Mountain Mayhem got even bigger this year. Sponsored for the second year by Saab Salomon. This year it was held at a new venue - Eastnor Park.  In the 90s this was the home of the Malvens, a classic event.

We had a strong team but we were expecting a good challenge from the Evans team. They had four riders that finished in the top 10 at the National event at Mansfield a few weeks ago. We had Paul Oldham, Ian Wilkinson and I.. We were meant to have drafted in Rune Hoydahl but he required an operation on his hand. Next we tried Dutchman Jan Weavers, he broke his arm the week before. Christophe Dupouey was the next Giant rider we tried - he was all set to come but never turned up at the airport. So as I was driving down to the event on Friday I got a call asking if I could think of a replacement rider. I knew my old teammate Nick Craig had been in Spain all week training but I thought he might be interested. I called him and after a brief thought he was packing his bag.

The race started with the normal run, Ian was our runner. As the leaders came around after half a lap there was a group at the front with Evans's Sam Gardener, Ian, Will Bjergfelt and Dan Booth. At the end of the lap Sam had a small gap over Ian. I went out second and was now chasing Jody Crawforth. I caught him after half a lap and we rode together for a bit. Then he took off and open a small gap at the end of the lap. Next for us was Paul Oldham, he caught Evans team and opened a good gap. Nick was the last of our rider to go out, he increased the lead. Sam and Jody were lapping a little quicker than Ian and I but we were still creeping away. We had the strategy of not killing ourselves but riding strong and steady. After  about  6 hours we had about 15 minutes - not much time really. Sam and Jody seemed to be slowing a bit now, paying for there early efforts.

The course was hard this year. There were three big climbs but the hardest part was the weather. Every time you when out for your lap it was a different course, sometimes fast other times really slippery.

At night we continued our individual lap rotation as the lap time were nearly one hour and it seemed to be working well. We were using the new USE exposure lights which are made using bright LEDs, they seemed to last for ever. We got a lucky break in the dark of night as we gain a lot of time over the Evans team.

With no mishaps and some steady riding we built up a lead of over 40 minutes toward the end. We decided to stretch the last lap (this meant I did not have to do another lap!), Ian crossed the line to win by over 30 minutes.

last years report - 24hr Red Bull 2002

writtern 05/08/04

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