[Closed] Mayhem Was.....................Outstanding

My feet hurt from standing up for hours and hours and hours and hours, but it was fun (and busy) and people came and bought stuff which pays my wages. 🙂

"Enjoy" is such a strong word!

😕

Best one ever.

GB

great fun - the climbs 😥

really enjoyed our adopted catering crew who kept us fed and watered - awesome

yeah, very good this year and quite a tough course in that there was very little scope for a rest..

I agree there was no where really to catch your breath at all!

when I got back from my first lap of the course the adjective I used was 'brutal'. Easily the hardest route they've given us - it would have been hell if it [i]had [/i]rained. By the last couple of hours the changeover area was pretty quiet, so I'm guessing a lot of people found it too tough. And respect to the soloist who went through with 15 seconds remaining so he could get another lap in!

Loved it - and thankfully Pat's "deal with the devil" worked a treat with the weather!

Thanks to all of the organising team for yet another great weekend! 😀

The only bit I didn't like was the new "singletrack" in the first bit of soggy woods - no flow and how was that still that boggy after a whole week of 20+ degrees and a tiny bit of rain???!! Nice to have some new bits though.

[img] [/img]

This was Friday Afternoon

"Right, Right, Right" oops I went left

The swoopy section before the steep road bit was great, and even the climbs were ok although they hurt me legs. Really enjoyed the whole thing. and its a much better course in the dry.

I missed you going Barrie 🙁

Good to see the 3 of you again 😀

I wouldn't call it boggy - it reminded me of plasticine

But yeah - it was horrible

Really was how a 24hour endurance should be!

"Right, Right, Right" oops I went left

Was great fun.
Even on my singlespeed...

This pic summarises MM for me.......it was only taken because I was way less fit than I would've liked and couldn't resist stopping to just chill in the evening sun and grab a quick photo. Realised at that point getting up the hills was the least of my priorities when there was cracking singletrack, wonderful evening sunlight and great company - the hills could wait their turn!

[IMG] [/IMG]

This was my second Mayhem, and I cant wait for next year. I loved the course but I think the Kenda Climb should of been the big climb out from the Pond to the top if you know what I mean!!
We camped next to the "Jersey team' not sure if they read this but Top chaps!! We even enjoyed one of the Riders Birthday Cake!!
know starts the daily duty of the looking for pics

oh forgot to say, well funny moment.. I was waiting for one of our riders and the lady next to me was waiting for 'Scoobydo' to arrive, the lady arrived in the pits and the 2 girls changed the suit over to the next rider, with that done she jumped on her bike and off she went, but not on her bike in fact she had jumped on completley the wrong bike and some other poor lady watch Scoobydo steal here bike!!!!! she managed to get all the way to the top of the Kenda climb before she noticed!!!!!

Best one I've done. Track was very tough but some very exhilariating sections. Liked the dusty descent; so long as you stuck to the right!!

apparently it was "boring"
[url] http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/a-few-pics-from-mayhem [/url]
🙄

A sunny Mayhem is a happy one. Everyone sempt in good spirits and the sun brought out the punters and punters better halves into the main arena...
which was nice.

Hard really to compare courses as they have usually been guilty of giving me trench foot.

Your right about there not being many places to catch your breath though. It was either fast, twisty or a place not to loose your concentration. The new bit with the plasticine switch backy climb was very very energy sapping and the reward was an energy sapping switch back down hill that really didnt have a flow to it.. just break in - push hard out. Not sure that was fun, but it was testing.

Anyway - all good.

Banana!

Some great bits, but the climbs were brutal. I think it's aimed slightly above my fitness level, so my mission for next year is to get a lot fitter.

+1 for awesomeness

Although the section from Kenda Climb to 'Fireroad across field' which was horrid, horrid, sticky clay was not fun.

The Singletrack-woosh-a-tron was awesome however 🙂

popped my MM cherry on this one so I have nothing to compare it to.

I 'think' i enjoyed it, but I'm too buggerd to actually know. The route I thought was great, the singletrack (except the first 2 bits) was fast as hell.

Great event all in all and now I can see why people enjoy it.

The weather of course makes all the difference. 😆

Cracking course but the rain of previous years really would have made it hell.
I'm not sure about the comments regarding the lack of "flow", I thought many of the descents were a great test of braking skills and bottle.
I did think that having a constricting section of singletrack (just after the Kenda climb) so early in the event was a bad call givenm that they have 12 years experience in organising it. I heard grumbles that that section was bypassed for the first lap but only after a huge queue had built up.
Also, wifey commented that there seemed to be less trade and exhibitor stands this year. Could that be a sign of harder times or have the pitch prices been put up?
Having the kids races in the main arena in the morning was good.

I've done all the MMs at Eastnor, and that was best one by far.

Just goes to show how good those trails can be in good weather!!!

Glad the old gravel Kenda Klimb of old was now largely absent, although even the last little bit of gravel climb up to the ridge was a bit of a punisher.

Got on ok with the main climb and the new, short KK, but hated the new bit of singletrack in the woods. In the depths of night lap mutterings I even figured it would put off going back to Eastnor...

Anyway, who marked it out - a 5' midget on a 14" framed bike??? I would have needed a chainsaw to negotiate my 20" Anthem through the narrow right angled bends in those woods.

All the other bits were great, including the dusty descent

First proper attempt at solo'ing. It was brutal. Managed 9 laps and though I swore I wasn't sleeping I had to get my head down for a couple of hours at daybreak.

When I crossed the line I said never again. First thought this morning was "I need to get fitter so I'm better at it". We all know that this will just translate into the same pain but more laps...

+1 for the awesomeness. Had a brilliant weekend. The only improvement I have suggested is marshalling the solo camping area. Some teams invaded and chatted / shouted their way through Saturday night, keeping the missus awake. I was amused though when she said "They kept going on about how hard it was, how 'fatigued' they were and how one member didn't think he could manage a second lap. If it hadn't been so cold I would have got up and told them to MTFU". 🙂

Good event, Weirdly I found it harder this year than previous, and at the risk of being told to MTFU, I'm still coughing up eastnor dust!

very enjoyable though with great people and a friendlier atmosphere than previous years - suppose that's got something to do with the weather.

the new singletrack bit wasn't that enjoyable, but it was testing, which is what it's supposed to be, I ddin't think it was that narrow, and it beats the boring fire-road bimble that you could have done on a road bike that it replaced.

don't think I'd change anything, other than ask the organisers to ban Generators in the campsites - really, are they actually necessary for people to have a comfortable camping experience? did my head in!

Tough course but didn't enjoy the new woods section. Rest of the course was mixture of hard climbing and great sections some of which in previous years were mud. The dusty descent was fun in a "avoid the people falling off in front of you" way.

Was camping in solo area (as a soloist!!!) and as above was surprised by the number of teams there. Lots more camping available this year and the start of the long climb seemed to be quite a chilled and relaxed place to be.

Next to me someone had taped off their area but no tents up. People arrived and set up their tents in this area, including moving the course four feet over to give themselves more room even though they had more than enough space. Saturday dawns and someone else turns up and wonders what's happened to their taped off area?? Yes, the people had just taken the person taped off area !!!

Saturday dawns and someone else turns up and wonders what's happened to their taped off area?? Yes, the people had just taken the person taped off area !!!

wasn't really anyones area to start with though was it? first come first served IMO.

First mayhem for me, If you didn’t overtake me on the climbs you really should be ashamed of yourself …
Our team were all utterly under-prepared and under-trained, we had injuries (some more serious than others) and mechanicals, I think the excuses list is a good long one…

Got chatting to a Unicyclist really nice chap, his first MM too, very impressed by them, not that I’d fancy it myself but you have to admire them I reckon…

My only minor complaint was about the singletrack/DH mincers, I’ll accept that these people were Waaaay fitter than me as they mostly overtook me on the way up, but bugger me they were slow when the track pointed down, there were a fair few riders who I re-took going down 3 or 4 times in a lap, having been passed by them on the ups, I’ll happily yield to a faster rider on a on a climb, but I was surprising how few would do the on the descents….

Loved the Sandy descent too, I was on a lap just as the light went, opted to do the sandy run rather than the chicken run, the glare from your helmet light off of the near white sand added an extra “snow blindness” style challenge….

I did really enjoy it and was planning the next attempt well before we left…
Great atmosphere and some bloody impressive racing, I will be back for another one…
But I need to train properly….

my first mayhem too. loved the course - i found the plasticine wood section strangely enjoable, maybe because of the challenge. best section was the syncros singletrack down to the sharp left hander onto the straight forest track...so fast and flowy. the weather was great, dusty trails were superb - i even got to use my race kings for the first time ever!

had a few too many off's (almost 1 per lap) so i've had a dead leg to contend with ever since my first lap on saturday afternoon and also have a broken pop-loc to replace. a big thanks to the SRAM / Fisher Outdoor team for supplying me with a spare clamp for my shifter, which also took the brunt of one of my downtimes.

well done to rockitman & ron (and all the other soloists)...although you looked far too chirpy at the end of the race so i reckon you each had a couple of extra laps in you somewhere 😀 one day i might entertain the thought of doing something stupid like that!

oh, and the sunset up by the pike (or whatever it was) was great!

Ditto the sunset.

Gotta say, I thought the course had too much 'grimace' and not enough 'grin'. We don't go to compete, it's a fun challenge with a bunch of mates and hopefully some good riding. The course lacked flow, especially through plasticine woods. I thought it was me being grumpy and knackered, but I heard it a lot over the weekend. That the weather held out was a blessing. Rain would have made it hell. I did enjoy the challenge of riding along the shelf in the off-camber woods though.

Hopefully someone will take notice and next year the course will challenge riders 'and' be fast, flowing and fun to ride, even if you're not keeping up with the Nick Craigs of this world.

Personally I liked the bit through the woods (although the surface deteriorated when damp) and would suggest that the 'flow' some folks have mentioned is what trail centres are all about not race courses.

Great Mayhem this year. Did the course on the Friday (as I only live 2 miles away) and it was much better than the year before.

Photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rossmiller/sets/72157624311941410

If you see yourself and want a full copy, just send me a message 🙂

does anyone know who the photographer was in the 2nd set of woods (the fast flowy ones before you descended back towards the campsite?) at around 8 on the saturday night?

fairly pro looking set up, I imagine he'd have got some good shots (hopefully of me :-))

The woods were fine. They were rideable and the last section was really enjoyable if you had a clean run at it. The fact that they are being moaned about so much just shows how dry the rest of the course was.

What I hate about mayhem is that you loose all your height very quickly riding across grass fields back to the arena. If it was possible to put some more interesting decents in their place the grin/pain ratio would be much lower.

does anyone know who the photographer was in the 2nd set of woods (the fast flowy ones before you descended back towards the campsite?) at around 8 on the saturday night?

Umm, I was all over the place. On the saturday night I was mostly on that sketchy dusty downhill which most people came off on. 🙂 As well as the last downhill section toward the end. I was there about 9ish.

Take a look at the photos you might be in them, I took loads. I have about 1500 shots, only 200 are on flickr. If you know your race number I'll take a look for you.

I thought it was a great course that got better after sunset, my best & most enjoyable lap was around 1am - everywhere was really grippy & fast
even the dusty decent that claimed so many was good - the detour around it just wasn't worth taking IMO

loved it. course was amazing. bit hard on the up hills after several laps but well worth it for the downhill sections

best bits:
- loads of brilliant spectators making it such a fun event
- awesome bloke in the sram tent sorting me out with some disc pads for nowt. would have given him some beer but didn't have any 🙁
- the lady feeding solo riders chocies in the campsite bit
- the bloke playing guitar on the last steep climb

Johnels - Member
Gotta say, I thought the course had too much 'grimace' and not enough 'grin'. We don't go to compete, it's a fun challenge with a bunch of mates and hopefully some good riding. The course lacked flow, especially through plasticine woods. I thought it was me being grumpy and knackered, but I heard it a lot over the weekend. That the weather held out was a blessing. Rain would have made it hell. I did enjoy the challenge of riding along the shelf in the off-camber woods though.
Hopefully someone will take notice and next year the course will challenge riders 'and' be fast, flowing and fun to ride, even if you're not keeping up with the Nick Craigs of this world.

I have to say I can’t really agree with, there was planty of “Flow” and I did really struggled with the climbing (Basic lack of fitness though) the “plasticine woods” (or “Focus pocus” as the course map has it) single track wasn’t that bad, it was only a short section with a couple of tight, techy, muddy climbs to deal with, yes it would have been nighmareish in the wet, but it wasn’t wet so not really the issue, the rest of the track had plenty of flow though, just looking back over the course map; the Syncros singletrack, the satmap track, the whoosh ‘a’ tron, woodland weave, the sandy bit, and the final descent back to the arena all had plenty of speed and flow, there was lots to enjoy on that course…

It's not all mean't to be easy or else where's the challenge?

even the dusty decent that claimed so many was good - the detour around it just wasn't worth taking IMO

amen to that! did the detour once and hated it.

The weather is key and you had good weather. My only memories of Eastnor is mud running like rivers down the hills, stalls running out of pads, broken hangers and tents disappearing over night 😥

Speaking as someone who decided to ride it singlespeed and rigid forks, I wish I hadn't!

Actually it wasn't that bad - the fast descents made my arms ache and I was struggling to hold on and brake at times, especially on Sunday. The plasticine woods - I couldnt get through there on the ss so ran the first twiddly bit and the two steep ups each lap, after the sharp drop it was good though.

The long climb was only a problem if there was traffic on the narrow bits, so I used that as an excuse to hop off and walk (still keeping up wirth the granny ring spinners!)

The rest of it was great, and I loved the Singletrack whoosh-a-tron (the bit from the monument down to the old Kenda Klimb track?)

My biggest problem was that it was so cold at night - old sleeping bag meant little sleep shivering through Friday night, and whilst I tried a quick kip on Saturday night I was so cold I figured it was better to get out riding again!

I hope everyone enjoyed our heckling too, the sunshine and cider helped with this (we were on the bend just before the 2nd bridge, immediately before the start on the Kenda Klimb. 'If youre happy and you know it shout hooray' gets a bit tedious after 24 hours though!

One final thing - I can heartily recommend a trip to the Westons cider place down the road for a tour and extensive sampling, made a great start to the weekend!

It's not all mean't to be easy or else where's the challenge?

I never said it should be easy. it should be a challenge, and rewarding. I guess it's subjective, but horses for courses eh?

ac282 - Member
What I hate about mayhem is that you loose all your height very quickly riding across grass fields back to the arena. If it was possible to put some more interesting descents in their place the grin/pain ratio would be much lower.

Which is pretty much the point I was making. But I guess when marking out the course in a setting like Eastnor, the organisers have to work with what they've got.

- the bloke playing guitar on the last steep climb

"Right, Right, Right" oops I went left

...yeah the marshal saying that had the quietest voice in the world, i went left and ended up going sideways in a handbrake turn stylee. Didnt fall of though 🙂

I thought the climbs were actually a bit more gentle than they had been in previous years, although the course overall was harder because it was more technical. The steep dusty shoot was fun, although tis a good thing they had the chicken run, because I think there may have been some injuries there in the middle of the night without it!

Good course, though was quite demoralised after my first lap as I hadn't realised there would be that much climbing, or that horrible blu-tack wooded section that sapped so much energy! For my 2nd lap though, I was expecting it all, so was better prepared, and a couple of minutes faster as a result.

Generally had a good time, though I do have one slight rant... Bearing in mind that we're all running high powered HID or LED lights these days for our night laps, and there is no traffic around trying to knock you off your bike as we are riding on a closed off-road loop, why the hell do people insist on having flashing red LED lights on their bike (and even worse, their helmet!)? Are they trying to induce epilepsy on those of us following them? FFS, leave the red LED's at home for a 24hr bike race, chuck em back on for your commute home on the road... I VERY nearly had a sense of humour failure when I'd been following one guy for about 15 minutes (sadly he was just about exactly the same pace as me) when I though "bollox to it, I've got to get past" so put in 20 seconds of hard pedalling to get past... Only then 2 minutes later, he did the same, then proceeded to sit 10 yards in front of me for a good portion of the rest of the lap, until we got to the DH after reaching the obelisk where I was able to overtake him for good as he wasn't that quick on the DH sections thank god... Rant over anyway!

I love the Mayhem courses, really fast and great fun.

Only crashed once on Furious Freds (first time using them and got a bit too cocky on my 2nd lap).

Really glad it was finally as dry as the last dry event (2005 I think).

"Right, Right, Right" oops I went left

...yeah the marshal saying that had the quietest voice in the world

You try saying it a few thousand times with that amount of dust in the air, and see what it does to [i]your[/i] voice. 😉

40mpg & Mostly Balanced - I'm slowly collecting some piccies from any links put up ~ I'll email them out when I get a chance.

Oh - who gets the fastest lap prize ❓ 😀

Mayhem 2010:

I loved:
The spectators - what an amazing bunch! Especially those cheering the soloists!
The Marshalls - chap at the top of the penultimate climb was awesome.
The guy playing guitar - rode past when he was singing wonderwall - really atmospheric and what a top bloke for that. Respect.
The course - very hard and very worthy.
The Mayhem Spirit - nothing else like it - back for more next year. Maybe in a team for a change though 🙂

I didn't like:
The woods - not good riding in sticky mud - lucky it was dry or that would be like the somme.
My race - couple of mechanicals, bit of exhaustion and a very packed up tummy for a few hours made it my worst 24 yet and one bad race in 12 isn't tooooo bad. Roll on Bonty 24/12!

Other than that - AWESOME event.

All round lovely. No complaints. And I'd forgotten that the Pro 2 freehub is the ultimate singletrack weapon. Just ace. People were 99.9% fantastic - courteous and friendly. And I really enjoyed the course. Mildly astonished that mboy realised who I was by my bike - nice to meet you. 🙂

Take a look at the photos you might be in them, I took loads. I have about 1500 shots, only 200 are on flickr. If you know your race number I'll take a look for you.

Any of rider 1950??

Cheers!

Take a look at the photos you might be in them, I took loads. I have about 1500 shots, only 200 are on flickr. If you know your race number I'll take a look for you.

Or riders 1613-1616 please?

Any photos of rider 1090? 🙂

I loved the course, very tough and I agree with the comments about the plasticine woods.. I'm used to riding tight singletrack but the first section did lack flow I thought 🙁

I had a great lap on the sunday morning, spent most of it talking to a lad from the south downs? finally parted company when his chain came off at the bottom of the fern climb.. we spent a good half putting the world to rights.. probably my favourite lap of any mayhem I've done!

Agree with other posters though, would have sucked in the rain! 🙂

Was it just me that smelt some very strong weed at the top of the climb from the main campsite, probably around 1am?

Thought I was going mad!

"the bloke playing guitar on the last steep climb"

glad to see my music went appreciated, thanks!:D

Bloke with guitar - you were very well placed, much appreciated!

JOGLESBY...... IF that was you, your the man!!! I looked forward to seeing you each lap..

Will, no it wasn't just you. those cadets mush have been mashed off their heads, I could smell it a mile away!

It sure was me! Thanks that's awesome! Yeah I drew a crowd in the last half hour or so, saw one of them the next day, he was SO HUNGOVER!

"The Marshalls - chap at the top of the penultimate climb was awesome.
The guy playing guitar - rode past when he was singing wonderwall - really atmospheric and what a top bloke for that. Respect."

ditto that! and a 'thanks' to the mashalls playing Led Zep at 2am 🙂

The course did feel like it should finish at a higher altitude than it started and was more tiring than i expected, but all the dusty chutes, open dh sections and twisty stuff at night was great fun. A day lap and you think it's not too techy, then it comes into it's own at night. there were some great fun sections that made it worth the climbing, a bit more fun strack on the way into the arena and it's be as good asit could be

the one thing i'd like to see is less grass and more dirt - dunno how they'd arrange that though )

I think I rode through that cloud of cannabis smoke on each of my 22 laps. No wonder I was all spaced out at the end.

was all spaced out at the end.

and still are given the double post 😆

Yeah, the guitar made me smile on my last lap, which took some doing, that climb hurt. Thanks fella, appreciated 🙂

it also explains why I've not stopped eating since.

First Mayhem and really enjoyed it, I'll be back for more (pain) next year.

Joglesby - Member
"the bloke playing guitar on the last steep climb"

glad to see my music went appreciated, thanks!:D

Your cover of Tenacious D's 'Tribute' cheered me up no end, nice one! 🙂

It also then got stuck in my head for the remainder of the race, for which I'm not so grateful 😛

Yeah, the guitar made me smile on my last lap, which took some doing, that climb hurt. Thanks fella, appreciated

Was playing "Don't look back in anger" when I went past, which made me chuckle somewhat at the irony! 😉

Mildly astonished that mboy realised who I was by my bike - nice to meet you.

You too mate, to be fair though, you've posted a pic of your Maverick up a fair few times, and the fact it looks pretty much just like my old one (black frame, silver forks) gave you away! Well done on getting a couple of quick laps in at the end too mate, my legs were jelly by the end!