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Scottish Mountain Bike Orienteering
Get out on your bike, explore new areas and eat cake
Riding your bike
Yet another excuse to get out on your bike. Bring your other half, a friend or even one of the kids.
- Ride your bike
- Explore new areas
- Meet new riding buddies
- Not just a loop of a trail centre
Adds Another Angle to it
Set off not knowing how far you are going to ride, over what terrain and what you will see along the way.
- Compete against the clock to navigate to as many checkpoints as possible
- Discover new trails and areas
- Choose the route less ridden
- Can you collect them all?
Friendly Competition
Be it against a friend, push for a category result or just try to beat the clock, you make the competitive side what you want.
- 30 Checkpoints to collect in 3 hours
- Numerous ways of joining them up
- Checkpoints worth different values
- Come back late and receive penalties
A typical SMBO event…
Register and you will receive a ‘dibber’ and checkpoint descriptions for that day’s event. An unmarked map is available that sets out the area for the day and highlights any hazards or out of bounds areas.
At the Start you will ‘dib’ to start the clock and receive your personal copy of the map marked with the checkpoints.
The clock is ticking and you have a limited time to collect as many points by dibbing at as many, and high value, checkpoints as possible. You will meet other riders on the course, sometimes heading the same way, others in different directions – why?!
The finish; once you have collected as many as you can or time is running out, head back to the event centre to ‘dib’ to stop the clock. Risk staying out too long and and increasing penalty is applied to your total score.
Compare results with friends and other riders whilst enjoying some of the home baking and soup on offer. Some events even have massage therapists on hand for a post event massage to aid recovery or just offer yourself a chance to treat yourself. Results are announced shortly after the final rider has finished and maybe an odd prize or two being handed out.
The event organiser then has to collect in all the checkpoints and tidy up the event centre so anyone offering to hang back to lend a hand is always appreciated.
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9am-10am Registration
Sign in and collect your ‘dibber’
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10am-11am Start Window
You can start any time in the start window, i.e. you are not allocated a start time.
‘Dib’ to start and receive your map.
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3 hour Race Window
From the second you have ‘dibbed’ you have 3 hours to use a combination of strategy, navigation, fitness, bike skills and luck to visit and ‘dib’ at as many high-value checkpoints as possible.
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1pm-2pm Finish
Get back within the 3 hours and you receive all the points you collected.
Get back late a a sliding scale of penalty points takes effect – Penalty Points
Frequently Asked Questions
Why don’t you run an event in my area?
If you know of a great wee area to run an event then let us know. One of our experienced event organisers can help you run your first event and other members of the team are generally on hand to help before, during and after the event. The main purpose of the SMBO is to...
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I want to go to … but need a lift/transport
Pop a post on the Facebook page where there is bound to be someone near you heading to the event. Most people are happy to lift share in return for a few pounds for fuel. It helps save the environment too! Scottish Mountain Bike Orienteering – Facebook Group
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I want to try this but would like someone to show me…
If you fancy having a go but would like to buddy up with someone the best thing to do is join our Facebook Group. Scottish Mountain Bike Orienteering – Facebook Group
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What do the Age Classes and Categories mean?
Solos / Teams of two (Combined Age Range) Y18 = Youth (aged 15,16 or 17) M21 = Open Men (18 to 39) / (34* to 79) W21 = Open Women (18 to 39) / (34* to 79) : *Note the M/W21 classes are Open; any age of rider 17+ can compete M40 = 40 to...
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