The last day of MTBO camp is a non competitive ultra long event, similar in style to a British trailquest but with fixed order and free order sections. On offer was a 75km a 50km and a 35km route together with a nano Hoke option for the ‘cool kids’ class.
My 35km route started with a free order section which I took in a daft order as I was confused about which fixed order control I was to take next. I eventually realised what I was doing and found myself at the back of a long crocodile as we climbed up into the center of the island. I tried to be clever picking a complicated route avoiding extra climb yo get ahead. It nearly worked but as I got closer to the control my tracks turned horrible and I spent a while taking part in the local farming and forestry industry. We then had a series of controls on the coast, beautiful riding but the map really wasnt up to competitive riding. I didnt find the second last control and rather than thrashing around trying again I headed for home finishing after 3 hours, an hour longer tham anything I have ridden for two and a half years and my back was just starting to stiffen up.
I was glad in the end I had cut it short, just as I was getting changed a storm blew in, soaking most of the riders on the 50 and 75km routes.
