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Well another year has passed since the club rode at this event… I am sure Debbie will have mentioned it!
So whats the event all about - well its a 24 hour race which involves laps of a set course at Eastnor Deer Park, Hertfordshire. The event can be ridden solo or as teams where one rider must be on the course at anyone time. The length of the course is 8.8 miles. The winner is the rider or team that does the most laps in 24 hours. However if you get through the finish before the end of the 24 laps then you get chance to do another lap. So the time of the finish is important. so a rider who has done the same number of laps but has done it quicker will win.
So this year we have: Team of 4 consisting of ‘Hackness Mike’ Tom Stockill, Steve Hopper and Mark Grange
Riding solo is Debbie Richardson, Jacke Hough and Tom Mutton. Plus support from Lorraine and Matt
So it promises to be a hard and long race as always. Kit is piled high as all will be camping friday to Sunday night. The race starts at 2pm on Sat until 2pm on Sunday. So keep I intend to keep you updated on the progress of the riders as I keep this post updated throughout the weekend!
Friday 18th June
Its 9.15am and the 4 person team are ready to set off from Scarborough. The soloist arrived at Eastnor yesterday to get the best tent pitch and all the riders from the club are camping together. Now we have stopwatches, creams for aches and pains and energy powders plus a mountain of food and jellied sweets! Oh and a few nerves.
3.00pm Sat
We had a check of the course yesterday a wee bit hillier than last year and slightly more technical. The rain showed yesterday but we are now sat in glorious sun. Tom Stockill is the first rider for the team which started with a 1/2 mile run to the bikes much to Toms delight. Solo riders were off to a steady start and at the moment we have not seen them come in and Tom has just got back. Some fantastic support is here for us including Jackie mum with a camper van and cakes and coffee on tap.
2100 hrs - Solo riders going well. Talll Tom averaging 1 hr 15 mins per lap, Jackie averaging 1 hr 37 mins, Debbie 1 hr 20 mins and Chris also around 1 hr 20 mins. Team of 4 finding the going tough and currently Mike Watson out on the team’s seventh lap. Conditions still dry, course quite technical and they are shutting one of the descents overnight as proving a little too difficult for most riders. Only one ambulance seen so far - good news! and the portaloos are still in reasonable condition!! Now going into the night section which will be a little slower so everyone is digging out their batteries.
Sunday 20th June
Well it’s all over bar the sore muscles. Two days of warm weather and one cold night plus a difficult course made for a hard event. Debbie and Tall Tom retired for two hours in the early hours of Sunday - Debbie having had two falls off the bike - one being a hit on the head and also breaking her night lights. Jackie carried on relentlessly at a steady pace. The team of four carried on averaging 1 hr laps. Final results as we know at the moment and nothing has been confirmed as yet, are Debbie and Jackie equal sixth out of 16 in the female solo category. Baguette Chris and Tall Tom finished on 13 laps but unknown at this stage on their rankings in the solo men’s race. Team of four in open males race came 21st - six places up on last year. Everybody agreed it was a difficult course with 1380 feet of climbing per 8.8 mile circuit. The warm weather made it difficult on Saturday. Today has been finished off with a BBQ and much needed sleep plus debate about what’s to be done next year!!!
Richardsons Cycles Shop
38-40 Castle Road
Hi Guys - hope its going well - as I head off to bed you lot are still ploughing round that course - wow! Hope the rain has held off and you are enjoying it in some form. Take care, eat the cakes and keep the wheels turning - Hazel x
Well done Mark and the team, really impressive ride from you all. I wait with baited breath to see if you will all ride again next year! Jackie rode the event as planned and did brilliant. Too Tall Tom could easily have done an extra couple of laps but looked after me after my crash! I may post pics of the bruises! Sandwich Chris was pretty emotional at the finish, a feeling shared by us all. Our support team made it all possible, many thanks to Dave, Ann, Pete, Loraine, Matt, Jackie’s mum Annette, and our new team physio Lyndsey. i will do a full blog for Debbie’s Diary.
Thanks to all the helpers Dave, Ann, Lorraine, Lyndsey, Annette, Pete and Matt - they even got a cheese burger for Mike and fed us all with a BBQ on Sunday night.
It was as usual a hard weekend but also a great club weekend.
Anyone who rides this event Solo deserves much respect! Even if you are a bit mad!
We ended up as 21st team out of 152.
I’d just like to add my admiration for the riders and the support team. What a weekend! I remember rushing out of the tent at 7am on Saturday because the sun was heating it up too much. The next thing I knew, it was Sunday evening 7pm and we were all recalling the events of the race while
Mark and Mike cooked the BBQ for everyone.
The 4 man team, the 4 solo riders and the support crew did the club proud. We were up against a wide range of opponents, big professional teams at one extreme, and plucky unsupported solo riders at the other. It’s strange but the support crew don’t really see the race, it quickly becomes a production line for turning around a rider and bike ASAP and making
sure they’ll survive in the chaos until they return an hour later.
I was impressed by everyone involved. The team boys (Tom, Mark,
Mike and Steve) were really self sufficient staying very focused on the race but still clearly having a good time throughout.
The solo riders all just got on with it, plugging away for 24 hours each in some scary terrain, traffic and conditions.
I loved the way that Debbie, Tom, Chris and Jackie all had different tactics for riding and nutrition, and all of them worked.
Debbie: Power gels, energy drinks, carefully balanced nutrition.
Tom: Red bull and Nesquik.
Jackie: Cake.
Chris: Whatever he could
scavange as he went around the course (mainly sweets and beer).
My favourite quote of the race was from Chris: “That was a brillient lap. I crashed!” We cleaned the turf out of his bike and he was off again. Never stopped grinning once!
The 8 support guys (I include Henry the dog, who was a calming influence on all of us
were an instant unit. We’d never done support for a race as a group, and yet we all seemed to find our places instantly. Some supporting the riders, some supporting the bikes, some supporting the supporters.
I’ve spent the time since the race alternating between recounting stories of the race and planning how we’d do it even better next year!
We just need some volunteer riders for us to practice our improved 2011 support tactics on!
This is Jackie, not FSM.
Thanks to all the support at the weekend. As Mark said, it was a great atmosphere and good to see RCC pull together.
I would urge anyone who is considering Mountain Mayhem to have a go. There are many ways of doing it, and they can all work! I think people have descibed me as the tortoise (as in the hare and tortoise)but with some training and determination you can come away with a respectable result.
So…. roll on 2011