2005 Saab Salomon Mountain Mayhem
 | | Overall score | | 60% | | Would you do it again? | | Maybe | | | | Details: | | Scenery | | 60% | | Competitiveness | | 100% | | Atmosphere | | 100% | | Organisation | | 80% | | Value | | 100% | | Beginner-friendliness | | 20% |
In short: Course needs to be shortened (like Sandwell) so that lap times are about one hour - makes planning easier and increases competition. Too little reward for too much effort in the climbing. Average riders got too little satisfaction lap for lap.
In full: This is a great event, spoiled by a rather disappointing choice of route. Power Bar grind is way too hard and spoils the flow of the middle and latter part of the lap. Land Rover gully is hideous and a way needs to be found around that. It is not a weather proof course and care must be taken to provide viable alternatives. There must be lots of potential for singletrack to zig zag and gain the height anyway. Red Bull at the start was a stupid idea - halfway (like Sandwell) makes more sense. What happened to the perennial formula of 24 hour races - lap in an hour, team of four, three hours rest/recovery? It seems to work well for most people. More showers definitely needed. Have done the event for six years now and the last two courses have not been enjoyable - but could so easily be! Over the years we have had always two or more teams entered - max of six one year - but lots of our guys are left unimpressed and disappointed by the last two courses. Singletrack was brilliant , more please, the fire road climb on Ridgeway was a good speed trial (esp for singlespeeds), the run round the back of the Obelisk was as fast as ever with good technical bits thrown in as well, despite Castle View Climb (which I could never do fully). Track tips for next year - why not cut across from Ashenfields Coppice straight on to the Obelisk section and on descent from Oaken Grove cut straight across Kenda Climb to finish as we did this year. NO Kenda/Power Bar climb and lots of swoopy singletrack!!! You might add a bit of length by zigzaging up the Land Rover track, but lose some around the climb, and adjust the length/lap time to nearer the hour by playing around with first section from the Arena. That would get good balance in the lap and achieve a nicer feel for more competitors. Just a thought (Or three!) The course needs to be more for the average/fun rider, who in all probability makes up the vast majority of the entry anyway. We noticed many people not having much fun!
Date of review: June 30, 2005
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