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Has to go down as another very memorable and enjoyable Mountain Mayhem with everyone from Retrobike.
Undoubtedly the enduring memory will be the several weeks of inclement weather which turned the whole venue into an utter mudbath.
The rivers of slurry were at least preferable to the thick claggy wheel stopping stuff in the woods. Heavy overnight rain at least made parts of the course rideable.
The campsite was almost as bad...
But once again the RB trackside heckling tents were superbly placed and populated by a fine group of people and Heathy. The heckling was legendary and surely appreciated by all the riders as they passed.
Classics such as "Come on the beard", "Go on Barry", "Nice knapsack" and "You can't climb on cheese" made an appearance.
I also remember "Turn that frown upside down", "Come on it's not a race" closely followed by "Come on it's a race!" and "Actung! Zis bike does not comply with the necessary safety specifications, you must stop immeadiately" at the faux Germanic heckle section.
All this was accompanied by a very loud sound system and sets from Makster, Gump and Mrkawasaki. The light show and smoke machine made the RB tented village stand out head and shoulders above the rest of the campsite.
In terms of the 'racing', over the 'captain's breakfast' my four man team of chimps quickly decided on a two lap each strategy due to the atrocious conditions. We achieved this despite Mr K's bizarre decision to take on the course a second time at midnight during the heaviest bursts of rain.
I fully expected to see his internal mechanism broken and lost in the orange swill, but apparently he quite enjoyed it.
As mentioned the course was a little wet in places. Consistently throughout the weekend the worst parts by far were the arena sections. The rest of the course varied depending on how wet or dry it was. The wet soupy gloop was much nicer to ride than the drier clarty clay, despite hiding a multitude of bumps and holes beneath it's apparently smooth surface.
In the places though the earth would clog the wheels up within a wheel rotation necessitating cat sized clumps to be clutched and poked out from the frame and bottom bracket.
My final lap started with a nightmarish first half where I was forced to drag my bike though the woods while pounds of earth weighed it down and generally made it unrideable.
The second half was much better though as I chatted with Rory Hitchins, Isla Rowntree and then Nick Craig on the climb up to the monument.
At the top I met EdEdwards whom I hoped would have some jelly babies to perk me up with. Instead he shook up a can of lager and sprayed it in my face.
I took a few gulps and then chased down Daj and Grannygrinder before the final slippery descent back into the campsite and around to complete the lap.
Now I'm home, my clothes are soaking in big bucket before I dare ruin the washing machine. As the Malvern mud is washed away tomorrow I'm sure there will be plenty more to add as every detail is remembered.
Thanks to everyone for coming along and battling through to make it another brilliant event.
Undoubtedly the enduring memory will be the several weeks of inclement weather which turned the whole venue into an utter mudbath.
The rivers of slurry were at least preferable to the thick claggy wheel stopping stuff in the woods. Heavy overnight rain at least made parts of the course rideable.
The campsite was almost as bad...
But once again the RB trackside heckling tents were superbly placed and populated by a fine group of people and Heathy. The heckling was legendary and surely appreciated by all the riders as they passed.
Classics such as "Come on the beard", "Go on Barry", "Nice knapsack" and "You can't climb on cheese" made an appearance.
I also remember "Turn that frown upside down", "Come on it's not a race" closely followed by "Come on it's a race!" and "Actung! Zis bike does not comply with the necessary safety specifications, you must stop immeadiately" at the faux Germanic heckle section.
All this was accompanied by a very loud sound system and sets from Makster, Gump and Mrkawasaki. The light show and smoke machine made the RB tented village stand out head and shoulders above the rest of the campsite.
In terms of the 'racing', over the 'captain's breakfast' my four man team of chimps quickly decided on a two lap each strategy due to the atrocious conditions. We achieved this despite Mr K's bizarre decision to take on the course a second time at midnight during the heaviest bursts of rain.
I fully expected to see his internal mechanism broken and lost in the orange swill, but apparently he quite enjoyed it.
As mentioned the course was a little wet in places. Consistently throughout the weekend the worst parts by far were the arena sections. The rest of the course varied depending on how wet or dry it was. The wet soupy gloop was much nicer to ride than the drier clarty clay, despite hiding a multitude of bumps and holes beneath it's apparently smooth surface.
In the places though the earth would clog the wheels up within a wheel rotation necessitating cat sized clumps to be clutched and poked out from the frame and bottom bracket.
My final lap started with a nightmarish first half where I was forced to drag my bike though the woods while pounds of earth weighed it down and generally made it unrideable.
The second half was much better though as I chatted with Rory Hitchins, Isla Rowntree and then Nick Craig on the climb up to the monument.
At the top I met EdEdwards whom I hoped would have some jelly babies to perk me up with. Instead he shook up a can of lager and sprayed it in my face.
I took a few gulps and then chased down Daj and Grannygrinder before the final slippery descent back into the campsite and around to complete the lap.
Now I'm home, my clothes are soaking in big bucket before I dare ruin the washing machine. As the Malvern mud is washed away tomorrow I'm sure there will be plenty more to add as every detail is remembered.
Thanks to everyone for coming along and battling through to make it another brilliant event.
