sound of them has anyone got a link to some good information please.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Normal orienteering is fun. In theory doing it on a bike should be too but I can't imagine it is somehow...
Posted 1 year ago # -
http://www.bmbo.org.uk There you go.
Posted 1 year ago # -
yeah, what DBW said. I like mtb and don't like running. However I really enjoy (running) orienteering but don't find mtbo anywhere near as much fun. Go figure.
Posted 1 year ago # -
How do you read a map on a bike whilst riding? I'd rather do it on a horse - they can drive themselves whilst you faff around with a compass and 1:25,000!
Posted 1 year ago # -
They're a fantastic way of exploring loads of new trails in new areas. I've discovered so much all over the UK over the last 10 years doing these so much so that we now organise weekends to explore the areas again already knowing lots of good 'loops'.
Lets not get confused here - there's MTBO (technical micro nav with set course and no time limit) and then there Trailquests (typically 2-4hr time limits, 1:50,000 map, no micro nav, no compass).
Posted 1 year ago # -
you don't really need to map read that often in mtbo (unlike running orienteering).
Posted 1 year ago # -
Reading a map whilst riding is not that hard if you have a map board and a good memory so that you remember the next few turns on the smoother bits. The tricky bit is working out a route that maximises your score and not coming back late and losing all your points.
Posted 1 year ago # -
the tricky bit is working out a route that maximises your score and not coming back late and losing all your points.
This sounds like the 'go sees' episodes on ANTM, which admittedly tend to be amongst the best of the series... Are there fierce marshals too?
Posted 1 year ago # -
Its all now MBO though isnt it - I prefer trailquest to MBO Score for a name even if trailquest does have a little bit of a morris image. Problem with too many bearded marin riders in the past. If its the name that puts people off there's always trailbreak's navigators. Dark and White's website still saying places available for sunday at Chapel en le Frith (Peak District). Could always just call them mini ride things.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Trailbreak have stopped doing Navigators due to lack of numbers
Gorrick are doing some extra Trailtraxes next year though
As for image - who cares what anyone else thinks!
Posted 1 year ago # -
I've heard a lot of Trailquest riders are called Graham.....
Posted 1 year ago # -
Why would anyone be put off by the name? People are put off by the fact that being fit and map literate both give a huge advantage, so if you're only good at one or the other, you'll not do so well. In many areas it's a dying sport. I rode the final round of the national series last sunday and there were under 5 riders in the Male <40 cat. First and second were Vet >40 (both on rigid big wheels) and third was Supervet >50.
I like them - takes you on trails you wouldn't normally ride and makes you ride hard for 3+ hours.
Great little winter series here in the Lakes - sunday mornings, then pints and food in a pub. Mail for detailsPosted 1 year ago # -
Because the kind of people that compete in them have map boards fixed to their bikes. This is more or less enough for me to shun them.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Because the kind of people that compete in them have map boards fixed to their bikes
How very dare they.............
Yet sticking a couple of hundred £'s worth of sat nav to your car windscreen is looked upon with favour.....?
Keep believing that trailquest types have beards and can't ride 'proper' trails for toffee.
Posted 1 year ago # -
yep, I will, thanks.
Posted 1 year ago # -
You're not a real mountainbiker till you own a map board.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I think trailquests are great tbh - love them. Only really do a couple a year that are local to to the Scottish borders. I think knowing the trails must give you a huge advantage - I've done pretty well at them and I'm of average w/e warrior fitness. There's no 'map reading' as such when you know the area, it's all about route selection - which can be real puzzle to work out. I guess if you're riding unfamiliar trails then you'll need to start map reading more seriously.
It's basically a good way of doing something competitive for 3 hrs if you don't have the fitness to race properly. The ones near me don't seem to attract really strong riders - they'll be a few but most are just normal mtb types. You also see quite a few runners who are doing it from the orienteering world - probably the source of the 'trailquesters don't know what they're doing' meme. Some of them are pretty clueless on the bike tbf.
Posted 1 year ago # -
... call it a cyclocross alleycat. Job done
People will think you're REALLY goddamn cool
Posted 1 year ago # -
More and more people want to go out and not think at all about navigating. Either through following arrows at a trail centre or following a pre-set trail in a GPS they have downloaded. You see it weekly on here where people want downloads or someone else to lead them.
We will get to the stage in a few years where the majority of mountain bikers won't be able to navigate properly and will have only ridden full sus bikes.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Most mountain bikers ride full sues and can't read a map now. It's not really a massive issue.
Posted 1 year ago # -
trailquest sounds like some kind of dungeons and dragons game...
Posted 1 year ago # -
Green eggs 'n ham
Posted 1 year ago # -
Beard/Marin/Ron Hill Tracksters/Miserable
The essential ingredients for said activity.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Trailquests and MBO are different events, no? (having done both). Trailquests tend to be longer, MBOs are shorter.
MBO on a tandem is ace fun. Hardly need to slow down, as the fella on the back can do the map reading so long as they keep the pedals turning!
Posted 1 year ago #
Topic Closed
This topic has been closed to new replies.
