Saab Salomon Mountain Mayhem, June 03
Results can be found here
With hindsight perhaps the 24hr SSMM was not a sensible way to return to mountain biking after almost 4 years off, but given that in 24hrs I rode more miles off-road than I had done in the past 18-months combined it will make a good story to tell for a long, long time.
CUCC entered 2 sport teams of 4 and a mixed team of 5 into the SSMM, but last minute injury and illness reduced us to 3 sport teams, with myself as a last minute substitute for Bart.
Most of the squad travelled up on the Friday evening and were joined on Saturday morning by those of us who were sensible enough to have an extra night in bed. Following the inevitable hours of tweaking and fiddling, two foolish members (who will remain anonymous) decided a practice lap was in order and dutifully set off into the baking heat only to realise that the course was essentially the same as last year and that they had wasted their time.
The course, a 10-mile loop (unless you are Hoppy) around Sandhurst Park near Birmingham, was not something to write home about. For the first third of the course grassy climb led into a gravely climb which led into a wood-chip covered climb, all the while the height gained being wasted on bumpy grassy descents. However, after crossing the M5 things got a bit more fun, with twisting singletrack and more severe gradients taking you through to the end of the lap, only punctuated by a brief ride through hell (unless you were riding full suspension) and a fast tarmac stretch around the lake.
The race itself began with a 5-minute dash on foot to separate the field, following which bikes were reclaimed and the proper course was rejoined. Tim came out of this dash in 3rd place, and being surrounded by the expert teams had no real choice but to try and keep up with them. He finished the first lap in a very respectable 20th (or so) place, giving Andy the unenviable task of racing with the experts.
Everything was going smoothly, and we completed the first 4 laps in an average of 43 minutes. Unfortunately Tim's chain snapped (yes, it was the same chain that snapped at this event last year) on the 5th lap and he came off a little bit worse than the bridge over the M5. Tim finished the lap, but it appeared unlikely he would be able to race after a nights sleep. A quick rethinking of the order saw Tim go out again at dusk before we switched onto double laps overnight.
Jon took the first double, and returned exhausted, his pre-race illness having taken its toll. Visions of last year (or so I am told) returned when our 2 fit riders set out to complete the graveyard shift from midnight to 6am. I went first, with Bart's trusty lights slung beneath my handlebars (already hastily repaired once before we'd even started racing) and true to form they packed in halfway round my first lap. After a quick stop at the St. John's ambulance to collect some plasters the lights were literally stuck back together, but I could only proceed by riding with one arm by my side holding the connection together. This worked fine until about a mile into my second lap when they stopped working all together and I limped back by the light of an LED (well 5 LEDs) and what light I could glean by following people.
After 2 laps in just over 2 hours, Andy took over to do a triple (he was the only fit rider left with lights!). It all went smoothly, his lights worked, and after only 45mins kip it was time for me to head back down the hill to do another double.
By this stage Tim had loosened himself sufficiently to manage another double, and this was followed by Jon who had also recovered sufficiently to manage a single. The rest of the morning went to plan, although slightly slower than we might have hoped. We finally finished in a time of 24hr 29min having completed 30 laps, putting us in 35th place.
Whilst all this was going on the CUCC old boys team were wreaking havoc with the timing systems. Chris Hopkins managed to set the fastest lap of the race in 30min 52sec, and followed this up with 2 other laps close to the half hour mark. Pretty impressive given that the Giant team were only lapping in 36mins! The old boys also completed 30 laps (although their total distance covered could be argued to be somewhat less!) and finished in 42nd place.
The CUCC 2nd team were almost boring in their competence, with no crashes, exhaustion or equipment failures they completed a steady 27 laps to finish in 104th place. They even managed to get some sleep!
So would I do it again? Well, its going to take a long time for the scars (both mental and physical) to heal, but when viewed through rose tinted spectacles in 12 months time I'm sure I'll think back to the gorgeous sunshine and the twisting singletrack, and all memory of the field of teacups will be erased
Joe Grundy
|