Just for the Fun of it: a Twenty Four Hour Endurance Run

As many people in the United Kingdom know, it will soon be time for the world famous Mountain Mayhem 2010 race, a twenty four hour endurance race. I will not be in it because I am really not very good at the races, but I do like the endurance. Not to mention the race has become so popular that it is always very difficult to get a slot. So, just as a lark, some mates and I decided to run the course of the Mountain Mayhem 2009 just for the fun of it.

Needless to say, waiting until June or July is not an option, but it was easy enough to access the previous year’s track in Herefordshire, back in April of this year, which is precisely what we did. Although all of us determined that this would not be a race per se and the only way to “lose” would be to fail to finish; secretly we all conceded that it was a race and we all approached the starting line with that in mind. Of course there were only fourteen solo riders in our little improvised race as opposed to Mountain Mayhem’s usually 2,500 and there were no spectators, except a few farmers that seemed think we were confused.

Anyone that knows me knows that I really don’t prefer the small limited tracks as opposed to true cross country cycling, but the nine mile track at Eastnor Castle, Deer Park in Ledbury is a pretty good one as far as they go. There was not anywhere near as much mud, which apparently the Mountain Mayhem organizers artificially add to the track for the real race, which made it considerably easier on us. Further, the track was already well worn and extremely easy to follow. Of course this is a twenty-four hour endurance run, so having a well defined path that is easy to see at night helps out a lot.

For this little race, I was trying out a new On-One Carbon 456 that I won in a bet and also opted to bring my Hydrapak Laguna, hydration pack that I just happened to have left in the car. Luckily the Laguna is a good pack for mountain biking and its compression features make it extremely handy to keep properly balanced and comfortable for an endurance run. As anyone that has ever used the Laguna knows, the bag will hold just about everything that you need and is generally a pleasure to wear on silly expeditions like this race.

Despite the lack of 15,000 cheering audience members and a posh massage tent at the end of the course, all of use finished the twenty-four hour run in good shape except one friend who careened into a tree somehow and apparently bent his frame. But other than this, the rest of us finished in good form, proving that we can handle Mountain Mayhem, even if we can get into the actual race. My On-One Carbon 456 proved absolutely superb and is now my favourite bike, despite the fact that I finished in ninth place (out of thirteen of us that completed the race).