Mountain Mayhem

Eastnor Park, UK

Riding for Alpkit at Mountain Mayhem
Mountain Mayhem is credited with being the first, and is now the world’s largest, mountain bike endurance event. Entries for the event are a sought after thing with many competitors dropping off their entry forms at organiser, Patrick Adams’ house the day entries open. Alpkit have secured a spot in the 2010 Original Source Mountain Mayhem event but being Alpkit we wanted to do things a little differently. Yes we could have got together a bunch of riders to try and get a podium finish but that sounds like hard work for everyone including the riders.

We have put together the A-Team, a rag tag bunch of Alpkit enthusiasts proud to pull on our jersey and have a good time. We’ll bring along tents for shelter… hopefully new Alpkit ones if they are ready. Sleeping bags and new sleeping mats to make sure our team has the best night’s sleep (if that is possible!). We’ll provide all the food and drink they will need off their bikes, we’ll pitch our gazebos and teepee to keep off the heat of the sun (fingers crossed) and we’ll provide covered areas so the team can tinker with their steeds, eat, drink and generally be merry.

Jim’s proposed team shirt, carefully designed to distract other riders

Team profiles

Sarah Turner
Sarah is 21 and just coming to the end of her biology degree at Bath University. With just a few exams to go she now has the whole summer ahead with nothing to do but hit the beach, catch up with friends and most importantly, ride her bike! Sarah has been mountain biking and riding road bikes for three years, since meeting her lycra-clad boyfriend at University. She did her first race (Uni Champs) only 3 months after getting her first mountain bike and wimped out after 1 out of 2 laps. Since then she has evolved into a typical cyclist: donned the lycra, joined the clubs, spent her student loan on bikes and entered a few races. This year at the Uni Champs she walked away with women’s team silver. Her training involves bimbling through the woods with friends, eating cake, getting muddy and sometimes performing ‘acrobatics’ over the handlebars. She loves pushing herself in testosterone fuelled ‘gentle rides’ with the guys, much faster paced rides with the girls, or just exploring the footpaths, bridleways and singletrack, on her tod.
Rides: Tricked out Kona Kula Lisa

Paul Burt
Paul B is 41, based in Hampshire and has a strong interest in technology. He enjoys endurance riding and rides mostly in the South Downs. His favourite music includes Sia, New Order, Radiohead and Orbital but we don’t know if this helps him peddle faster. Paul is looking forward to relaxing at Glastonbury after Mountain Mayhem.
Rides: Charge Duster 8

Paul Mason
Paul M is 28 and into most things outdoors, so long as it involves hills and mountains. Now living in Kendal he likes growing a bit of veg and suppin the local ale. Paul got into mountain biking in Wales a couple of years ago and now loves it, so he is looking forward to Mountain Mayhem with the Alpkit team.
Rides: Bottom of the range Trek

Paul Pomfret
Paul P has been a keen cyclist for many years. XC racing is where it started and over the years it has evolved to include Road Riding, Sportives, Criteriums, Track, Roller Racing and MTB Enduros. Rather unsurprisingly there has been a trend from short and fast events to longer and slow ones. This year Paul decided to enjoy some more social riding rather than train/race, train race and so he has been looking at multi day rides. Paul will be taking part in the Welsh Ride Thing at the end of May and as he has completed one overnight wild camp he now consider himself as an adventure cyclist. Paul listens to Muse, Vampire Weekend and anything with Jack White. His fav places include the Lake District, Algonquin, and the Dolomites.
Rides: Genesis i0, Yeti ASR SL

Amy Parkinson
Amy is 27 and lives in Nottingham. Her main sport is Triathlon but she has been injured and unable to run and compete for nearly 2 years so she thought she would give mountain biking a go.  Amy admits to falling off frequently but love it anyway, and thinks that it is so much more fun than road biking!  Amy has done some XC races and trailquests (MTB orienteering) but is equally happy to enjoy weekend camping trips to Wales to ride some of the trails. Into anything outdoors - skiing, climbing, orienteering and her favourite place has got to be anywhere in the Alps, in either summer or winter. Amy tells us she is really looking forward to Mountain Mayhem, it will be the 1st 24hr race she has been involved in but is already planning to do another one later in the year.
Rides: Scott Scale 30

Harvey Grainger
Bike mechanic with big legs and little arms.
Rides: Nicolai

Stephen Vear
Stephen is 33 and based in Cockermouth. His interests include capturing light in a box, riding bicycles, fettling bicyles and climbing mountains. He has just started rock climbing indoors and is looking forward to getting outdoors as soon as possible and sliding sideways across the sea which he doesn’t get to do much now he has moved up to the Lakes from Scarborough. Likes listening to almost everything from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy to Roots Manuva to Anthrax.
Rides: On-one inbred and a Raleigh Record Sprint

Genesis Bikes have agreed to supply the team a range of demo bikes for them to try, and we are in the midst of securing more demo equipment to help make the experience even more pleasurable.

Further reading:
Mountain Mayhem Official Site
What is Mountain Mayhem
Ultra Cycling Training Guide
Mountain Mayhem Training Tips