Fanylion Mountain Bike Team
Official site of the Fanylion Mountain Bike Team. Includes mountain bike ride guides, gear reviews, bike maintenance, team reports and rider profiles of the Fanylion Racing Team.
SSMM 2005
June 25, 2005, Eastnor Castle, Worcestershire
After extremely changeable weather on Friday afternoon the heavens finally opened on Friday evening and I was pitched into a state of doom, gloom and morose thoughts that SSMM 2005 was going to be a repeat of the hellish mud bath of 2004. And for the first lap it was, however when in 2004 the track had cut up and got progressively worse and worse, this year the traffic hardened the trail and made it dryer and faster and so as the event wore on into the night our lap times decreased and when Sunday dawned beautiful, clear and ultimately baking hot and sunny we were zipping round on hot dusty trails with huge grins on our faces.
This year a superb turn-out from FanyLion riders saw us enter three teams, two in the Male Sport class and one in the Mixd class, with Team Tomb Raider making her debut appearance for Team FanyLion. All riders coped admirably with the tough early conditions and (most) worked hard through the night in order to earn the right to blaze the dry trails on Sunday. Results can be read by clicking on Team names below:
FANYLION 1
Shortbread
Mastiles
Cliff Diver
White Sox
FANYLION 2
Hog
Techno
Shack
Monster Munch
FANYLION Mixd
Reet Nooker
Jesus
Shorts In Winter
Tomb Raider
Eco Panzer
Every rider had some moment of glory, and returned from each of their respective laps with a tale of misfortune, of a puncture or a technical problem overcome, of a crash or of blazing past a far Jeyer rider on an uphill/downhill section. Personal achievements were made and we all discovered a true sense of achievement, even if it was only eating more meat than ever before on a Friday night. The following awards were also rightly deserved by the riders concerned:
Consistency award: Shortbread, completing all 5 of his laps without any mechanical hitch whatsoever and putting in some superb lap times.
Almost riding over the head of the most famous rider at the event: Mastiles, nearly riding over Tinker Juarez after he fell in front of Mastiles.
Improvement award: Cliff Diver, doubling number of laps he rode last year
Wearing clothing above and beyond the call of duty/MTB fashion: White Sox, who rode wearing knee length white socks for the entire event.
Completing two laps back to back: Hog, hardcore masochist pain lover
Fastest lap: Techno, 1hr 7 secs
Cleanest bike between laps: Shack, ensuring the spirit of Sheldon lives on.
Longest gap between laps: Monster Munch, approx 11hrs (you’re not supposed to get a full nights sleep at these events you know)
Best crash: Reet Nooker, after shouting “Yo Bad Boy!” at Monster Munch as he overtook him, hit a deep puddle and went over the bars into the bushes.
Biggest technical problems: Jesus, lights failed at start line of 2nd lap, then broke chain in pitch darkness.
Most camping kit made of titanium and weighing less than 4grammes: Shorts in Winter.
Most people blinded at bike corral: Tomb Raider, with helmet mounted death ray.
Most hardcore rider: Eco Panzer, riding 2 laps with a suspected broken hand after a 1st lap crash.
All in all a very tough, yet thoroughly enjoyable event, with good camping, excellent facilities and good trade stands that were only too keen to take your VISA card off you when your chain rings wore out or you needed some mud tyres.
Team FanyLion pulled together at the toughest moments of the event with all riders giving encouragement, technical fettling advice and comfort during the damp, cold, dark night time moments when you start to think “What the hell am I doing here at 3am, in a damp field, on my bike?” Big rspKt to all riders, and this is for sure: SEE YOU THERE NEXT YEAR.
Hog, out.
Riders present
See report below
Enjoyment level
24hrs of fun