About MTB-O
MTB
Orienteering is a relatively young sport in Sweden, even though it has been around
for a long time in Denmark, the Czech Republic, Austria and other European
countries. MTBO is all about high speed and making quick decisions about the
right choice of route.
The map
The map is
similar to the one used in FootO. The biggest difference is how the paths and
roads are presented. The possible riding speed on roads and paths are indicated
by dash lengths, where longer dashes on the map corresponds to the ability to
bike at higher speeds.
Above you can see a map where the solid, dashed or dotted black lines indicate the possible riding speed in % relative to asphalt road. Solid black lines are 70-100 % and dotted 25 %.
The bike
The bikes used in MTBO are mountain bikes.
Map holder
The map is placed
in a specific map holder attached to the bike handlebar to enable map reading
while cycling. The Swedish National Team collaborates with the map holder
manufacturer Nordenmark to produce the world’s best map holders.
Clothing
The
clothing is the same as for regular cyclists, i.e., padded trousers and cycling
jersey. Within MTBO, there is no requirements of fully covered legs.
The courses
In mountain
bike orienteering, a number of controls must be visited with the help of a bike
and a map. The most common is that you have a course with controls that needs
to be punched in numerical order. However, there are other forms and in one of
them you are supposed to visit a certain number of controls but in any order preferred
by the athlete.
Distances
The guidelines
for estimated winning times in senior class of MTBO are as follows.
- Long distance: 105-115 minutes
- Middle distance: 50-55 minutes
- Sprint distance: 20-25 minutes
- Relay: 45-50 minutes (for each leg)
- Sprint relay: 12-15 minutes (for each leg)