” Indeed, bring back Wilfs””

I utterly agree.

What ratios were the single speeders running??

34:16 switched to 34:17 after 2 laps. Hard work, but worth it!

Teammates were 32:15 then 32:16 once he had my cog off me, another 32:16 and a 32:20 on a 29er 🙂

changing gear on a singlespeed mid-race? how odd, would not just taking a geared bike be simpler? 🙂

32:18 on a 29er, same as always

We weren’t expecting so many hills. Mine’s a flip-flop hub so usually only takes a minute… except when your buddy wants your cog. Broke my chain whip too 🙁

We weren’t expecting so many hills. Mine’s a flip-flop hub so usually only takes a minute… except when your buddy wants your cog. Broke my chain whip too

Did someone tell you it was riding around flat fields? 😉

Best bits: Rolling into our pits each lap to be greeted with a full on party, everyone seemed to be having so much fun I barely wanted to leave (strangely this feeling grew as the race went on…).
The way the course sped up as it dried.
A shiny clean bike waiting for me every lap.
All the encouragement from other people while riding – I had no idea that many people knew (or cared) who I was 🙂

Worst bits: The fact that I could barely climb/descent stairs yesterday (and they’re not exactly fun today either).
My lame jumps off the JUMP OF DOOM.
Ripping my shorts on the 2nd lap and having to ride round with my arse hanging out!

Did someone tell you it was riding around flat fields?

It was definitely a tougher course than 2008 when I last rode it!

Best:

Utterly nailing it on the last section of downhill, going as fast as I possibly could pedal and having spectators ring cowbells as i zoomed past!

Some girls handing out free water as we passed back into the arena area. Much appreciated!

My night ride even though my light only lasted one lap, it was a great experience.

The technical, rutty wooded areas with tight twists and turns

Utterly faultless and well performing bike! Not a single technical glitch! I don’t know if thats down to the bike or my fettling expertise!

Worst:

Really really sore arse that almost stopped me from riding my last lap

The off camber bit 🙁 Came off twice at low speed.

No sleep. At all.

Really crappy service at the food tent. Really crappy food. Expensive too.

Team Sumo were on 32:20 in the main, with one 32:18 for one chap. Well we were heavier than most and certainly sweating more than most.

Best: All the banter from riders and spectators, but especially riding behind geared riders and having a chat, then as they reach for a lower gear on a hill, getting out the saddle and passing them. You could almost hear chins hitting stems as they realised they had been “sumo’d”.

Worst: can’t think of one, except wanting to ride more laps – thought the course was a great.

CiderRiderRich, I take it 32:20 was on a 29er..?

Hope you guys enjoyed our retrobike retro disco with light show ,will apologise in advance though for the heckling on the megaphone by some of my fellow retro bikers

I passed one sumo guy at the bit right near the top at the obelisk, I called “on your left fatty”, and the bloke in front turned around, I think he did then realise I was probably not being quite so insulting, he seemed ok with it! Only saw the jump of doom once, and too late to hit it!

Best bits: my last lap being my fastest of the race, the course being dry and grippy, the sun out and knowing I was nearly done, The encouragement on the Kenda Klimb, the random shouts, the high 5s.

Worst bit: standing in transition waiting for my first lap and it starting to pour with rain, I just thought “is this it!?”, thankfully it wasn’t!

Errrr no……. 26″ Whippet. My best lap was a 1.22 I think – not flying but ok for the atire and for most of the ups – we had a lot of gravity helping on the downs.

Why apologise crezzy?

The heckling was hilarious!

Best – having done a couple of laps on the rigid, I moved onto the hard tail with lighter (non mud) tyres at about 2pm. My move to was very well timed – exciting and quicker (although not reflected in times). Just like when the F1 guys go early to slicks and it pays off.

Worst – not being one of the guys in the team affected by the muddy, wet laps.

Other good – Indian at 7 or 8pm was pretty good.

Best .- Riding for Team Bullheart ( what an eclectic mix of skills and nonsense) Meeting Sharki , Mamdirt and Njee . cruising up behind MTQGraham and sending him the std ” Hello MidlandsTrailQuestGraham , its Singletrackmind here” He got at Erlestoke 12 . The fact i am now able to almost enjoy enduro races .Ok so 1.12 is never going to win anything, in any category, but on a personal level Im happy with it. The chirpy mood of the girls coming in to changeover in the middle of night . nutters .

Worst. SomaRich getting confused with who was who and geting me out of a nice warm sleeping bag 2 hours too early for a night lap, when i then had to stand around shivering for another 30 min in changover as i waited, and waited . The velcro treaclemud was rubbish , and i regret not removing the mudx’s and giving the larsens a go for the lsat lap, as the parts you needed a full mud tyres for were a small percentage of the lap

Worst Ending up riding in the Expert Mixed Category as we were down a rider.

Best Having a good race for 6th/7th/8th in the category. Nearly keeping up with a fast girl from one of the other teams and realising I can work that hard on a bike.

Best:
-Jump of Doom
-Opening up the taps on some of the downhills
-Awesome camp and team
-The rain holding off

Worst:
-All the empty gel wrappers over the course. Disgusting.
-Getting off my 6am lap to find that my team-mate had taken the difficult decision to stay in bed and having to go round again.
-Running over the bloke who crashed in front of me off the Jump of Doom!
-Getting shouted at for not calling a side when I overtook a couple of people. I felt really bad. If that was you, I’m sorry. 😳

What ratios were the single speeders running??

32:20 for me, rigid 29er. Good fun though, although the ups were a hell of a slog… 😉

Best bits – dusk lap, dawn lap (I was the loon half way up to the summit taking pictures), JUMP OF DOOM, final lap when all my mates camped up trackside and cheered me on, the really cool Sumo singlespeeders, on course teaching from some chilled out riders, looks of amazement when riders hear that I’ve only been riding for 4 months, owning a magic bike with special mud repellent properties, chilling with a couple of retro bikers at the North Face house dishing out jelly babies to all and sundry, weather was better than forecast

Worst bits – Ankle seized up good and proper by the end of lap 2 so had to stop maybe half a dozen times to massage it, being unable to see down the last descent as my eyeballs were bouncing too much and the realisation by the end of my first lap that I’d be coming back next year…

-Getting shouted at for not calling a side when I overtook a couple of people

People need to chill, unless you actually cause them a problem I can’t see the issue.

I saw one guy properly laying into Liam Killeen for not calling. Started shouting “YOU’LL COME PAST WHEN I F**KING LET YOU PAST” in the first bit of singletrack. Very unnecessary, it wasn’t even a bad manouvre, the guy maybe had to dab the brakes, but he was rather slower than Mr Killeen, who was long gone!

LOWS, Hearing someone at the top of the Kenda Climb say “nice 29er singlespeed” and then follow it up with “oh no, he’s got a hub gear”. I had a spare wheel with me and if only I could have found someone with an 18T freewheel for sale it would have been a singlespeed.
Getting bog all sleep on the friday night due to the rain rattling on the roof of the van.

HIGH, Camping trackside with the Sumo gang. There were 28 of us all in.
The whole area being safe enough to let my ten (very nearly) year old go off on his own.
Finding that the final bumpy descent feels smoother on rigid forks once you get ABOVE 26mph.

I didn’t find any problems with passing whilst I was out. I’d call ahead “can I get past when there’s space” and say “thanks after. That seemed to work.
I may not have been in line for a podium but when you’ve put the effort in on the climbs the singletrack and descents are the payback and I wanted to make the most of them.

I found everyone very courteous. I did crash into someone on the bridge, she wobbled into the line I was on (I’d not called admittedly), she seemed a bit annoyed, I apologised, we both stayed on though!

Personally I only call on singletrack or when I think someone may move onto the line I’m on – if it’s just fireroad then I just go past.

I’d call ahead “can I get past when there’s space” and say “thanks after

I do that – sometimes people throw themselves into the bushes when they hear it, which isn’t what I was asking for but cheers anyway 🙂

I wasn’t racing this year, but was there looking after the kids while my wife raced on a ladies team.

Best bits:
-The course running around the campsite, which made it easy to get a view of the race without dragging the kids to and from the arena.
-The change to a noon start made the packing up on the Sunday much more relaxed.
-Shutting the road through the campsite seemed a good move. That has always got very busy when cars have been driving along it during the race.
-The weather being much better than the original forecast, and not having to mess around switching tyres over.
-One of the girls on the team being lent a tube by an unknown rider on one her night laps. Somehow she had two punctures and only had the one spare tube on her. If that was you thank you 🙂
-Lots of shower gel!
-Wife’s team keeping the pressure on the the Scott ladies until the early hours of the morning when punctures and crashes caused a 40 minute gap to open up.

Negatives:
-Add me to the bring back Wilf’s petition. I didn’t bother with Quavers this year.
– The kids race on Saturday morning was a bit tough for the smaller children. Something a bit easier (and a bit more fun) for the under eights would have better.

What ratios were the single speeders running??

32:17 on 26″ wheels – felt about right though I had an interesting interlude with another SSer running the same ratio –

Do you want to come past?

No, I can’t, this is a as fast as I can go.

Oh, what ratio are you running?

32:17.

Ah, that would explain it… same here…

Heh! I was running a 32:18 on a 26″er; able to get up all the climbs (xept for the slippery bit at the top of the Kenda, annoyingly), but a bit more fitness would’ve meant a 17 or even my normal 16t cog wooduv bin faster. A drier course wooduv bin even better. As would narrower tyres tbh. Ah well. You live and learn. Still pretty pleased with my laps.

Oh and DezB’s baby wipes caused me a slight rash. 😐

Best bits:
– Introducing two new riders to Solo Mayhem
– the organising team and track side supporters / hecklers
– going for the finish line as the commentator realised he was counting us down a minute too early!
Worst bit:
Stomach cramps throughout lap 4 and then spending the next couple of hours throwing up! Not a pretty site. 🙁

Dodgy kebab?

Best bits – seeing my helper sat with a pile of snacks and food at the end of each lap
Worst bits – riding the night laps with a head torch that makes everything look flat

34×20 on a fully rigid 29er.

Worse bit was the rutted descent back in to the arena, really hard on the wrists (except it was really good knowing that the end of the lap was nigh).

Best bit was everything else other than the hideous bottlenecks on the first lap, and that very long climb to the obelisk.

One of the best bits for me was being given a very large whisky and coke in the solo tent not long after day break by another solo rider , purly for medicinal purposes to settle my stomach, I sang all the way up the kenda climb . cheers for the drink mate.Also seeing my dad at the finish line , i didnt know he was going to be there, nice feeling that. and just a tremedous crack with every body involved , big respect to the people that sat up all night helping / or sat out on the track encouraging all the riders, some of them all night( they should get a meddle ) thats what makes mayhem so special , a bloody good course as well i didnt get fed up with it , a challenge every lap.next day i found out that i had got 2nd place in the veteran single speed class , when the presentations were going on i was fast asleep lying on the hill by the kenda climb never in my wildest dreams did i think i may get to step on the podium , happy days. WORST MEMORY suddenly realising that it was me who suppled the very full porta toilet for me and my friends to use, guess what my last job was . 🙂