Our sponsored Focus rider, Matthew Page has just sent us in his reaction from Mountain Mayhem where he put in a sterling performance. Matt didn’t quite last the distance but still finished 16th out of 122 racers! Read his detailed account of the gruelling 24 hour race below:

Mountain mayhem has come and gone, the event that I had been targeting for months. Unfortunately the race didn’t go to plan and due to extreme weather and course conditions I stopped after 14 hours.

I had arrived at Eastnor Park on Thursday, found what I thought to be the best pitch and setup a camp. We were track side and immediately before the timing tent at the end of the lap. By Friday afternoon we had finished setting up the camp, I had started my pre-race fuelling and things were looking good. I had a really organised pit area and an absolutely brilliant support team: My girlfriend Nia, my Mum, Jo and Ben who was in charge of the mechanical side of things.

As Saturday dawned I was up and about fairly early and although I had a restless night sleep I wasn’t feeling tired, I was exited and a little nervous. Final preparations were completed, both Focus bikes were perfect and at 2pm the race started in slightly damp and overcast condition. As with several endurance events it starts with a ‘Le Mans’ style run to get your bike; the purpose to spread out the field of riders and avoid tailbacks. I had a solid run and I was back within the few hundred people or so.

On the first lap I had a plan, I was going to set off fairly quickly to try and avoid all the hold-ups and stay in touch with the leaders. It worked and I finished the first lap in 4th place. From there I settled into a great rhythm. I was setting very consistent laps between 51 and 55 minutes for the first 8 hours and I felt it was a pace I felt I could sustain. I had worked my way into 3rd early on and later at around the 6-7 hour mark I moved into 2nd and had first place in sight. At this point in the race the weather was holding off, the occasional drizzle but no heavy rain. I briefly moved into 1st place but James Lister pushed his pace a little and regained the lead. I kept calm and didn’t try to follow, I knew his pace was too high and let him go. Sure enough by the end of the lap he was much slower and I regained 1st place whilst James stopped for the night.

So now I was leading 1/3 of the way into the race. It was a dream situation, especially as I felt calm and in control. My pace was still good and I felt able to keep it going. Darkness fell and with it came the rain, drizzle at first which made the course a slippery but almost totally rideable. The extra mud was starting to build up on the bike and soon meant that swapping bikes every lap was best to keep them working well and also having the most suited tyres for the lap ahead. At this point Ben was having to work tirelessly, in the space of an hour a bike had to be completely washed, then changing or adjusting the appropriate parts before re-lubing the drivetrain and selecting the best tyres for the ever changing course. Once one bike was finished I would soon come through again only for him to start cleaning all over!

At about midnight, the heavens opened up and the wind picked up. Over the space of one lap the course had gone from 95% rideable with care to 30% with a huge amount of walking needed, most of which was along extremely slippery off-camber banks trying to haul a bike weighing at least 40lb with the extra mud along with you. The mud was so sticky that neither the front or rear wheels would move when pushing, despite having narrow mud tyres on. I’ve ridden and walked in races similar before, but this seemed like the worst. It was crazy and to be honest very dangerous. The medics were rushing about all over as people were falling and injuring themselves. One guy fell in front of me on a short but steep bank dislocating his shoulder in the process. I endured these conditions for 3 laps, which was quite a long time as lap times had almost doubled. The 3rd lap broke me, even though I had lapped the rider who was in 3rd position I lost my head, slowed right down and almost waited to be caught. At the end of my 14th lap, just as dawn was breaking I lost the lead. Anthony White was going strong again and he came past me at speed. I came into the pits and sat down. I had lost all motivation and had no will to continue.

Looking back I know I made a huge mistake. I could have and should have taken a rest but kept going, but that’s hindsight for you. I am most disappointed for letting everyone who supported me down, they all worked non-stop for no rewards. Although this is a hard blow to take I can still take several positives from the race. Out of 122 solo competitors I still finished 16th after completing just over 14 hours, which is the longest time I had spent on a bike since 2006. Before the rain my pacing was great and had the rain not come or had I been stronger mentally to continue I would probably have been looking at a podium finish. At least now I know that the training is working, physically I have what it takes, I just need to work on the mental side and use this bad experience to help me in future events. I have age on my side, all the top competitors in the UK and the world are over 30, the current 24hr solo World Champion, Tinker Juarez is 47!

I need to re-focus and not dwell on what could have been. I’ve added another event to my calendar for July which I am sure will help. I’ll be taking this week quite easy as 14hrs racing is still really hard going and my body is a little battered and sore in all the usual areas. Next week I’ll be back training properly, now I know my weakness I will change it and soon it will be a strength. A massive thank you to Wiggle and everyone who helped me out, its an amazing feeling to be part of such a great team.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 5:27 pm and is filed under Athlete Diaries, Events, Matthew Page. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.