A Cyclic Navigator event is being held in the Wombat Forest (Victoria, Australia), on November 30, run by Vic MTB Orienteering http://www.vicmtbo.com
You can enter as an individual or team, in either the 4 hour or 6 hour event. Basically at the start of the event you are given a map of the forest with 30 or so control points on it. The aim is to pass through as many of the control points as you can within the given time. It’s up to each individual/team how best to navigate the forest, the order they visit each control point. Can be anything from a hardcore race to a fun day out.
I’m not involved in the event in any way, but pass advertising signs it each day. I contacted the organizers this week and they are more than happy for unicyclists to take part in it.
I live on the edge of the forest and ride most days, though in a different area as it’s over 70 000 hectares. Generally the forest tracks run along ridges and are fast and gently undulating. The ridge tracks are usually connected by steep tracks that pretty much run directly up and down the face of the hills - lots of fun. I’m planning on participating on my 29".
The Cyclic Navigator held on the weekend was great fun!
Everyone was very welcoming of a unicyclist joining in, and the local newspaper came out and did a story on it which turned out to be half the back page, below. The weather was nice and cool and the six hours flew by.
After a lot of indecision leading up to the day regarding what uni and crank to use I rode the 6 hour event on my KH36 with 137mm cranks. About 85% of the route I chose was dirt, varying from dirt roads to dirt tracks to singletrack. All up the choice of setup suited the terrain pretty well, although the 36 did start to feel heavy after a few hours off road.
I’d had a stomach bug the week leading up to it so took it fairly easy on the day. I really enjoyed the ‘race’ format though as riders scurried off in all directions on their own route through the forest trying to find the small markers which were sometimes quite small and easy to miss. It becomes a great puzzle as the 6 hour time limit approaches as you want to reach as many checkpoints as you can but also need to make it back to the start/finish line before the time expires.
It would be great to have a unicycle team for it next year!
I’ve booked in for a couple of Summer Series MTB Orienteering Races held in the evenings in Dec/Jan which are more of a sprint format - 75 minutes to reach as many control points as you can, should be a hoot! http://www.vicorienteering.asn.au/mtbo/SummerMTBO_08-09.pdf
Kudos to the organisers for a great event and supporting uni!
