Mayhem 2015 – the sun shone, the rain drizzled and we won – finally!

my first Mayhem, the course was as i expected, maybe a little better, it helped i had to ride every lap flat out! but it was easy to pass. Nice to see the course stay fairly litter free, and everyone seemed happy enough with a broad spectrum of bikes and riders. happy with a second in the team make race as honorarily Pivot Boompod. not sure i’ll rush back, depends

My mates were leading the sport team event and busting a gut to stay in front when a course closure meant they lost all the advantage .They eventually finished second

Biggest achievement for me was raising over £1200 for Altzheimer’s Research UK.

Who really cares about big screens etc, when there’s a great atmosphere, a good course and the organiser shakes everybody’s hands as you cross the line?

I remember the Red Bull days and this was a much more enjoyable atmosphere. For someone with no support present, the crowd support was ace.

Thanks to all the Organisers, Gatcombe Pk, crowd, exhibitors & riders. Most of all thanks to the guy who sold me a burger at 0200. It saved my life!

Anyone else forgetting the pain and wondering about solo now? Well I haven’t forgotten the pain in my arse yet actually, that’s ongoing.

if not he’d have ended in a bard wire fence

Poetic justice?

Sounds like a good day out 😀

So then Gee, out of curiosity, what was it that meant you finally got the win that had alluded you after so many years?

I think the giant screen is still stuck in the field at Eastnor.

DanW – consistency. All 4 team members lapped within 3mins of each other. That and the fact that the Giant/Scott/Hope teams of pro or part pro riders don’t do it any more! Gone are the days of being lapped by Rune Hoydahl…

Noted Pooley.

First Mayhem as a rider and it was ace! Great course, no trudging (I’ve been scared by the stories…) and pretty fun on the night laps too. We won! Mixed pairs with Terrahawk. I followed the Terrahawk’s Terrific Training Plan (TM) and all the ‘now do a 20 minute hill climb interval up Cragg Vale twice, then do it again in the evening’ pain paid off and we were knocking out laps at a decent rate. The only glitch was the quiche incident… don’t believe everything you read on the forum. Wolfing down a whole quiche (all food is good, right?) and then hitting the course at max pace is going to make you feel very sick.

Anyway, once the quiche effect wore off it was all systems go until we’d got a winning margin and decided to have a brew. Did a last lap in my best riding frock with Chipps just to reminisce about corners we’d nearly over cooked and occasional trail rubbish we’d mused over in the small hours (I do hope that lost multi-tool on the limestone descent found its owner again) and on our way collected a slightly broken Daz for the final climb and ensure he made it to the safety of the bar in one piece. Oh the joy of rolling back through the campsite towards the finish!

Am I right in thinking that the winning Solo ride was in the region of 350km and 10,000m climbing or am I imagining that 😯

That would be somewhere close in numbers, then factor in, singlespeed, fully rigid bike, snapped a pair of forks, got back, borrowed bike for a couple of laps, then back on the now mended bike, and still beat the next closest rider by two laps. Absolutely awesome ride, and still managed to speak as he came past me, that’s not a normal human that’s a marvel comic creation.

I loved the course-first time back at mayhem since Eastnor. Course was short enough to never be alone-nice and sociable and yet also felt like you could chase people through the trees. Our team wasnt taking it seriously-just having fun. Spent the last lap cruising round in the sun along with Chipps, and who I can only assume must have been Clover due to the spangly riding dress, and with a few solos before crossing the line at just the right time. Only mild irritation was the total idiot who came barging through the top of the grassy climb swearing at people to get out of the F-ing way. Luckily the spectators gave him some well deserved abuse.

Ah yes, the sweary incident. He was seriously embarrassed when we got to him at the finish! But I am duty bound to forgive him as he fixed my snapped chain on my first lap.

Nice one everyone. Not there this year, but it sounded great.

Quiche? It’s good stuff, honestly! Sort of the opposite of carbs so fills an early morning hunger gap….well it does for me anyway 🙂 . Maybe not a whole one just before a lap though….

Only mild irritation was the total idiot who came barging through the top of the grassy climb swearing at people to get out of the F-ing way. Luckily the spectators gave him some well deserved abuse.

ah yes, that was me, apologies

but when you’re breathing out your arse trying to get in before midday so you can fire a team-mate out for another lap and riders who are walking their bikes refuse to get out of the way after three times of asking things might get a bit emotional and shouty and sweary, although that’s not really an excuse

as an aside everyone else on course was perfectly courteous when being informed of an over-taking request and in 30 years of mountainbike racing that’s the first time i’ve ever got shoutysweary, i feel bad still

*hugs*

Gee, great result, bet you’re chuffed to finally get the win, well deserved to you an the team.

My 6th mayhem and 3rd Solo attempt, last year I finished 10th, this year I had to do better, and thanks to a great support crew and no sleep I bagged 7th. Just finished a blog post here for anybody interested:

http://ridingcircle.blogspot.com/2015/06/race-report-2015-mountain-mayhem.html

JoB-all is forgiven-I think we all realised you were under pressure. People were all tired so probably werent switched on to what was going on behind. Anyway-nice to see you front up on here and apologise-thanks. It’s the people that make Mountain Mayhem and mountain biking in general such an excellent sport. See you all next year. Perhaps.

That last climb on the last lap when it feels like you’re the only person racing is torture.

Jo B you have my sympathies – I was there last year. But did button it and remain patient. Still got our last rider out!!

JoB… I bet it was the music blaring out of their bike that tipped you over the edge 🙂

I was supposed to ride solo but a knee problem the weekend before put that out. Went to support a mate and had the family with us so was a good weekend watching and drinking!

We were at the top of the loong grassy climb heckling people with our little kids shouting for wheelies and bunny hops! Got some good pics so will put some up.
Top weekend. Definitely more of a peoples race than the racers these days but not a bad thing. Kids loved it and was plenty of things for them to do.

5th year for me, but my very first solo, so really happy with 21 laps on a singlespeed rigid.
Dorris was amazing though, and I hope we all give him our support when he goes to the States for the Worlds.

Cheers,
Simo

Another great Mayhem event

To be honest it was going to struggle to live up to the nail biting battle down to the wire and eventual triumph of last year’s race, especially with the strong team that Gee had put together.. but the combination of a great camp atmosphere and racing flat out is still hard to beat.

I do like the course at Gatcombe, it’s not the most technical but it’s great for racing at speed. The first half is definitely more fun! but there are no really painful parts to the lap. Still not 100% convinced about the weatherproofness of the venue but fortunately the rain held off so we didn’t have to find out!

In the end we managed to keep Gee’s team honest for about 8 or 9 hours before they slowly started to pull away and stretch out a 20 minute lead. Still it was good to finish on the podium again although I do have to feel for our second team who finished 4th for the 3rd year in a row…

Pivot Boompods Racing

That would be somewhere close in numbers, then factor in, singlespeed, fully rigid bike, snapped a pair of forks, got back, borrowed bike for a couple of laps, then back on the now mended bike, and still beat the next closest rider by two laps. Absolutely awesome ride, and still managed to speak as he came past me, that’s not a normal human that’s a marvel comic creation.

There are some fantastically talented guys and gals in our sport that pass under the radar of the majority of enthusiastic MTBers- superheroes indeed!