Mountain mayhem 2019 aftermath thread

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).
 
Nice write up Al - you’ve encapsulated the event nicely

As a minor foot note to be above, just as I was about to leave (around 4pm) a guy running the course can past me and Longun carrying empty gel wrappers all neatly stacked into a large wad - he confirmed his sole job that afternoon was to run the course and collect them and abandoned inner tubes ensuring the course was cleansed
 
Retro Spud":b63kq1zg said:
Nice write up Al - you’ve encapsulated the event nicely

As a minor foot note to be above, just as I was about to leave (around 4pm) a guy running the course can past me and Longun carrying empty gel wrappers all neatly stacked into a large wad - he confirmed his sole job that afternoon was to run the course and collect them and abandoned inner tubes ensuring the course was cleansed
Click to expand...


Bravo !!!!
 
Retro Spud":3eh7n6lj said:
Nice write up Al - you’ve encapsulated the event nicely

As a minor foot note to be above, just as I was about to leave (around 4pm) a guy running the course can past me and Longun carrying empty gel wrappers all neatly stacked into a large wad - he confirmed his sole job that afternoon was to run the course and collect them and abandoned inner tubes ensuring the course was cleansed
Click to expand...

Yep, we spoke to one of the team as we collected our medals and she confirmed this was the case. They had strict instructions that the course had to be left litter free. It's more a gripe at the bell-ends who dropped them, particularly as they would have carried them in the first place, they had means to carry the bloody things back! It's lazy and thoughtless.

There's some cracking shots in the second batch of photo's - some familiar faces looking almost pro! ;)
 
al-onestare":1vjfrndz said:
What an event. For the first time at a new venue, they smashed Gatcombe out of the park. Here's why:

1. The course.
2. The location.
3. The facilities.
4. The marshalls and event staff.
5. The vibe.
Click to expand...

absolutely agree, a great event all things said. I enjoyed Gatcombe too but I think you might be right, this one seemed to flow better. I think we were worried beforehand with the shorter course but times were not that far off, I think it was a good length and the technical bits were not too technical for a novice rider. it was a little narrow for my liking in places but it was good for that. I worry about blocking faster riders so i tend to pull over and let the road clear before I proceed on the narrow bits, no bother.

And I think there is a bright future for both the event and the venue. Our place in that is whatever we want to make it. We were welcomed and celebrated by the majority of attendees, I think we need to be careful not to push it, keep it fun and not be a PITA, but I agree there is an opportunity to contribute to the event and for the event to help us as a group / site.
 
 
Does anyone know the rider on the GT Xizang? are they a member on here?

One of my favourite bikes there :cool:
 
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