This year was the first year that I hadn't ridden at Mayhem for 6 years or so... I kind of had mixed feelings about this: I've nearly always found it hard work in the past but at the same time it felt wierd not being entered. Anyway, I was looking after Luke Morris this year - Luke is one of the UKs top 24hr solo racers who I had previously mothered at the Strathpuffer, where he got third place this year. Along with his very-soon-to-have-a-baby girlfriend Gem I was charged with the task of filling bottles, preparing food, fettling bikes etc on what looked like it was going to be a very muddy race weekend. Mayhem mud has special qualities - it sticks to tyres and frames like no other, so I was expecting lots of cleaning and unclogging of drivetrains throughout the night. Rather unexpectedly the course held up remarkably well... the bikes hardly needed touching, and Luke was calm and chilled out throughout.
Watching dawn break over the campsite was an uplifting moment; Luke had ridden himself from a slow start into 6th place during the night, and kept that place until the finish for his best result at Mayhem to date.
Also competing were the Bikeshed's singlespeed team (one member of which didn't actually own a singlespeed so they borrowed mine), who ended up first in singlespeed class, 3rd in open and 10th overall, meaning they got onto the podium twice. I think the fact that they were 3rd in open on rigid singlespeeds was lost on most of the people there... quite an achievment though.
So good results all round. Other notable sights included Voley swigging out of a bottle of Leffe, a team riding in sumo suits and Liam Kileen, who was on the winning expert team. And in the end I really rather missed being in a team... maybe next year.
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