Results just up …
http://www.singletrackworld.com/results/2004-ssmm/index.html
Sport Category (252 teams)
Position Laps Time Team
160 12 24:04:43 Unicycle.Com - No Gears
203 10 24:04:48 Unicycle.Com - No Handlebars
Mixed Category (116 teams)
Position Laps Time Team
107 8 24:04:46 Unicycle.Com - No Brakes
Leo
Re: Red Bull SSM 24 Hour Race results…
If my reckoning is correct, checking across the categories:
No Gears beat 139 bike teams (including 4 elite).
No Handlebars beat 79 bike teams (including 2 elite).
No Brakes beat 26 bike teams.
7 bike teams beat No Gears only because of a quicker dash across the finish after lurking.
The Magura Factory Team beat No Handlebars by 8 seconds. Grr. 
Regards,
Mark.
Then those are either amazingly good unicyclists, or very weak bicyclists. I prefer the former hypothesis.
Well done, folks.
not sure what team phil was on but he is a damn fast rider on a 24" god only knows what he is like on a 29er super sonic probli!
Ben
That was hard!
The course was fantastic for us, which is one reason for the good times, it was suitably hill (there is a GMS map on the net somewhere). Along with the weather conditions…
Let me explain. Torrential rain at the start of the first lat (that is the one with the run). This gave conditions that were so slippy you would go in to a corner and your wheel would just slide (I will let Alan explain about his problem). It then gradually got better with less heavy rain into the night (giving misty conditions which you could then not see through) which made it super claggy. Hence when you tried to turn ride, you hit a bad bit and you did a face plant! On the Sunday it dried out more giving all but the landrover section a really nice feel.
If you go to the link that Leo has posted you can click on the teams so you can see what time we were all doing, you will get some idea of the changing conditions. For me, I did Coker on first lap (good move), Second lap was in the dark and I took the 29" thinking that the problem was going to be like the first grip… but got caught with clagging and then my lights failed for the last 3 miles. 3rd lap I was late… I was asleep and got woke up a little bit late so my lap was actually another 1 hour 30 (ish) done on the 29" which again had clagging problems… 4th lap back to Coker and what fun, with still only the Landrover track being a problem.
I would like to thank our support team who were fantastic! Wendy has the most amazing unicycle flags, Sue was just smiling and being supportive and Geoff Faraghan was amazing… he just looked after us all!
We have loads of photos and will get some of the up sometime soon… need to recover a bit.
Roger
What fun that was!!
Starting the first lap was a mixture of fear, excitement (and buzzing on too much redbull and go-gel). The run passed in a blur, and I was so pleased not to UPD in the first few hundred metres with all the spectators. The rain meant most of the course had degenerated into 3" deep sludge by the time I got to it, making the steep climbs out of my league, the flats hard work, and the downs treacherous but so much fun. I had no idea where I was in terms of distance, and was thinking I had another couple of miles to go when a marshall told me to get off and walk for the last 10 yards. I phoned in a panic, causing Debbie to have to rush over to start her lap.
Waking up for lap 2 when Chris rang at 2:15 am, my first thought was that I’d have to put my soggy mudball trainers back on. I was feeling quite down walking to the changeover, but once riding it was magical. Yes the mud was even deeper and more slippy, it was dark and raining and foggy, and I had to carry for at least half the way, but i was still smiling. Riding out of a misty, sticky woodland onto an open flat hilltop, just as the dawn became brighter than my lights, was such a special moment. The lap just improved from there on in, and I finished on a high, ranting about how great it had been.
Having done the 2 laps I set out to do, I had a shower, washed down my muni and relaxed. After visiting the sports massage tent, and getting my legs mended, I started having ideas about a third lap
Despite thinking I’d bitten off more than I could manage, I set off on lap 3 in actual sunshine! Even better it stayed sunny all the way round, enough to get slightly burned (I’d refused to put on suncream or take my shades, for fear of taunting the rain gods).
This was the icing on the cake. The course had all but dried out, and I rode nearly all of the sections that had treated me so cruelly on the previous laps. The descents were more predictable, and I could take them faster and enjoy them.
I met Nathan and Phil near the home straight, whilst lurking to avoid another lap, and we all rode in to cross the line together, exhausted but elated.
It was moment that will stay with me for life.
The spectators and other riders were so supportive and appreciative, they really added to the feeling.
Thanks to everyone who came to ride and support us, its the best fun I’ve had in ages.
Special thanks to the rest of my team, there are now 26 bike teams that know better than to mess with the likes of us!
Now you lot are making me wish I’d been able to race this year. I was working saturday night however so it wasn’t to be. Not sorry to mis the rain and mud, but getting nostalgic for that elated/knackered/pleased with yourself feeling you get when its over.
Sarah
Muddy, muddy, muddy
Yes, it really was muddy - but fun!
I think my team beat 2 bike teams last year. So, beating 79 is a slight
improvement!
Do you think it’s partly due to the hillier course and partly the bad
weather? Or are we just super fit kind of guys. Whatever the reason, all
teams did exceptionally well. To think Roger’s team beat 139 bike teams is
phenomenal. A really BIG well done to everyone.
Thanks Gemma, Sue & Wendy for supporting us riders. Thanks Michael & Rachael
for your patience with Tio. He really enjoyed playing with the two of you.
Thanks also to Roger for dragging us all there, and of course the t-shirts.
They’re really good, and a vast improvement on last year’s. Thanks Roger.
BTW, Roger’s collecting everyone’s photos taken over the weekend. He’ll be
putting them all onto one CD, then copying them for distribution to all who
took part. I hope that’s OK with everyone.
See most of you soon.
Steve
Home from the UK
Scot Cooper and I made it home last night after a great trip to the UK for this race. I can’t really believe that we beat 139 bike teams…I guess the horrendous conditions the first day hurt them more than us.
The race was great, but meeting so many great UK riders was the best part of the trip. One thing about this race that’s different from all the others I’ve done is that there are SO many families and friends out supporting the riders. It wasn’t just at our campsite either - bike teams all over had many many non-riders present all or at least part of the weekend. With something like 2000 racers, plus who knows how many in support, it was quite a scene - a HUGE campsite.
Scot and I stayed with Leo White and family Thursday night and made it to the race venue by 11am Friday. We staked out a large area near the showers and not too far from the start/finish. It ended up being big enough for about 10 cars plus 10 tents plus Roger’s two HUGE (and vital) outdoor tent-buildings. Each one is about 10x20’ so the two together are 400 square feet of haven from the wind and rain. With the stoves cooking pasta and other foods all the time - very nice.
After Scot and I returned from lunch at a nearby pub, people arrived all afternoon, and Friday evening many of us went for a test ride of a bit over half of the course. It was great and I was kicking myself for bringing the 29er instead of my Hunter36 - little did I know. One thing was a little scary on that test ride though - no one knew when we started, but we finished at 9:30 and it felt like we had ridden for way over an hour…and we had only done half the course (10.2 miles total). Lots of climbing and not much of it is easy cruising.
The race started at 2pm Saturday which gave the rain just enough time to reduce a huge part of the course to an absolute quagmire of mud. So much was unrideable. I was the last rider on our team and started around 8pm. By then, the first 2 miles was ok, but the next 3 miles or so was a joke. Imagine riding on wet ice. When you fall (sometimes straight onto your bum), you don’t stop - you keep sliding. Dismounts onto your feet often leave you skiing through the mud desperate to not fall. But the second half of the course was better. Still I found myself WALKING on some downhills. Can you imagine that? It was so slippery that it was actually better for me to walk than ride and crash again and again. The steep sections were not even thinkable - bikes too.
My second lap started around 5am and was about the same - no drying out had occured. By eating many of those great power gel things, I was able to keep strong throughout the course and ride a lot of the uphills, and I was getting better at the surfing style of riding required on the moderate downhill sections.
My last lap started a bit after noon and was totally different. There was still a 2 mile “Landrover test track” section that was a slog through DEEP and disgusting mud, but the rest of the course was not only rideable, but actually FUN and fast. It was so great riding all the hard parts that weren’t even a remote possibility before for me.
I had the option of crossing the line before 2pm which would allow (and require) someone else to do another lap, but a call to Roger told me not to do that. Instead, I hung out for a while before the line (this is called lurking) and crossing together with Phil and Joe which was awesome. Doing a 24 hour race with only a 4 person team is a bit harder than the more usual 5 person team. And in conditions like this, with a difficult course…I think we were all glad when it was over.
Many Thanks to Leo and family for hosting us and feeding us, Roger for bringing the tents and his great cheer, Des for being such a great teammate (Des and Roger are Coker Kings if you didn’t know), Scot for going all the way over with me and toughing out a very difficult 2am lap, Geoff Faraghan for SO much help and support, and all the other unicyclists and family/friends who made it a fantastic trip.
Plan for next year: let’s get as many riders as possible to go so we can have even more teams. And maybe we could assemble the ultimate 24 hour Coker team: Roger, Des, Ken Looi and Christian Hoverath!
Photos later…but attached is a quick scan of one taken by one of the photographers there.
—Nathan
Re: Home from the UK
Yes I had forgotton about that! It would be such a cool “dream team!” It would I think put up another 100 places.
Some bike forum feedback…
Author: gee
Date: 27/06/04 21:40
unicyclists!!!
should be banned. They were going so slowly on the dh bits, especially on sunday when there was only 1 dry line through most bits. One wobbled in front of me as i was passing him causing me to swerve into the bushes, fall off going at a fair old pace and dent my titus. I feel very strongly about this, after all it is a mountain bike race. More mtb teams could get in if they were banned. The problem is speed differential. Going uphill slower riders and fast riders have plenty of time to overtake, as they are not going at vastly different speeds. Downhill, same story really. I dont mind waiting behinmd someone on a dh section and passing where its safe. Unicyclists on the other hand go at 3mph everywhere, so closing speed and time to sort stuff out is reduced, plus they are so unstable as I found out.
Serious rant.
George.
Author: toml
Date: 27/06/04 21:43
Nowt wrong with the Unicyclists just pass them in a safer place.
Much respect to the guy last year who did it soloand did at least 10 laps.
All adds to the event. The mud isn’t kind to them.
Author: lest
Date: 27/06/04 22:12
Gee
I think I saw your crash and that was so avoidable with a bit of concentration.
You screwed up not him being there!
Unicylists go a 3mph, yes
Trees and roots go at nillmph but U take them as part of the package???
I had a couple of “novice” riders fall straight across the path but I managed to stop.
If your teams position was so important, I guess U guys are pretty experienced/sharp to be in a position for it to matter…
Author: gee
Date: 27/06/04 22:23
hangs head*
ok maybe i did screw up cos i was tired and trying to catch the army lot. That doesnt change my attitude towards them tho. The guys on kickboards, however… legends the lot of them.
Ooooooo, that was so much fun!
That weekend had the lot: some really excellent trails, a fantastic lively atmosphere, loads of cool new people and a fine excuse to get absolutely covered in mud head to toe and not care at all (until the next lap, anyway!) That’s the first 24 hour race I’ve done, after being roped in to make up the numbers by Steve C, but I’m definitely glad he did, it was a fantastic weekend.
I was the last to ride in our team, so by the time I went out at about 8:30PM the light was fading and the track was a quagmire. I got back after dark absolutely covered in mud, knees bruised, but it felt absolutely brilliant to have done it. (The lights worked a treat, thanks Paul and Sarah!)
The weather really made the weekend special, I think. To see a really fun track gradually emerge from the sticky gloop was awesome. It made me appreciate the good bits when you find you can ride a fun bit that was just too boggy the last time round. On my first lap the second half was dark, foggy and caused many a crash resulting in me taking a ballistic trajectory; on the second it was fun, but on the third it was truly awesome, loads of flowing downhill and some really good steep descents that gained some excellent remarks from watching bikers.
I have Joe to thank for my third lap: Joe is a walking enthusiasm generator, seeing him come back from his lap raving about the second half of the track really made me want to get out there again.
The whole thing was just so friendly, loads of marshalls and spectators offered encouragement all the way through. I had a conversation half way round my second lap with a solo bike rider which was great, and while waiting for 2pm to come around a marshall offered me some sandwiches. Fantastic!
The last few days has been pretty manic - I got back home on Sunday evening, spent my Monday off work moving house, and got up at 5:30am on the Tuesday to go to Manchester for the rest of the week for work. So much for my nice relaxing day to recover then… 
I may be barely able to walk, but that weekend was definitely worth every bruise, splinter, scrape and immovable limb!
I have a purtty 3D picture of the course from the GPS, which I took round the first lap, and a few photos, but they are currently on another computer some 200 miles away. I’ll try to remember those at the weekend.
Phil, from a hotel somewhere in Stockport, going to bed…
Re: Home from the UK
Wow, awesome stuff guys! You beat so many bike teams 
Yeah, that should be on the cards at some stage- it would be awesome to get a 24hr dream team together- especially if I move to the UK to work at some stage!
Look forward to the photos.
Ken
Leo, maybe you should ask the poster if he wants to ban the 139 bike teams (including 4 elite) that were beaten by the unicyclists
nick
Hey Guys,
That sounds awesome! Thanks for all the write-ups of the weekend. Makes me want to do it next year!
How old do you have to be?
Looking forward to seeing the pics,
Joe,
mud, mud and more mud
This will give you an idea of how muddy it was.
Steve
Great photo Steve!!
Joe, you have to be 18 to race in Mountain Mayhem. Other events have lower ages. 14 for “24 Hours Of Adrenalin” in the US and Canada. No age limit for “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” in Canada (Beau did it at age 12). I think the Moonride in NZ was age 16 but I don’t remember for sure. Probably you could assume that the bigger and more serious the event, the higher the minimum age.
—Nathan
Could someone tell me where those 24hour races are in Canada?
They sound like great fun and exercice (not to mention lasting memories) and I would love to give a shot at one.
Some more pics up at
You have to “join” to view them…
This one looks like Joe’s carrying an unwanted passenger. Maybe his own personal demon is egging him on. How about a caption competition?
Leo
I thought this race would take my mind off the monkey on my back…
