Look out for the Gorilla at the Disco Tent! – Mountain Mayhem 2007
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Report by Dave Newbould ...that's Dave in his own tent by the way. And no he hasn't been wrestling with the gorilla, that's what a lap of mayhem in the mud does...." |
| The weekend of 23rd-24th June 2007 saw a small band of Evesham Wheelers take part in the 10th Anniversary of the
Mountain Mayhem 24hr Endurance Mountain Bike Race. Some members had already committed to the race for
other teams, such as Steve McGrath and Andy Dolphin (Worcester Cycle Centre), with Jess Hemming electing to
ride for an all girl team with Ashton MTB.
Wheelers Ray Hemming, Tony Canning and myself rode under the team name ‘Mad Panic Resurrection’ along with two friends of Jess’, Sue and Paul Edmonds. This report is an account of our teams experience, with a few extra bits thrown in. |
 Jess with her "how deep is this water - am I about to crash" experssion. She didn't crash but quite a few did! |
Friday Night
 Paul fixing his wheel |
I arrive at the campsite and begin to set up. Fortunately we had the foresight to set the tents up on Wednesday
evening, as by now things were beginning to look like a mini Glastonbury. We had a good spot, right on the edge
of the course, on what is commonly referred to as ‘Hecklers Corner’. The first problem we had to contend with was Paul’s bent wheel. I can’t quite remember what exactly happened to cause this, but the result was the purchase of a new rim and an evening wheel building in his tent for Paul. Other people started to arrive and a general feeling of apprehension was settling in. The weather didn’t look promising and the course has a notorious reputation in wet weather. Still, can’t back out now. |
Saturday Morning
We go on a freebie hunt round the expo-village. After having managed to blag several free T-Shirts each, gas pumps, water bottles and a mug, Tony began dropping his hoard in the middle of the arena. A case of too much stuff and not enough arms!
Saturday Afternoon
1:00pm saw us all head out for the rider briefing, where all the rules are explained and thanks handed out to Pat Adams, who does a fantastic job of organising this event every year. This year was kind of special as it was the 10th Anniversary, which is quite an achievement for an event that is now so highly regarded amongst riders.
Briefing over and it’s time to prepare for the start. Paul had volunteered (eventually!) to do the Le Mans style ½ mile running start, while Jess had volunteered for the Ashton ladies team. There are some very nervous faces out there, apart from the guy who decided to have a lie down while waiting for the start to come!
Race Start
And the Mayhem begins!
2:00pm and the runners head off down the main straight. The guy who was lying down quickly jumped up before he was run over and joined the rest of the masses. Roughly 1,000 riders of various levels of talent headed off down the straight in a multi-coloured sprawl. Definitely a site for sunglasses. Of course, all Wheelers riders were present in full Wheelers kit looking very elegant!
Jess finding her bike after the run
That’s it now, 24 hours of racing under way.
1st Lap Completed
And Paul clocks up a very good time of around 50 minutes for the 8 ½ mile course. The handover is completed and Tony heads out for his first lap. No major worries at this stage.
Disaster!
Tony riding past camp before disaster strikes!
Now we need to give a big thank-you to the guys at ‘Climb On’ Bikes. These guys had a stand at the race and a shop in Hereford, and offered to drive back to the shop and pick up all the spare mech hangers they had, then bring them back especially for us with the hope that one of them would fit. We are all extremely grateful for this excellent service as we did find one that fitted and Tony’s bike was quickly repaired.
While all this was going on, the race continued and by now we were ¼ of the way through and spirits were quite high again. We’re back to plan again.
10:00pm – Lights On!
And so far we have been doing OK. Accompanied and entertained at certain points around the course by a bagpipe player in full Scottish regalia. But now the sun is going down and it’s time for the lights to go on and the real fun laps to begin.
There is something quite magical about seeing all the headlamps and barlamps twinkling away in the distance as they snake up and down the hillsides and back into the arena.
12:00 midnight
And here I am waiting for Ray to reappear from his lap at the handover point. Tales of ‘slippery’ are coming in from other riders as they hand over to their teammates. I decide to take it easy and just get round. I know that when I get back I can go to bed.
1:10am – Sunday Morning
And we’re nearly half way through. Night laps are great!
Sliding around in the mud, trying to hold a straight line while never quite knowing where you are going is quite an experience.
I’m not sure if I’m hallucinating though now, as I swear I saw a Gorilla jumping up & down on one of the turns near the disco tent.
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Back in the arena now, after completing my lap I hear the most bizarre piece of advice ever, “look out for the Gorilla at the Disco Tent”. Not something you hear every day! |
Time to go to bed now. Paul & Ray are going to double-up their laps through the night, and with Sue and Tony next to go after that, I get 6ish hours off.
5:30am
It’s been raining again. Up till now, the course had been holding up reasonably well, considering how wet it has been recently. Now however, the course is becoming difficult. Paul tells us he had to ride nearly a full lap with a torn shoe before he could call in for another pair. I decide it’s time to get some breakfast while I have time to digest it, courtesy of the excellent Ashton MTB food tent. No sign of Tony yet though.
6:35am
Sue still smiling!Sue has just ridden past the camp and still no sign of Tony. I’m getting a little nervous that I may have to go next, and after just eating a full English breakfast, I’m not looking forward to the idea.
6:40am
Tony appears! I can relax again. It’s going to be at least 2 hours now before I need to go out. Hopefully the course may dry up a little in this time. We’ve decided now that it’s going to be 1 more lap each as the lap times have extended so much as the course deteriorated. Ray however, in his usual manner, wants to squeeze in an extra lap at the end if we can!
9:25am
 In places it was almost impossible to ride! In fact at times it resembled a ramblers outing |
I take the hand over from Tony to the words of ‘Ride to Survive!’. It’s been raining for a couple of hours now and the
prospect of part of the course becoming known as ‘Somme Woods’ isn’t appealing. I decide the objective is to just
get round the course and head out. The course is very, very slippery now. The mud is clinging to the bike and stopping all momentum. The bike now weighs about twice as much as it did before I set off and it’s cold and wet. Strangely though, I am really enjoying myself! |
I finally make it round, but it’s been very hard work. On the lap I was chatting to a few solo riders, one of which had completed 17 laps by this stage. These people are in a completely different league and it kind of represents what Mountain Mayhem is all about. It’s the opportunity for the amateurs and the pros to ride side by side with no barriers and to simply have a bit of a laugh.
11:10am
There's a sprocket under there somewhere!
Paul takes the baton and head off onto the course. I go back to camp, tired but satisfied that my contribution is now over. We are now down to the final two riders, the strongest in the team, Ray & Paul who only need to do one more lap each to give us a 19 lap total. However, they have decided between them that if Ray can get back before 2:00pm then we will go for the extra lap to help move us up the rankings.
12:35pm
 Ray feeling the pain! |
Only 1 hour and 25 minutes left. Paul has just taken 1 hour and 25 for his lap. It’s touch and go if Ray will
make it for the extra lap. However, we all know what Ray is like when faced with this kind of challenge and sure
enough, he completes the lap with five minutes to spare. Magnificent effort and Paul heads off again for the
last lap. It’s stopped raining now for about an hour or so and the course is drying up once again. We reckon it will be at least an hour before Paul gets back, so we head back to camp for a little while. It’s now just after 2:00pm and officially the race is over. |
3:10pm
Paul during the run 24 hours earlier |
Just as we are thinking about heading back to the arena to greet Paul from the final lap, he rolls into the campsite! A final lap time of just over 1 hour 10 minutes caught us by surprise and we were more than a little apologetic that we weren’t there to meet him at the end. Sorry Paul, but you were too quick! |
So that’s it. All over again and this time it was very hard work. It’s time now to pack up and head off home for a decent meal, a bath and a good nights sleep.
We eventually finished 71st out of 126 teams in our category, having completed 20 laps between us.
Vowing never to do it again on Sunday, we will all have changed our minds by Tuesday. We have to, we’re entered into a 12 hour race in three weeks time!
Results can be found here: http://results.singletrackworld.com/event.php?id=8
Mixed Open: Mad Panic Resurrection (71st out of 126 teams)
Sport Women: Ashtonmtbcouk / Ashton Girls (13th out of 19 teams)