2005 Saab Solomon Mountain Mayhem 24 hrs - Eastnor Park - Jun 24/25
After the mud and carnage of 2004, it was a risk to try this course again, how bad was it, well Glastonbury was the same weekend. In the end it was a superb weekend and still the best mountainbike event of the year by far in the UK.
The Plumz were there in force, three teams of 4. Were we taking it seriously....well for a while anyway.
The 'A' team entered as a Singlespeed team, and spent all the following week (and most of Saturday)trying to get the gearing low enough for the killer climbs.
For us the Singlespeed battle was with the fun sport boys, so discounting the official Singlespeed winners of the Elite level racers here's how it went for us pie-eaters.
First lap and the run: I'm doing it for the Plumz and we all know how I hate running so off we went into the slop and traffic jams of lap1..... 78 mins later I'm first SS rider back. Passing Ed on that first lap was cool, he didn't like that much.
I hand over to Stu, who has never raced SS before, what a baptism on this hilly technical course.
My Knees Hurt are next a whopping 7.5 mins down with Fraser Mulloch handing over to cartoon Sheep artist Jo Burt. The One Speed Revolution boys are 3rd with Oli Pepper a further 3 mins down. Stu puts in a cracking 1.14 lap and is grinning from ear to ear as he returns, we could have a convert here.
Jo Burt hands over to Tim Flooks the Suspension Guru, they are over 11 mins behind with the Revolution boys in third and closing to within a minute, wow how good are we........ Matts out next for us and worried he will let us down with his recent lack of riding, serious us, well for the moment we were swept up in the moment of SS hill climbing Gods. Matts respectable 1.19 means he's no slouch it must be all that Peaks hill climbing he does now.
Gareth Jones for the onespeed revolution puts in a 1.10 lap and takes second and over 9 minutes out of us to close within 2 minutes, with Flooks handing over to one time Elite racer Rory Hitchens who still finds time away from his company USE to keep pedaling. They are in 3rd 2 mins back.
Craig's our number 4 man and shows he's back on form with a 1.16 lap but it's all change for the Podium.
One speed Revolutions John Ross with a lightning 1.09 lap blasts them to the front, and Rorys 1.10 grabs them second. The singlespeeds old guard and their Titanium Knees are coming into action as we slip to 3rd but only 28 secs down.
I'm back out on the Intense again and attacking the sticky technical bits, but end up walking a bit to much for super fast times, sod this weight, but the final descent is superb. - 1.15 grabs the fastest Sat lap for us. Oli Pepper proves the weak link for the Revolutions as they slip to 2 mins behind the new Leaders as My Knees Hurt take over.
At this time 6 hrs into the race we are around 25th Overall in the Sport Class and quite frankly gobsmacked at that performance, can we hang on. As twilight draws in for the Nightshift Matt hits the wall with an old nagging Hip Injury biting hard during the Landrover climb slurry push, a 1.29 is the price we pay, we decide to chill and just survive.
Come the completion of lap 11 and early morning, the damage is done. The one speed revolution with some surprising fast night laps are powering ahead. on 14hrs exactly they are 17 mins ahead of the Knees hurt lot and we are a further 50 mins later in completing our 11th.
The two horse race now goes down to the wire as the course speeds up, John Ross for the Revolution puts in two stunning 1.01 laps to secure the win for them almost 20 mins ahead with both teams completing 20 laps. The Plumz speed up in the morning sunshine with Jack and Stu getting down to 1.09 and 1.11 laps as the course dries out nicely.
18 laps and 3rd Singlespeed for 51st place overall. Shame we didn't beat that Tadcaster Cyclescense lot, or the Boys from the Flatstuff but we had fun.
Do it Again..................................'BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP"
Stunning form from Craig though, look at those average lap times,
he just nicked it as team fast boy. 
| Rider | Laps | Best | Average | Worst |
| Jack Peterson | 5 | 01.09:48 | 01.17:29 | 01.28:45 |
| Stu Knubley | 5 | 01.11:51 | 01.17:50 | 01.30:10 |
| Matt Barrat | 4 | 01.19:24 | 01.29:44 | 01.39:12 |
| Craig Simpson | 4 | 01.12:31 | 01.17:24 | 01.22:40 |
Singlespeed Team Results -- The top 3 in detail
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The two other Plumz teams, well they came they saw and they snoozed.
The Plumz Jam team (yes I know crap names this year) saw Gregg out for his yearly play. And boy did it show, beaten round on lap 1 by a unicycle, will he ever live it down. Ron was motoring untill the beers came out and Indian fell out big time with the Landrover climb.
The Crumble team did just that. Ed after his first lap paddy decided to go out again for another quick lap to exercise his course demons. He managed to borrow bikes to ride from bikeshops for the whole race, now what a great idea given the conditions.
Nige was flying on his SS Spot fully rigid. Prospects for the weekend were our mate Martyn and Andy Glynn anchored them along in a guest spot.
King of the snoozers goes to the Crumble lads with an Impressive 8 hours of kip, but it allowed the Jam boys to slip in front.
Sunday morning and the chase was on , Nige put in a stunning lap of 1:03 to be easily fastest Plumster of the weekend (part-timer 2 laps shish) but it was not enough. Check out the team results, The Jam just stayed ahead, never has a battle for 224th position been fought so hard to the line (OK OK nice story - but hey didn't have a clue they were that close....muppets)
Adi Scott and the Elite gang of Wayne, Josh and Gavin deserve a mention. 6th place in the Elite race is a superb result..and talking of bad team names...Mad Mountainbikers......now come on guys, behave.
| 224th - Numplumz Jam | |||
| Lap | Number | Rider | Time |
| 1 | 1459 | Gregg Payne | 01:45:10 |
| 2 | 1457 | Ian Jones | 01:39:57 |
| 3 | 1456 | Tom Wright | 01:35:13 |
| 4 | 1458 | Ron Rutgers | 01:11:55 |
| 5 | 1459 | Gregg Payne | 01:32:32 |
| 6 | 1457 | Ian Jones | 01:34:56 |
| 7 | 1456 | Tom Wright | 01:53:09 |
| 8 | 1458 | Ron Rutgers | 01:26:49 |
| 9 | 1459 | Gregg Payne | 07:00:04 |
| 10 | 1457 | Ian Jones | 01:23:44 |
| 11 | 1456 | Tom Wright | 01:30:14 |
| 12 | 1458 | Ron Rutgers | 01:27:13 |
| 225th - Numplumz Crumble | |||
| Lap | Number | Rider | Time |
| 1 | 1454 | Ed Mair | 01:26:02 |
| 2 | 1455 | Andy Glynn | 01:36:05 |
| 3 | 1454 | Ed Mair | 01:19:42 |
| 4 | 1452 | Nigel Scott | 01:10:03 |
| 5 | 1453 | Martyn Chapman | 01:17:11 |
| 6 | 1455 | Andy Glynn | 01:40:45 |
| 7 | 1454 | Ed Mair | 01:29:37 |
| 8 | 1454 | Ed Mair | 01:45:18 |
| 9 | 1453 | Martyn Chapman | 08:39:27 |
| 10 | 1452 | Nigel Scott | 01:03:57 |
| 11 | 1454 | Ed Mair | 01:11:02 |
| 12 | 1455 | Andy Glynn | 01:22:41 |
| Rider | Laps | Best | Average | Worst |
| Gregg Payne | 3 | 01:32:32 | 03:25:55 | 07:00:04 |
| Ian Jones | 3 | 01:23:44 | 01:32::52 | 01:39:57 |
| Tom Wright | 3 | 01:30:14 | 01:39:32 | 01:53:09 |
| Ron Rutgers | 3 | 01:11:19 | 01:21:59 | 01:27:13 |
| Rider | Laps | Best | Average | Worst |
| Ed Mair | 5 | 01:11:02 | 01:26:20 | 01:45:18 |
| Andy Glynn | 3 | 01:22:41 | 01:33:10 | 01:40:45 |
| Nigel Scott | 2 | 01:03:57 | 01:07:00 | 01:10:03 |
| Martyn Chapman | 2 | 01:17:11 | 04:58:19 | 08:39:27 |
