Close family friends live in that house. They left the house keeper there for the weekend and jetted off to the house in St Tropez on my advice! I had a bed there, great view at night of the final climb. Toilets in the arena were kept open, there was an announcement but I’m sure loads of people didn’t hear it.

Here’s my write-up…

http://40psi.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/mountain-mayhem-2014/

Team NWAlps experiences are here http://www.nwalps.com/

Salsa team write up…

The annual pilgrimage that is Mountain Mayhem happened again last weekend. I’ve said it before but this remains the only event I get genuinely excited about every year. This year was my 13th Mayhem and my 25th 24hr race, so it’s safe to say I quite enjoy them. It’s not actually that much about the actual race; rather the event, catching up with everyone in the bike industry and spending a weekend away with your mates.

This year, I had put together a team with Al Fairbairn (Singular Cycles), Scott McCarron (Mountain Trax) and Bruce Dalton (Kinesis Morvelo). Looking down the entry list before the event, there seemed to be about 3 or 4 strong teams entered – Pivot Cycles, Naked Bikes and Corley Cycles to name a few. With the dominance of the Scott team gone for this year, it was (finally!) wide open for the win. I knew we had a strong endurance base in our team and so was quietly confident of at least ending up on the podium, although you can never tell what will happen at Mayhem… This year the forecast was amazing, the track baked solid and the views across Gatcombe Park spectacular.

I did the run as usual and jogged round – I’ve learnt the lesson of sprinting so fast round the run I’m then too tired to ride fast. Within a mile of riding I was in the lead with a rider from the Malvern Cycles team who was in the 10 man team event. We put 2 minutes into the rest of the field on lap 1, which was a good start. Unlike the other teams, due to the shorter laps (30-33 ish minutes) we had opted to do double laps from the start to cut down on the time lost in transition and also to better suit the riders on our team who are all strong endurance riders. I set off on lap 2 and was quickly caught and passed by another Malvern rider – but this was OK as it was Olympian Liam Killeen – great to see him back racing again.

I passed over to Scott who set off on his two laps, then Bruce and finally Al. The race was so close – there was only ever 6 minutes or so separating us and the Pivot Cycles team in 1st and 2nd, with the lead changing depending on who was out. We had the edge in terms of the fastest laps, but Pivot’s laps were more consistent across their team. This made for an unbelievably close and exciting race. I went out at about 9pm with only a helmet light to complete 2 laps, banking on the face that the low sun would allow enough light to do without the weight of a bar light. Turned out this was fine for lap 1, but starting a lap at 9.35 with no bar light meant using The Force a fair bit – luckily by this point I knew where the course went.

Overnight Big Al began a 2 lap stint 4 minutes behind Pivot and put in 2 smashing laps that resulted in us ending up with a 6 minute lead. Al handed over to me and I added another 4 minutes. This meant that by mid-morning we had stretched our lead to about 10 minutes over Pivot. However, they had strength in reserve and managed to catch and pass us again.

With 4 laps left we were 3 minutes behind. Big Al and I decided to ride one double lap each to see out the race. Al put out one of his fastest laps of the race on his first to close the gap to only 1.5 minutes but paid for it a bit on his second and saw the gap extend to 3 minutes again. the tension in transition whilst I was waiting for Al was unbearable. Pivot were riding single laps at this stage and so us on a second lap against them on a one lap flyer was always going to be tricky. I set off at 10.58 with 1hr 2 minutes to complete 2 laps and send Big Al around again. I did the first lap in 31.45 but leaving myself with only 30 mins 45 to complete the final lap proved to be too much, despite absolutely attacking every bit of the lap and I crossed the line at 12.01, just missing the cutoff. It turned out Pivot had come in at 23.:59.40 and had gone round again. Over 24hrs we had lost by 90 seconds. I was totally drained and just about managed to shake Pat’s hand before collapsing in a heap on the finish straight.

This has to go down as one of the most epic battles ever in a 24hr race. We were chatting and chilling with the Pivot team (Matt, Euan, Rich and Paul) throughout the race. Rory was doing a top job keeping everyone informed about gaps and even put the tea on for us. Whilst it was really quite painful to lose by such a narrow margin (I’ve still never won at Mayhem!) it was made better that we were beaten by friends. We had all said that it would be such a shame if the race was decided by some issue (missed changeover, puncture, mechanical, crash etc) and so the fact that both teams managed to go 24hrs without any such issue was remarkable and just added to the drama.

The event itself was fantastic – the course flowed a lot better this year and of course the weather helped a lot. See you in 2015 for a rematch and thanks to all involved with making Mayhem what it is.

nice one gee, I set off on my last lap at the same time you went through the start/finish for yours looking like a man possessed – I think everyone was hoping you’d get round for one last lap.
still, it was SO close after 24 hours.
chapeau.

Nice write up, gee, gutting to miss the cutoff.

I know how it feels, I buried myself on my last lap solo a few years ago, hopped up on That Awful Drink, set my fastest lap trying to get back in time to do another.

I was hardly racing for the win, but it’s such a sudden jolt from being in a race with a fair bit left to go, burning, burning, burning, coming round the corner and seeing that “2” on the clock, and there being no more race.

Like having a rug pulled out from under you, all the adrenaline goes and the tiredness breaks over like a wave. Ooofff!

Well done everyone, sounds like it was a cracker.

Good write up Gee – and you’d have been about a minute slower over the 10 laps if you’d had me rather than Bruce, so he was a good choice 😉

Agreed, nice write up.

Think I saw you on your last lap stuck behind a rider on the narrow singletrack climb upto the finish? I think you were asking them to move, but could have held you up for a bit maybe? Great riding though!

Yes that was me – I didn’t lose more than a few seconds behind him. I did ask him to get out of the way but his reply was “where do you want me to go – down the bank?” I just said “yes”. Normally I would have just waited but on those laps every second mattered so much.

I don’t know if it was the sun, the good course or the great amount of support on the final run in but this did seem like the best atmosphere of a Mayhem in recent years. Even out on the course in the wee small hours everyone seemed happy, friendly and polite. Made for a really nice weekend out.

And, should you ever require a last minute stand in for your team I can recommend njee20. He even brings scales in case you want to weigh your bike 🙂

only so he can prove that his is lighter than yours 😉

In my defence, I brought my workstand, which just happens to have a mechanism I can use to prove my bike was lighter 😉

Thanks to mr_stru and Phil_H for their hospitality, rocking up for a 24 hour race having never met anyone from the team could’ve been a disaster, but it was a good laugh!

I don’t think you’d even need to pick up either bike to tell which of mine and njee20’s was lighter 🙂

Should’ve weighed the Rocket, that would’ve been interesting!

Even out on the course in the wee small hours everyone seemed happy, friendly and polite.

I’ll second that – I was one of the puddings rolling around slowly, but everyone was really encouraging, and by and large if someone got stuck behind me on single track and I offered them by, they either said not to worry till the track is wider or gave me a big thanks on the way past. I’ll not forget my night stint – pushing up one of the hills late on, tired, out of energy, desperate for a kip and really not in a happy place. And a solo rider rode past me, easy as though he was on the flat, gave me a “well done, keep going”. I was part of a four man – my admiration for soloists knows no bounds anyway, but that one of them took the time to give me a word of encouragement… Wish I knew who it was, but whoever it was, thank you!

Reading the last few posts I felt I wanted to agree about the level of politeness / friendliness.

I mostly ride at night (mostly) and am not fast, I plug along at a sensible pace, but the really fast guys come blasting past me like I’m parked up.

Everyone wanting to pass called out and I replied “go on”, on two occasions I called back “not yet”, once because we were just getting to the nasty root bit of the downhill where there were small stumps sticking out of the ground, as soon as we were past I called out “now!” and the guy came past and thanked me.

I had something similar on the single track down by the lake, when the guy wanting to pass thought he might just squeeze through, and I thought otherwise; same again, I called “now!” and the guy blasted past and thanked me.

I have to say I was pretty impressed with that kind of behaviour, as I am just a fun rider, enjoying the whole vibe and having a laugh, where as riders like Gee are there to try and win. I’m not sure I would be quite so polite if the roles were reversed (I wish!).

In fact, thinking about it, I didn’t hear one comment in our team, either from our whippet riders, or from the plodders about rude / aggressive behaviour. That’s impressive.

I’d just like to second what the majority seem to be saying. Great atmosphere, polite faster riders and loads of encouragement. My first solo and really happy with how it went. Course was a vast improvement on last year but the weather really helped with that. Even saw royalty out on course on saturday evening!!. Had great fun guiding a guy round whose lights had failed and was riding round on a couple of commuter lights!!!. Some top advice dished out by guys who had done lots of solo and were happy to answer my never ending list of questions. Great few days that will live in my memory…it might even have inspired me to do solo again next year and definitely going for 24/12 next year.

Nice write ups, will , terrahawk and gee. It’s great to hear how other riders especially elite riders rode or their experiences.
Pondo I think I might have been that solo rider, I try to chat to riders or give a word of encouragement, sometimes they are struggling sometimes it’s me struggling/ walking but I always still try to make an effort to cheer someone on.
This was my second solo attempt (1st 2012 mud bath ) and reading the blogs and comments are great as I didn’t see much except the slow rotation of my front wheel or the trees bending as I was going dizzy due to not being able to eat enough without feeling sick!
It’s encouraging when a fast rider appreciates you moving over, I try to call them through before they have even shouted and a cheers, thanks or even a keep going pal is really appreciated.
Thanks Pat for another great event, please bring back enduro6

This is my 6th MM, fortunately missed 2012! :). I think it was one of the best ones yet. Having said that, I think Eastnor was a better venue and also stood up to the bad weather better. This year was great because of the weather, I don’t think it would have been anywhere near as good if it’d been raining.

Having said all that, what I am hoping is, now Wiggle aren’t the main sponsor things may return back to how they were when I first started participating. Carnival atmosphere, lots of trade stands and the 20k spectators, this what made it good. I’m my eyes anyway. If the event starts to have this atmosphere again, I could forgive a rubbish wet track. I do MM for the challenge, experience and ‘atmosphere’.

Let’s hope with all the positive posts, things continue to get better and this event doesn’t fall victim to the lack of interest.

Thanks all those involved for a great weekend.

Rodcouncil would you mind if I had a hi res copy of an image from your story board, it’s the final climb to the campsite at night lit up by riders lights. It’s a great photo.
Cheers Steve.

Pondo I think I might have been that solo rider, I try to chat to riders or give a word of encouragement, sometimes they are struggling sometimes it’s me struggling/ walking but I always still try to make an effort to cheer someone on.

Aaaa, my friend, if it was, thank you so much! It was such an eye-opener – inspiring and humbling. Like one of those “there’s always someone worse off than you” memes, with the caveat that it was the worse-off person encouraging ME! 🙂 I’ll not forget it – I literally couldn’t think of anything to say. 🙂

My usual plea… Please don’t take your hand off the bars to wave a passing rider through. It scares the crap out of me and on more than one occasion I had to swerve to avoid flailing arms.

If anyone’s after another write-up from Mayhem to fill a few minutes, mine is here –

Linky

🙂

Nice writing, enjoyed reading that.

Well thank you very much, glad you liked it. 🙂

thanks pondo, a lot of what you say resonates and it paints a very good picture of 24hr team endurance.
for me the appeal is not the physical challenge or the obstacle that you conquer, it’s the mental challenge that sleep deprivation and fatigue provides – an insight into the stoicism of endurance athletes.

First solo 24h for me. Plodded my way through to 30th. I can’t wait to next time. I’m pretty convinced if I ride further I’ll do better next time!!!

I thought the atmosphere was excellent. Words of encouragement from all shapes and speeds. Particularly when I had a puncture about two minutes into the race!!!