MUD MAYHEM

Wiggle Mountain Mayhem showed such promise on the lead up but
on the day everything changed as team member Nigel Smith sent us a fateful text informing us he was not able to appear due to work commitments. We got the offer from our other team for use of their new team member Craig Hudson who had traveled down from Scotland to race with us, that left them as a team of three but they thought we had a better chance with Craig on our side, a very noble gesture on their part which we took them up on. We got a good start with new rider Sam Kirby doing the start run as he came back in around 50th spot then on to a quick lap, an education for him as it was his first ever mtb race. Then on to Lee Allen who although not going at full strength due to a virus did his usual fast and furious performance, over to Craig Hudson who did a good lap but struggled a little coming to terms with not only the conditions and a new bike that he had not ridden before that lap, but the after effects of driving 6 hours from Scotland that morning. Over to me and happily a reasonably quick lap, then Sam quick again, Lee another sonic boom who came in faster than Craig expected and the rot set in with a missed transition. A disgruntled Lee got back to me at camp and I ran through the slippy mud to find Craig and send him on his way, then the heavens opened again leaving Craig with a longer lap than he would have liked and a big fall handing over to me in the worsening rain which I actually don't mind and I put in a quick lap partially down to having no brakes getting back to transition just before Sam got there, after a few minutes I noticed him and his dad coming over so no problem but this left Sam with a longer time but a solid 9 laps. After looking at the laps and position we were in we decided to call it in the interests of safety, not just because of position but also mechanical's, both myself and Lee had no brakes, we also had to consider Craigs valiant effort on a bike he was not coming to terms with, he also had to travel back to Scotland after finishing his last lap and could not risk injury, as he had to drive and was already injured a little. It was 1:00am and off they all went to bed while I went over to the Santacruz stand for a quick whisky before turning in, a tradition don't you know. Steve, Craig and Roy in our other team had also decided to do the same prior to our throwing the towel in as in the deteriorating conditions it was clear that they needed a forth team member and they also had broken bikes. It was nice to bump into friends at Mayhem too, catching up with Steve Crapper from Bolsover Mtb club, Pete Steed and family also friends Chris, Steve, Dale and their mate who had loads of fun at their first race. (which I talked them into) It's good to talk with people who help me with equipment, Santacruz above all who are always good fun, Gary at Nomad Pressure Washers who did a roaring trade with their brilliant range of washers, Exposure Lights which made the night hours easy and Hedcamz who I filmed some laps for, they supply us with little helmet cameras which are so light and easy to use and capture events like this or more normal activities perfectly in HD. As for Next Year? Watch this space. In the end we came in 35th place after only doing 13 of the 24 hours and I got the 85th fastest time in the Kenda Climb competition, not bad in retrospect.