mountain mayhem

tell me about mountain mayhem please, whats the venue like will it turn into a muckfest??

It held up OK last year, though there wasn’t epic rain.

Ok is relative, it was pretty shit frankly IMO.

the venue has potential, I think there will be some new trails this year which will be good!

I liked it, nice dry camping field

I enjoyed it, although it was my first event of this type. The first lap for me was the hardest as the rain had turned the course into a slippy but also claggy mud bath. My bike was clogged and I finished the lap with one gear. After that it dried up and got faster. I think with that many people riding around the same course, it is going to get muddy, no real way of avoiding it. There were some tough climbs and I generally saw most people pushing up them. Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable weekend and deffo back next year. I made a short video for the editing competition, although there’s not much general lap riding, I just tried to capture the atmosphere.

Done it for many years now, and last year was one of the least enjoyable. Double track decent into ridiculously steep double track climb, into double track decent, into even steeper double track climb, into double track… do you get the picture?

Very few people were riding the climbs as they were that steep.

That’s mountains for ya

Whilst it’s the same venue I’m not sure it will be the same track. I hope they keep the good bits and re route those big steep climbs, it would make it more enjoyable and also a bit of a surprise. We spoke to Vin Cox (the course designer) after the event as he was heading out for a lap, he was keen to see how the course was riding after it, compared to to before. Hopefully he will have realised how unridable some sections got (steep garlic corner climb!). I’m sure they got lots of feedback about it too. Still there were some very fast lap times, some amazing riders there, for me it was good to see and ride on the same track as them.

I’ve done quite a few of these over the years but have to say last years was poor. Very little atmosphere in the arena, climbs that only10% of the field could ride and the rest of the course was fairly boring. Sleepless in the saddle or the Bontrager 24/12 are far better events.

Agree with the lack of atmosphere last year, far fewer riders than previous years and it was obvious, track was probably a bit better than previous years but certainly deteriorated after multiple laps and some rain turning a couple of the climbs very difficult. Think I’ll be trying a different event next year

Interesting to get some perspective there, may have to give sleepless a go. If you can sum it up, what’s better about it Vinny?

Again, thought it was poor. won’t be going back im afraid. id actually prefer it back at Eastnor as there was a better atmosphere there and the course was more varied. Don’t think Gatcombe held up that much better either.

i’ll be back, supposed to be more trackside camping next year so more atmosphere. as for the climbs, it’s not supposed to be a gentle ride through the park is it,it’s a race, fitness and technique should be rewarded,if you can’t manage it use it as an incentive to get fitter, that’s what I’ll be trying to do. I’m using the fact i found the steepest climbs tough as motivation to be better next time

There are steep and steep though, most folk would never have got up the two biggest ones, mental willpower or not!

First time I’d put my hand up and say that I’d have done better not on 1×10, or at least with a smaller chainring.

Given the size of the event I thought it was okay. With that number of riders you just can’t have 90% singletrack, although some singletrack would have been nice. Even though it did get tough when it rained the course dried out quickly. If that had been Eastnor bikes would have been clogging up for hours and hours after the rained stopped. Good job it did dry quickly as the bike washing was a bit of a joke, only allowed to use their cleaning station and not enough of them..

Personally I preferred it to Catton Park, which I find very dull, and better than a wet Eastnor. If I had the choice then a dry Eastnor would get my vote, but that never happens.

Last year was better than 2012 at Eastnor, which was pretty extreme in terms of mud, but then it had rained for about 3 months non-stop. I also did Eastnor in 2010 and 2011 when it was dry, and I did prefer the Eastnor route, it was a bit more varied and I could ride the whole lap. Last year was almost 100% muddy track in the woods, with only a minority able to ride the steepest climbs.