12 May 09 Mountain Mayhem Training

With a month to go, the training for Mountain Mayhem is going well.

Since the team (Hanley WYLD) is based in the shadow of the Malvern Hills we feel we have a bit of a home advantage. We train on the hills, probably on parts of the yet-to-be-revealed course. We usually do this in the dark, although as the days get longer the terrain becomes mercifully more visible.

So far I have suffered a chipped bone in my wrist. Unfortunate but at the same time could have been much worse: About 9.30 pm, fog at about 1000 feet, pitch black, Cateye lights from Halfords, and completely worn out brake pads on the Specialized Rockhopper. The combination meant that I was completely unsighted and completely unable to stop – even if I had seen a totally invisible boulder (football-ish size). I managed to execute an elegant dismount via the handlebars at full-tilt, gracefully meeting the ground like a swan in jackboots.

So £165 later I have new AVID Juicy 3 discs brakes and discs fitted by the excellent bike shop in Malvern. For another £60 I have a 2nd hand set of Vista Lights plus ‘candlestick’ batteries. This can be added to the £250 spent on the bike in the first place, not to mention the £100 worth of ordinary clothes I ruined and the £150 I spent on proper mountain biking clothing. Then there is the oil, Muc-Off cleaner and all the useless lights I bought from Halfords. I now realise that what Halfords call bike lights are only fit to be put into my children’s bedrooms at night to enhance the effects of the blackout blinds.

Anyway. I do feel a lot fitter, although the evidence of that is not particularly visual. (See the picture here, taken just having come off the top of Worcestershire Beacon yesterday, with Summer Hill behind). I can now make it from Hanley Swan to the Wych Cutting in about 34 minutes (in February that took an hour). And last night I made it to the top of Worcestershire Beacon, along the ridge to British Camp and cross country to Welland and back to Hanley Swan (I think about 18 miles) in two and half hours with a few stops and a bit of social chit chat in places. The best thing was that I didn’t have to get off and push once (other than falling off and finding a good place to get going again).

We are ridiculously well organised. We are confident of arriving at Mountain Mayhem with a water bowser and generator, a power hose, a portable shower, a bike rack, enough tents to house Her Majesty’s Expeditionary Forces and bespoke designed team clothing. There is a chance that in packing all this we will forget our bikes. I suppose we are not too far removed from home to go back and get them.

The team do have some concerns over Andy’s team spirit. Specifically we are worried that he will not want to camp preferring instead to take up residence in Eastnor Castle – he’s bound to know his Lordship and the temptation of quails eggs and kippers, with the footman dropping him off at the start line from time-to-time, may prove too tempting. The alternative being a cold tent shared with a wet bicycle, while fed only on plastic mugs of tea and burnt beans from the camping stove. Nevertheless a team we are, battered, rattling, bruised, overweight, over-spent, over-budget, but not nearly broken.