Been there. My first one. Got the medal 😆 But ja, mudfest describes it well.
The back brakes wore onto the metal - a little stone thrown in there by the water, lodged between the caliper and the pad. Because brakes squeak anyway in mud, I only realized later something was off. Had to stop and take the pads out, so rode about 20km with only the front brake, which made things interesting 😁 Front brakes also took shots, so that's at least two new sets of pads.
The front chainring is also shot. At least an inexpensive already worn oval, but still. Cost add up.
The gravel there is very sandy/grainy, and it just goes in everywhere and lodges. Spent a good 2 hours cleaning the bike. The one deep water crossing, I just walked through, so it looks like the wheel bearings didn't have water ingress, thankfully.
The staging area was about ankle-depth mud in some places. We rode through heavy rain spots. The wind was icy cold. Was definitely a big challenge, but I'd probably do it again in the same conditions.
Although hoping next year will be dry, would love to ride some of those winding sections at pace. It is a very cool challenging route.
