Mountain Mayhem 24 hour
Eastnor Castle: 23-24/06/07
by Lorraine Staley
It would be very easy to not write a report about this years 10th Anniversary of Mountain Mayhem and pretend it never happened, mainly due to the huge disappointment it was to be for me. However, you have to embrace the good and the bad rides to progress as a rider...so here goes...
Once again I was riding solo and knowing that a lot of MTB stars were turning up for the 10th anniversary I was just planning on riding my own pace and seeing what would happen. Never once did I envision having to pull out. I made it until 3am (9 laps completed) and it was at that stage I had to try and be realistic about whether I could continue to ride. What went wrong? Hard to be exact, but a combination of things most likely stemming from being unable to eat enough, all which led to feeling good at the start of each lap but continually feeling spaced out by the time I reached the start/finish again. It was a heart wrenching decision to stop, and I felt, at the time like a quitter, not something which sits easily with me, but in retrospect it was the right decision.
A huge, huge thank you to my pit bitches, and all the people on the course/campsite for their support and encouragement, with a special thank you to Minx for a much needed hug, sorry about the snotty shoulder. So what now? Get up, dust myself off and climb back on my bike of course! Sleepless in the Saddle here I come!