What an event. For the first time at a new venue, they smashed Gatcombe out of the park. Here's why:
1. The course. I appreciate everyone has their own motivations and reasons for coming to Mayhem. For me I wanted to "race"; not crazy pro-time, more enthusiastic retro amateur. I wanted to get laps in, stretch my legs, push myself and see what I could do. So I was hoping for a course with variation, some realistic challenges and most of all fun. It had all of that. I'll write up a lap review later this week. Ultimately the course meant, even if the body (my back especially) was feeling it, I still wanted to get another one in.
2. The location. Nearer to me was handy, but the actual spot, the natural bowl in the valley, the views and vistas across the site, in and outside the camp - it was spot on and of course helped tremendously by the weather. I'm sure a geographical member can explain in more detail but it seemed to me that the topography of the site meant that even with the wet weather build-up, nothing was damp apart from that tiny stretch by the pond (exit of the A/B line) so the water must be running off quickly.
3. The facilities. I thought they were a step-up. Even though we were on a hill, it really wasn't that far to walk to the arena, the toilets or the showers. Speaking of the showers, they were the best I've come across at an outdoor event: "clean", strong pressure and a decent temperature. Catering was varied enough; cheap and cheerful to fancy coffee and humus. The beer was great, the music was varied and suited the mood nicely.
4. The marshalls and event staff. Smiles for miles, friendly and helpful.
5. The vibe. It was absolutely spot-on, thanks to all of the above and of course - the sterling efforts of this group - the RBers who showed up and added their input whether it was as simple as a cheer right through to the full-on scenes described so far. Personally - and sorry andy - seeing the Intruder (RIP) rocked up by the exit every time I looked across the site, coupled with the RB stretch where we were, it made me think we'd taken over the entire place. RBers to the left of me, RBers to the right....I'm stuck in the middle with you, etc. etc.
There's a lot of love for RB out there...I wonder if this site will ever take advantage of that...
The only face-palms were the plebs who dropped their empty gel packets on the course and the tiny parking/plot signage (easily fixable for next year).