Mountain Mayhem 2011

A somewhat belated report on Mountain Mayhem.
Just five weeks after returning from the 24hr champs and squeezing in the Norwich 150, I left Norwich at 4am on the day before the event and arrived in Ledbury at around 8am.
With the weather not looking that promising quickly got the pop up tent out and set off for a wonder around the site while waiting for Caroline from Cycleaid and her family to arrive.
It was my first time at Mayhem and I was very impressed with the scale of the event and amount of trade tents.
This was the maiden voyage for the On-one Whippet and I had been promised brake hoses being fitted at the event also had planned to meet Hope to have my rear bearings replaced, so as the day rolled on and neither company were there I started to get concerned if I would even have a bike to ride.
Caroline and family turned up about lunchtime and we proceeding to set up the trade tent which which was a small job compared to watching Scott set up their immerse unit (and a definite air of jealously).
The heavens opened that afternoon like they had been threatening to do all day, so the majority of the evening was spent under cover.
A early night pursued and usually bad nights sleep in the pop up tent. Woke up around eight and after a caffeine fix decided to get off to On-one to try and get the frame sorted and see if they had any bottle cages. Whilst chatting to Adrian he offered and place in their 4 man team as they were one rider sort and as I was not really feeling up for the 24hr I had planned I jumped in (also the promise of some carbon cages for the effort assisted my decision).
So off to the guys at Hope who were providing tech Support for all riders with their products and they done a sterling job of rebuilding my rear axle after I let the bearings collapse on the axle.
My first stint in my team wasn’t until 3ish for had a while longer to relax than thought before the off. A team event was a first for me as I usually go for the long slog so didn’t know what to expect. Went out on my first lap and it was an hour dead which was at a lot faster pace that my solo events.
I found it difficult to relax and keep warm between laps but with the team management from Scott Forbes (out of race due to broken knee) and a promise of a 3hr sleep at 4am I kept motivated throughout the night.
I had the role of riding the last lap heading out at 11:30am and returned 12:30 and after our efforts we completed 23 laps and finished 8th in the mens 4 sport cat.
Great event and a even greater bunch of guys to ride with.