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yeah the first Mountain Mayhem was at trentham what is wrong with this venue?
As simondbarnes says, the Trentham Gardens venue is now a monkey park. 😉
As for the complaints about no beer tent - way back in the dim and distant past, they had beer tents at the Malverns Classic and gradually the event turned from being a riding weekend with mates and a couple of beers to attracting the local riff raff who'd get hammered, start arguments and it culminated with a guy being stabbed to death.
What's wrong with bringing your own beer?
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Cannock Chase has this area that they use for gigs?
I assume numbers would be more limited and its FC Owned , but at least there are decent trails and bike shop on site . .
Big thanks to Pat, Singletrack and all the event team and marshals for putting the event on again. I've done loads of endurance and 24hour mtb races and the conditions people are complaining about at SITS this year really weren't that bad at all.
Another great event and everyone complaining about the mud just needs to man up!! We live in Britain, deal with it.
there's tons of space at Cannock, not just around the birches valley centre. If you've ever done the blue route it takes all over the other side and it crosses tons of unused land.
Jekkly, most of the unused land is very much used.
I was acting as pit bitch for my brother (7th in solo!) but also got a fair few photos.
I'll be sticking a few more on here later tonight: (
But if you were racing, e-mail me your race numbers and I'll see if I got you 🙂
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The section in the Bluebell woods was armoured years ago, shame the rest of the lap was never done but it must be massively expensive and wouldn't help with the miles off grassy slog round the fields.
I'm not saying all the course needs to be armoured, I build and maintain trails myself and I'm well aware of the time and expense that would entail. I'm not averse to pushing my bike occasionally either. Just that a couple more surfaced, weatherproof singletrack sections would massively increase the enjoyment and give people something to get up in the middle of the night for.
There were lots of ace things about this event - the atmosphere, the generous prizes, the views from the top of the ridge, the meatballs in the cafe, the ice cream van, the lurker's bar - but it seems that for a lot of people, an hour's heavy rain was enough to mess it up.
It's really quite simple... LOVE 24hr racing, HATE pushing.
GB
Glad you enjoyed the cold Coronas with(Lime) 😀
Anyback back on topic, how good was the camping areas loads of trackside camping the extra campsite had great spots.
The bit with the wheelie challenge and 'Jump of doom' was ace and everyone with the cowbells cheering you on was awesome. It made the event to be honest.
Camping was really good too, facilities were clean and kept clean (what a horrid job that must be) and the 'no generators' after 11pm seemed to be adhered to, which was nice.
I really really enjoyed it, as did the rest of my teammates.
Yes the mud was a slog, but surely that adds to the challenge - perhaps some of the mech breakers could use a little more mechanical sympathy 😛
I did complain to Pat that he took the new off camber section out too early after the thunder storm, as it wasn't inflicted on 3 of my team, which I thought was most unfair!
Yeah,
Great weekend we rode without taking a break in the night, did the 'jump of doom' on each lap and went out with the cow bell when not riding to cheer on the riders.
As above we killed our gen around 9pm although the team next to us kept running their petrol engine pressure wash every hour or so. We asked on a couple of times for then not to but they just carried on and at 01:30 the guy using it was just abusive so we asked security to speak to him and he has a face to face with them too.
In Pat's speech at the prizegiving he did cryptically refer to a dispute between two riders that they "sorted out like gentlemen". I wonder, was it pistols at ten paces?
Those who are complaining about the venue, perhaps a good idea might be getting off your moany @rses and finding a venue and putting on your own, better 24 hour race then?
I love SITS, it's a whole lot of fun in the dry, and a whole different special kind of fun in the wet.
That's when the well prepared people broke out the super skinny tyres on the single-speeds
[b][i]Please remember single-speeds are ace in the dry too[/i][/b] 😀
I would just like to say thanks for all involved in hosting the event! Lets face it sh!t happens - thats life.
What happened to the planned 24 / 12 hour event at Bramham Park Nr Leeds that was scheduled last year. I'm sure that would be an excellent venue, mind it may be like Catton Park and lacking any real difficulties.
The Dirty Dozen held at Gisburn last year was more like an MTB course TBH.
Put my Anthem away when it got wet and jumped on single speed with Trailrakers and course was 80% rideable. Geat event but more trade stands would be nice with some bargains.
TBH it was exactly what I expected for Catton Park after a bit of rain. A fairly tame course that could be very fast in the dry, then falling apart very quickly when the rain started. At least the rain stopped quickly. While it was a challenge to endure for 24hrs, not sure I will rush back next year.
Great to see the off camber section being taken out when it became unrideable, I think the course for these events should be a bit flexible so that they can be changed as the conditions changed. Also the fairly short course meant nobody was out for hours on end which did happen at Mayhem. The slowest lap on our team was about 1:20, and that was a fairly inexperienced rider.
Nice to see some security over night.
Calling Brant of On-One fame - Please would you get something like this in to production for 24hr British summer events in 29" x 1.5 flavour
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The good old Conti Mud 🙄
Oh, James H, that's me in the HcTB jersey crossing the line, with beer bottle in my mouth 🙂
R.e. the course, yeah the mud was pretty rubbish. It broke me (along with not eating enough after one lap). I was pedalling in granny downhill, barely able to turn my wheels... despite magic Bonty Mud Xs.
But...
-the atmosphere was lovely
-everything was very well organised
-the course made the best of the area. I'd like to have done it in the bone dry (my first lap was a little tentative, thanks to a rapidly deflating tubeless tyre)
Will I be back? I don't know. As has been said up there ^^^ there are lots of other 24hr races on better courses, that hold up better in bad weather. But, fundamentally, riding bikes, with lots of other people there, all enjoying/enduring the same conditions is great. Regardless of where it is...
Big thanks to Pat, and Singletrack.
Mr Agreeable - MemberIn Pat's speech at the prizegiving he did cryptically refer to a dispute between two riders that they "sorted out like gentlemen". I wonder, was it pistols at ten paces?
I think it was between the 1st and 2nd placed vets teams - just going to show that there is passion in that age group and lot of us race very hard. The 3 vets teams were in the top 7 of the Sport Men and top 10 over all.
Mark - where does it say on the entry that it is not an 'official' category? If it says 'sub category', does that mean it is not official? To race hard for 24 hours and manage to podium in terrible conditions, only to be told that you wont win a prize is tough to accept. Yes - getting to stand on the podium is nice recognition but surely people watching the ceremony must think that we aren't important enough to win a prize, so it undermines the achievement.
You should not alienate the middle aged participants. After all, in general, that's the age group where a lot of money is spent in the world of cycling and a lot of us race hard. The 4 in our team wont be coming back but will choose Bikefest and Oktoberfest instead, as they offer prizes (and a better course).
An interesting article on Bikemagic about the water repellant coating on GB's bikes.
“We’ve been out and weighed mud and how much mud a bike can carry and it can be 4-5kg on a really claggy day,” Boardman told The Sun.
Clearly Boardman has never been to Mayhem or SITS when it has rained.
GB
sp
You should check out the Geax Barro Mud 1.7's - look similar but more spacing between the knobs. Fantastic tyre for those conditions - not a single clogging issue as they shed the mud exceptionally well.
If you manage a podium you should @ least get a free entry for the next year!
^^ +1
A couple of pressure washers in the solo area would have been good, lost a couple of hours waiting in line, not that it realy matters as I'm never going to win!!
Overall a good event , didn't think so in the early hours of Sunday morning when I was sitting in the first aid tent.
All that said I will be entering next year.
Sticky SITS
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I'm almost falling off my chair laughing. We came fourth in vets, what, about 40 or 50 minutes or so behind you guys I think and were racing strictly for amusement and because we like riding bikes. Nothing to do with prizes or podiums or owt like that. I guess it takes all types. If we hadn't lost a mech in the small hours of the morning, we'd have been about an hour closer I guess, but I don't think it wouldn't have changed anything for us. It's just a game... 😉
Are the results up yet - couldn't find 'em just now.
Swampthing
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Bikefest is a great event, but it's never been about the prizes. The other year my girlfriend and me came third in pairs, and we won a tenner each and a hat.
Nobby - Member
Are the results up yet - couldn't find 'em just now.
Are you a premier member of the forum? 😉
Mr Agreeable - Member
Bikefest is a great event, but it's never been about the prizes. The other year my girlfriend and me came third in pairs, and we won a tenner each and a hat.
You did better than 3rd place in the open team category at this year's mayhem
You haven't seen the hat.
My 2p worth... First SITS, was with a great bunch of people (riders and willing pit crew providing hot food and brews), felt really good after my first lap in the dry but completely knacked after a 2hr slog in the mud. However, my choice not to go out again and no-one else's. I wonder how many of posters here have organised a race? I've run a couple of Friday Night series races when Chicksands was XC friendly and seriously hard work/stressful to make it work so God knows how much goes into a big event like SITS !
Easy to moan about everything but to weatherproof an entire course would be almost impossible I reckon? If you hate it that much do road racing I suppose... And there's always the chance that one year it will be dry for the whole event.
big_n_daft - Member
Nobby - Member
Are the results up yet - couldn't find 'em just now.Are you a premier member of the forum?
Am I being thick?
If you hate it that much do road racing I suppose...
Or save up your pennies and do this next year. It's got views. It's got ice cream. It's even got a (small) queue for the jetwash.
I wonder how many of posters here have organised a race?
I couldn't run a bath.
Not listening to your customers is not good though.
Persistence with the venues is breaking the habit of 24hour racing for a lot of people. Categories without prizes and very poor prize funds doesn't encourage the hardened racers, the lack of media coverage/ interest in the riders and events killing sponsorship. Event villages dying on their feet due to high charges and restrictive agreements with main sponsors. Thefts of bikes etc
I'm sure it will all be better next year when the rain stops
Nobby, you are not. I'm referring to the weekender results also sponsored by STW.
I'm sure they will be up soon.
Ok, I am usually.....
Results are up on Pro Velo website, zip file so I can't open on my phone.
Results went up on the front page story earlier this afternoon. Our technical number cruncher is away on holiday this week but all the individual category CSV files are linked to the top threes - if anybody would like a spreadsheet with all the data in it, to perform their own number crunching, then send me an email and I'll sort it out tomorrow.
Friends and family of Singletrack fielded two women's teams - one novice, one try-hard. Between us we spanned the full breadth of race experience - I've probably raced more 24s than is healthy, while Lisa had never raced, or done a night ride, in her life. My team were pleased to win, but I'm prouder still of the other team, who could quite easily have stopped at two laps apiece to officially finish, or even just sacked it off after one, but instead kept plugging on all the way through the night to do themselves, and the event, proud.
Racing isn't meant to be easy. If you choose to race in the UK then you choose to deal with the weather conditions it throws at you. I've never raced a course in the UK that doesn't become more challenging when it's wet; 'weatherproof' courses (Strathpuffer, Newcastleton, Swinley) bring their own challenges - like a set of brakepads per lap...
This year's weather has made racing more of a challenge than ever but with preparation, realism and a dose of M/WTFU in your bottle, it's still fun. The number of smiling faces I saw over the weekend confirm that.
Sermon over 😉
Sorry but a bit of rain meaning that the course is unridable in large parts for many folk does not make for a good cycle race. I have been to the strathpuffer and to sits in the rain - I would never go back to sits and know many other folk who will not for this reason.
Having soloed strathpuffer in deep snow then I know what tough is. SIts is just crap riding. A combination of dull when dry and unridable when wet is no good at all.
And if you have the right kit strathpuffer does not eat a set of brake pads per lap.
Still, it's good of the Singletrack staffers to come on to the thread and give us their completely unbiased opinion.
+1
and forgetting to mention the lack of stalls selling spares once the mechs started ripping off,3 jet washes between hundreds and hundreds of riders
and not to mention the t shirts we ordered not actually being at the event