Wiggle Mountain Mayhem 2012

 

 

Mountain Mayhem has the prestigous title of the largest 24hr bike race in the UK with literally 1000's of riders pitting themselves against each other.

This year I had the privalage of being in a team with Matt Page, Josh Ibbot and Rich Rothwell together we formed team Wiggle / Exposure in the expert catergory.

Due to the adverse weather conditions, tyre choice would play a crutial part on lap times.

I used 1.5inch Schwalbe Black Shark mud tyres and they were faultless cutting through the mud and holding in the sloppy corners .

 

Matt lead us out with a solid run and a 1st swift lap. Already the ground was sodden and with such heavy traffic it was only going to get worse. Full suss out, hardtail in.

Josh and rich continued the theme with consistant laps, we all knew that these conditions favoured us as we are all 24hr racers used to slogging it out through the night.

At 1am when Rich arrived in the pit we didn't even recognise him all we could see was his white teeth it was hilarious and then I realised I would be out in it soon enough.

Ben (mechanic), Nia (Matt's amazingly understanding wife) and Anne the physio (www.oxtedphysio.co.uk) all worked  incredably hard. cleaning the bikes every lap and Anne worked on each of us every lap, it was such a treat having such a professional and efficient team everything was ready without needing to utter a word, I couldn't think of a better team to work with.

I was glad of the heavy rain because wet mud is better than slightly claggy mud, I am now offically a mud connoisseur, sometimes the river of mud is a better choice than the obvious line.

Every member of our team just got on with it, I guess together we have a fare few years of expierience when it comes to managing pain and pushing on, we just knew we could rely on each other- no worries, there are no quitters here.

thanks to the exposure lights riding at night was great they stood up to the insesant downpours and lumps of crap.

As the sun rose the nights deluge was very apparent the track was as wide as a motor way with riders trying to find dry lines, some puddles were hub deep and all the roots were submerged beneath a carpet of brown sludge, cascades of brown water slid down the hill side it was carnage, it was a bit funny really.

 

Josh wrapped things up nicely with the final lap and his tall slender figure slid around tthe final corner and we all stood in the finishing straight cheering him on through the finish.

 finishing 3rd, we could leave content . Everyone who stuck it out then had to face the mountain of dirty washing ahead that in itself was a test of endurance!

Happy days ;)

World 24hr Champs 2012

When you stand on that line side by side knowing that what lies ahead will test you, it creates a nervous tension that rises up out of your heart and you can barely control it. You force your heart rate to stay low and you respect your fellow racers wishing them the best but wanting yourself to be the best .

Standing next to Jessica Douglas I certainly had major respect for her,When I first met Jessica in Canberra I didn't even know you could ride that hard for 24hrs, I say met her but all i saw was the back of her the numerous times she lapped me! that inspired me to try harder.
I thought I 'd just have a go at sticking with her for a while, watch her lines, watch her cadence, see where she takes a drink. I mean this is one person who knows how to get it right, to me it was like playing football with Beckham sooo exciting.
Those first 5 laps we both just got on with it, she was smooth. We were flowing and it felt good.  I went too hard into some bermed switchbacks and the ground was a bit loose, it was a silly mistake and I lost the front wheel it slid out and I had a lie down on some rocks.



Just a few cuts but all good, swapped bikes and had my hanger replaced. I started to question my ability to be able to hold this speed so did a couple of slower laps, that was my second mistake .
The coarse was steep and challenging in the day so we entered the night with apprehension. I love the night it cools off and with exposure lights its like riding in the day.
Sun sets and sun rises are so special in these moments especially as we had the Italian riviera as our back drop. Despite the turn in the weather, thunder and showers, i was still warm. my schwalbe racing ralphs delt with the wet roots and rock incredably well performing predictably, just what I neeeded. Jane Chadwick and I must have been the only two who were glad of the britishesque weather! The rain also limited the dust which was giving me a consistant nose bleed- not a good look-looked like we had been boxing not bicycling.

As the sun rose I felt good "stay strong rick, its what you do now that counts, every one who says no show them what you got, empty yourself here, don't feel sorry for yourself just get on with it".
No matter what I put in Jessica stayed strong and sat in the hot seat(1st position) nearly the whole time it soon became clear that i wouldn't catch her, no matter how many caffine cliff gels I ate, but hey I had a great time trying!
That final lap I ticked off section by section counting down all the steep climbs and just one last time I savoured each epic view knowing that what I had worked for all winter was almost coming to the end.

Crossing that line is a feeling i savour every time. All over I hurt but I still have a wry smile knowing that one day I want to win this it would feel so good, how do I get there?
Major thank you to Lucy my long suffering girlfriend, Shane Dickenson (mechanic) long suffering friend, THE Andy Chadwick and congrtulations to the rest of the almighty british riders.