And The Cat's In The Cradle...

...And The Silver Spoon.  Little Boy Blue and the Man on the Moon!!!  

I hope you are all now singing this little diddy, at least the first line and then mumbling the rest of the song like some of us USA MTBO team members (me)! I wonder what song will stick in our heads after tomorrow's breakfast Muzak!

It's TRAINING CAMP TIME in Suprasl, Poland and Team USA is taking in as much information as possible to prepare for the World Champs next week.  I have to say it's pretty awesome to be able to mountain bike and especially to be able to mountain bike orienteer everyday for 2 weeks, what an experience!

8 out of 9 of us are here in Suprasl, Poland and Joe will be arriving on the 20th to complete the team.  We all arrived in Warsaw on Saturday and rallied to Suprasl, a 3 hour drive, making it a long 24 hours-awake-kind-of-a-day. The reward for the long day of travelling was a relaxing Sunday morning, assembling our bikes in the morning sunshine, and then a little rest before we all geared up to head out to our first day of training camp.
Sunday and Monday's Training Maps got us on similar terrain of what we will be competing on next week - quite a bit of sand to keep you on your toes and plenty of stinging nettles to remind you later that you mountain biked in Poland.  Both days were older maps so there were definitely more trails due to logging and some of the marked trails were more overgrown than what the map stated.  I used these days to work on my weaknesses - reading contours and attention to the scale.

Day 1 Training - Middle Distance 1:10,000

Day 2 Training - Long Distance 1:15,000

After today's training and a little bit (lots) of stretching, I checked out some of the local attractions, below is the Suprasl Orthodox Monastery, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supra%C5%9Bl_Orthodox_Monastery.

USA! Church of Annunciation!

Thanks to everyone back home who are supporting us, I hope you're enjoying our updates.  You can also follow us on our Facebook page,https://www.facebook.com/usmtboteam, where we are all posting random pics and copies of our maps.

And a special thanks to our 8 week-and-under Super Fan, Willa, for cheering for us back in Portland, OR.  I'm looking forward to following your blog in a few years as you travel the world MTBOing!

Now that it's 10:30pm, Suprasl time, I think it's bed time.  

Looking forward to Day 3 of Training Camp. 

Sweet dreams Little Kittens!

Finding the best way to find north

The compass clip being printed

Orienteering is unfortunately also a fairly obscure sport in the USA, and mountain bike orienteering even more so. Coming from an adventure racing background, the gear requirements are much less demanding for mtbo (a bike, map board, compass is about all one needs) but I still found that I was lacking that certain something, namely, a convenient method for attaching my Moscow Compass to my fancy new AutoPilot map board.

Coming from an adventure racing background, I'm fairly familiar with modifying or making new gear to fit my needs as it's rare to find a piece of gear that does everything one wants. In the past I've made sails for canoes, extra pouches for packs, tow straps for kayaks, and numerous other crafty things. With all that experience, I figured the engineer in me could find a way to solve my problem.

The finished product attached to my Autopilot map board

Enter the world of 3D printing. One of my co-workers recently got a Cube 3D printer and I figured I could use it to make what I need. I popped the compass I had out of the thumb baseplate, took a few measurements, and came up with a 3D model using the free Sketchup Make software package. That design was exported to the Cube printer, and 4 hours later I had my part. 3d printing isn't perfect yet, so I did do some cleanup with a dremel, but overall it came out great! I've done a few test rides with it so far, and am excited to try it out in training and competition during the next two weeks. If it works out really well maybe I can make them for the team.

-Peter Jolles

Surprise! What did I get myself into?!

How I hope not to end up. ;)

Hello from Texas!

Sarah here, and while I've spent plenty of time on 2 wheels, I've never participated in an MTBO event. The world championships will be my first experience and boy do I have a lot of random ideas of what mountain bike orienteering will be like.

I imagine MTBO is somewhat like texting while driving - you should keep your eyes on the trail, but you're too busy looking at the map. How could anything possibly go wrong?

Ok, so maybe it won't be that bad! I hope.

This year's WMTBOC takes us to Poland. The northeast side of the country in Białystok to be exact. How cool is that?! I'll be racing in a city I can't even pronounce! Let's take a gander at the country of Poland.

We'll be neighboring with Belarus.

"Present!"

Boom! So we land in Warsaw this Saturday and Nathan and I get to meet our teammates. All of us finding each other sounds like a challenge already. Maybe some guy will be standing there with a sign?

We currently have 2 very sweet rental vans. One for the people and one for our 9 bikes. Rumor has it, these may be manual transmissions. I hope our international DL holders brushed up on their driving skills.

The drive from Warsaw to our hotel will be a couple hours. Then the fun starts! We have a week of training camp to get us in gear. Both physically and mentally. This will be my first real exposure to an MTBO map and the actual terrain the map covers. I have my fingers crossed and my breath held for a very exponential learning curve.

All of our team will be at the training camp. It will cover (I think) all possible scenarios. What could these be? I don't know. I'm assuming getting lost, keeping direction, missing a punch, etc. I wonder what happens when you crash so hard you break a map board. Does that even happen? How much finess and skill do these racers have?

*Please don't let me be this guy*

See, my mind is already running off on a tangent. I'm hoping to find what works most efficiently for me as far as riding and reading the map. I know being able to practice will be the biggest help and having others around me to exchange tips will be icing on the cake. Either way, I'm PRing.

  

All in all, mountain bike orienteering sounds like a recipe for fun. The use of maps require the cyclist to be quick thinking in route choice - helping muddle the strict competition of who's the strongest. Brains AND brawn! I must admit, this leaves me at a disadvantage compared to my experienced teammates and competition. I have been practicing reading a map while on my bike, but I know it's not the real deal. Training camp will give me a chance to thoroughly practice with a MTBO specific map and to see what I am up against. Being a competitive cyclist, I feel my fitness should be comparable. However, my lack of map-on-bike and MTBO map time will leave me a bit slower than the average racer if I'm not careful.

Training with pain.

"Training" for this event has been interesting. Nathan and I have spent many hours on the bike, but we do not have MTBO specific maps of our home state. We've taken road and AR maps for the area and have set out with random check points - using only the roads/trails on the map. I've learned to use key features that the map gives me as landmark points. These help notify if I am close or have maybe passed my point. I've grown very familiar with using elevation as an indicator on the map as well. While the MTBO courses are said to be relatively flat, I'm sure it will be significant enough for this flat lander to use as course indicators. We've also practiced exercises for spending more time looking at the map. We can thank our fellow Team USA members for those drills!
 

Training with maps.





Another new feature for me is the SI card. An electronic punch. What an upgrade from a paper passport! I think this will allow us to roll through the check points quickly. I am very excited to experience these new concepts at training camp and to apply them in the World Championships! Everything I learn will help make me a more skilled and competitive MTBO racer for the upcoming years.

SI Cards for quick checkpoint punches!

Be sure to check back after WMTBOC week. I will be posting another blog comparing and contrasting what I think the race will be with what the race really was! Wish us luck!!!

Sarah Ginsbach

Noob Nathan Winkelmann here, giving my perspective of what MTBO will be like.  WARNING: reading this will likely make you smarter-or at least feel smarter, which is basically the same thing.

Have you ever seen these types of pictures:

That's what I'm up against going into the MTBO race in Poland!  I have an array of thoughts of what to expect, and what I will look like executing the sport!
I know it involves a mountain bike, which I know how to use.  I know it involves a map, which I know how to use.  SO, MTBO should be easy!  But I'm afraid, I'll feel like I'm back in the swim pool, getting lapped by 80 year old ladies while doing my 'hard' sets.

MTBO will be using different types of maps, such as:

Trying to find points in a particular order, using the fastest paths to get to each point.  The maps are quite a bit BIGGER than I'm used to, with a 1:5000, 1:10000, 1:15000 compared to a 1:24000, so there are a lot more details, and I believe the travel to be a lot faster than I'm used to.  However, coming from the Adventure Race side of things, I try to be different and think different than the 'navigator', relying on trails and direction to get me where I'm going-not necessarily the terrain features(this gets me in trouble when the trail is NOT on the map), but I've had great success when the trail IS on the map!  The other half of the equation is the short time frame, compared to a 24hr race, I'll be navigating to a few points within a few minutes, with other competitors riding all around me(talk about second guessing yourself!)  I wonder if finding one of the top 20 competitors, the ones with GPS tracking on their arm, and just following would be a bad idea? :) Then again, I don't know every rule-and definitely need to know all the rules in order to bend them in my favor!

So, just hope Team USA puts me in a Holiday Inn Express the night before the races, at least in "MY" mind, I'll be doing awesome!  I'll report on how it ACTUALLY is, much to the dismay of "what I think I do", I'll post about "what I really do"!

Preparation notes from Tom Puzak and Dave Swanson

What is on your mind this summer Tom (Puzak)?

Making the US MTBO team is a brilliant opportunity to immerse in a sport in which we don't often get to compete. As there are only a handful of events in each region of the US, all of the athletes on the US MTBO are challenged to find enough map time to progress.

This year, the team is taking a bit of a different approach to training for the world champs.  The biggest change is putting a greater focus on the map. Last year we learned that the more riding that can be done with a map board on, the better. We ride local MTB trails with a map on, following along as we ride. We print maps of the city, and choose virtual checkpoints to visit. We also do very specific race training set up to simulate the decision making that will happen at race pace. 

But nothing can prepare us better for the champs then the week of training camp in Poland. We are really excited to get there and focus on improvement. Regardless of the results, I know that I will continue to enjoy our unique sport, and make new friends along the way.

With regard to equipment, I am not making any large changes.  A fast XC race bike is important, and my preferred setup is a sub-22 lbs hard tail. Last year a Diamondback Evolve Carbon Pro served me well. This year a Niner AIR9RDO has been my weapon of choice. I specifically wanted to upgrade the wheels to help with all of the stops and starts. Otherwise I will be wearing polarized lenses to help cut down on the glare off of the otherwise awesome Autopilot map holders that we use.  The plastic covering keeps the maps in the place and protects from moisture and abrasion, but also reflects the sun making map reading difficult.  I would like to use a taller map board to get the map closer to my face while riding, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to get my hands on one prior to the world champs.

 

How has training been going for you Dave (Swanson)?

Making the US Mountain Bike Orienteering Team (MTBO) team this year has been very exciting. MTBO is different than endurance adventure racing, as decisions need to be made more quickly and efficiently than your typical adventure race or foot orienteering event.

MNOC Long Course part A

MNOC Long Course part B

Training for MTBO involves short hard efforts, technical riding skills, and the ability to ride while looking down at the mapboard. Getting onto the start lines to mountain bike races has helped with the fast paced, stop & go fitness needed for the sport. Minnesota has a series called Minnesota Mountain Bike Series that has 10 races across the state.  Locally, the ski hill hosts Thursday night races as well.  But of most benefit to MTBO training are the MNOC (Minnesota Orienteering Club) events.  It is my hope that we can find more terrain, and athletes, to participate in MTBO.  The 30 athletes that raced at the most recent MTBO event were all smiles at the finish line. At home, it is easy to train with multiple single track MTB parks nearby.  

The next step will be training camp in Poland…a great opportunity to dig into MTBO.  Training camp promises to be an exciting opportunity to meet new people, get settled into the pattern and flow of the sport, and strengthen my navigation abilities.

Autopilot map board

The Giant XTC 29er hard tail is my bike of choice this year, with a carbon wheel set. Equipment changes were somewhat minimal but important, changing out to TruVativ carbon cranks and Shimano XT brakes. The brakes were a nice upgrade for me because the brake lever is very short, and easily operated by one finger. This means the rest of your hand can be on the handlebar grips, better controlling the bike through rough terrain. Changing out to tubeless tires (Maxxis Ardent) was a bit strange but has been beneficial with no issues so far, and it has been nice to be able to run low tire pressure if needed. The Autopilot map board has been great, easy to attach and very lightweight. I am hoping this setup is ultra lightweight but have not officially placed it on the scale. I have my bag of spare parts and tools to bring to Poland but hoping it won't be needed.

Now I have to pack the bike into a bike box, and find a compass somewhere around here...

The Final Countdown!

Today marks the two week countdown until Team USA jets off to Bialystok, Poland and the 2014 MTBO World Champs! Preparations have included team conference calls, jerseys shipped cross-country to see about sizing, and tips shared back and forth on our group Facebook page. Our team spans from Minnesota to Texas, and from Oregon to D.C., with a few more states making up the middle. We can't train together so we've been working on our own to make sure we're ready by the end of August. Sue and I wanted to share a little of what we've been doing here on the west coast (best coast) to get ready for Poland.

Thanks to friend Michelle for the sweet pic of Sue!

First of all, we've been racing. Portland has a great 8-week short track mountain bike series running from June to late July at Portland International Raceway. We both compete in the awesome Elite/Cat 1 Women's field in twisty, bumpy and fast 40-minute races. This style of riding is great for the short, powerful bursts of speed necessary in MTBO.

On top of racing, we've also been interval training on the bike and focusing on core strength both at the gym and at home. Without a ton of time to get on the trail for intervals, I've been spending many of my early mornings on the back porch with a very professional set-up: lawn mower displaying my workout, heart rate monitor watch wrapped around the handlebars, AND sweet vintage Descente jersey. You can check out all the bling in the photo below.

Any chance we can get to look at maps is obviously helpful, with the gentle reminder that everything looks quite different at race pace! We try to do any Foot-O events close by, and will go on longer mountain bike rides with old maps in our map holders just to practice reading on the go. Trail riding with map boards has definitely been a great opportunity to spread the word of MTBO. Riders heading in the opposite direction generally stop and inquire as to what that contraption might be on our handlebars.

Cue the "Rocky" theme song!

Our bikes also needed a little love in preparation for our week-long training camp and week's worth of racing. We grabbed new Kratos tires from Rubena, especially after finding some "Stanimals" hiding out inside the old tires from the Stan's No Tubes sealant of yore. One of my tires was also losing air out the sidewall -- it was time for a refresh! Add in an upgrade of some Avid XO hydraulic disc brakes and I'm starting to feel pretty set.

Are those sea monkeys...? No! They're Stanimals! 

And last but not least, we've also been recruiting. Sue and our club, CROC, hosted a local MTBO race at Stub Stewart State Park in June, and another short training exercise at Mt. Tabor Park in SE Portland this past week. Participants from both events left asking when the next race would be, which we considered a good sign. In order to get the US Junior MTBO movement rolling, we've decided it's absolutely fine to start recruiting youth at a very young age. On that note, I'd like to introduce you to our new friend, Willa Miriam -- she should be taking the junior MTBO circuit by storm in say, year 2030? Her parents say she's trying to decide between orienteering or bike racing -- why not both?

Relay Day, Susan's Birthday & Joe Brings Home the Silver!

Relay Day started out pretty sweet. The race took place in Rakvere so we only had to ride a few blocks to the start line rather than load the bikes in our vans and make a trek. It was also Susan's birthday so we began the day by giving her a mostly unintelligible Estonian birthday card (which turned out to have the word 'map' in it after Tom broke out Google Translate), and a chocolate cupcake from a local bakery with a large '0' candle in it. The '0' obviously stood for Orienteering.

Adding to an already special day, the race announcer wished her a Happy Birthday AND she was interviewed by an Estonian news crew after our relay. The interviewer was excited to congratulate her about her birthday, as well as inquire about the race, MTBO, and how she liked Estonia. Happy Birthday, Susan!

The MTBO Relay began with a mass start in which the rider of the first leg sprinted to their bike while simultaneously reading their map and planning their first route. Sue and Tom both took on the role of riding in the first slots and did a great job handling the pressure.

Each leg of the relay included two maps: a larger one with a smaller one stapled to the back. Once you reached the "spectator control," the larger map was torn off and dropped on the ground nearby for an official to pick up, and then you were off again with the smaller map. Seeing your teammate at the spectator control usually meant they would be coming through the finish area to tag your hand in about 10-12 minutes. After the shift change, the next leg of the relay rode through the parking lot to pick their two maps up where they were attached to a board and numbered for your team.

The shorter leg with the smaller map zipped around Rakvere Castle, a structure dating back to the 5th century, as well as near the famous Tarvas statue of an aurochs that's said to be the largest animal statue in the Baltic countries. It made for pretty fantastic views and terrain.

Susan, Sue, and I went back afterwards to snap a few photos and cheer on David as he was hammering through. 

The relay course went through an amazing amount of suburban forests around Rakvere with a pretty intricate and often rooty trail system. Steeper descents were an added bonus, too. You had to pay close attention as some of the major streets and residential areas were forbidden, leaving only a few options for crossing major roads or picking routes. A wrong turn down one of the roads could easily be a disqualification for your team.

Here's a slightly poor photo of the first map of the women's second leg. There should be a better version of all the maps available online sometime soon.

It was another strong day for the US in that we didn't have any mispunches or disqualifications. Fletcher had his best race yet and Dash was pumped about crushing it on his second map. As always, we left the race with an incredible amount of respect for the abilities of the athletes who are seemingly experts in this sport, and with inquiries on how we can create opportunities for more MTBO events of similar quality in the US.

To add even more good news to the day, our alternate rider and orienteering guru, Joe, raced his age group in the Open Category Sprint and took home the silver and second place! We would have missed his chance to stand on the podium had we not already been out eating dinner for Susan's birthday at the same location as the awards ceremonies. His successes earned him a mixed bag of beverages, including one of the local energy drinks, Jungled Battery. Great job, Joe!

Tomorrow will be our last race, the Long Course. After the men race 46k and the women 35k, we'll need to truck back to Rakvere, start packing up our bikes and gear, and also hustle to the final banquet and disco. It's going to be a busy day but we're looking forward to it. There may even be costumes involved.

We've been super lucky to have Dash's wife, Diane, along for the trip with some photography experience and a nice camera. She's been our team photographer at every event and captured a lot of the sweet shots we've been able to post. I'll end today's write-up with a pic she snapped this morning before the relay that we hope to send to our sponsors as a thank you. This is right in the middle of Rakvere's downtown area, just a few blocks from the Event Center, our hotel, and today's race start/finish area.