OK, so lets stare at the elephant in the room right off ! Yep, this bit of the blog has nothing to do with ARDF. …
It will though, eventually, as this time I’m taking part in the World Masters mountain bike orienteering in Hungary, on-the-way to Serbia. Other things also make it a little more relevant, such as the help I’ve received from our good Hungarian friend, Gyrui.
So yes, I have arrived in Veszprem.
It’s hot.
Did I say it’s hot ? Well coming straight from the Auzzie snowfields to here is a bit of a shock, with temperatures in the high 30’s. Gyuri likens it to Death Valley. It’s been that way since I got to Vienna yesterday. The 2-part train journey from there was actually quite pleasant. The last part as you approach Veszprem from Gyor was spectacular, with pitch dark tunnels through mountains (the old MAV diesel train didn’t appear to have operational lighting) shooting you out onto high bridges over gorges.
Murry picked me up at the train station (we are sharing a hire car), then left me to it as he wanted to see his son, Karl, finish in the Juniors sprint race (he did well, actually). I assembled my bike in the University accommodation we’re sharing (luckily on the less sunny side of the building, and only on the 1st floor,so cooler). The odometer sender mount was the only casualty of the air transport (or perhaps even the Bruce transport), but I’ve managed to rig up something with cable ties that appears to work fine.
Murray returned a bit later to give Carolyn J and myself a lift to our model event, held on the sprint map the Open (World MTBO) and juniors (JWMTBO) rode on earlier today. Murray has also scored a free bike for himself to loan from one of the organisers (!), so we could all go for a ride.
A cloud came over just as we started, so the heat wasn’t too oppressive, and I quite enjoyed the ride. The sprint event was effectively a foot-O event on bikes, as there is no requirement to stick to the tracks here, and in fact many of the sprint controls weren’t even placed on a track ! The other bit of good news is that it seems I am able to ride, after a bit of a snowboarding accident last week. Detaching the left hand foot from the pedal isn’t easy though, so I’ll have to avoid falling on that side !
Opening ceremony…what can I say ? I escaped before the traditional dancers got going as the masters aren’t required there.
There is a blog for the offcial team here: http://ausmtboteam.blogspot.hu
Tomorrow is the first real event for Masters; Middle Distance champs. I’m taking lots of water 🙂
Cheers, Bruce