Beastway 2017

[Steve Hanks]

Here it is again!

The first round of Beastway starts on Saturday at Redbridge Cycle Centre with kids racing from 1pm, ending with Vets at 4:30. After that its every Wednesday evening in the summer sunlight as usual starting May 10.

Entries via BC or on the day, please come and support the only grass roots MTB racing in London and one with over 20 years of racing history behind it.

Hope to see some LP's there on Saturday earning an evening beer.

Later in the series we'll be volunteering to marshal a round so please be prepared but I will post separately about that.

Please try and come Saturday, even if you have raced MTB before you will love it, its a great place to have a go, and the sun will be out even if you just fancy riding up and spectating the Elites and us old 'uns, with tea and cake - your support is appreciated.

[Chris Clague]

25 years young this year!

[Steve Hanks]

You look much older...

[Chris Clague]

Feeling it too after this week... still corralling timing chips with 3 days to go.

[Steve Hanks]

Just to post up huge thanks the Chris - now part of the Beastway organisation - as well as Bruce and Michael for the organisation that went into the first race of Beastways 25th year yesterday.

Great course and great racing, fast amd hard as it should be, loved it!

[Chris Clague]

Spent this afternoon digging through the timing system logs to sort out the anomalies and learn the intricacies of how it works - full results with all lap times etc all now up on the website. Seems we managed a 100% hit rate on the timing chips.

Hopefully next week we get the live timing up and running (it was there on Saturday but we didn't let on), and also get the full results out there and then. After that my plan is to try and simplify it all so I get to ride my bike.

[JackCurzon]

Last night was the 2nd Round (but the 1st race for me) in this 2017 series and ‘twas a lovely sunny evening. The course was fast and twisty, with a nice long slog up the west side of Hog Hill, that had me wishing I’d really made more of an effort to shed my excess kgs every time I rode up it. A couple new features had also been added – a double step down and a little drop off. Nothing taxing but nice little ‘upgrades’ to keep you on your toes (although the abundance of hairpins and bramble do a pretty good job of that as it is). Also, it seemed quite a few new lines had been cut out around the circuit. It always amazes me how Michael and his elves manage to come up with new ways of using the ground around the hill to keep it feeling fresh.

So we Vets lined up and off we went. I was first in to the single track. I think if the race was 3 minutes long I’d smash it every week. Unfortunately it's not so from that point on I dropped back as the faster riders gradually picked me off and I think I eventually finished quite a hefty chunk of minutes down on the race winner for 7th(?). I’d expected to have to ride for an hour, so imagine my disappointment when I crossed the line after 65 minutes only to see I had another lap to do and ended riding for 1:20. It wasn’t really a biggie as I couldn’t see another Vet behind me so didn’t worry about being caught but it was dark and my concentration on the previous lap was shot so I kept stalling or washing out my front wheel. Frustrating.

Disappointing not to be faster I put in a good effort and an IF of 1 for the 80 minutes meant I was riding pretty much at my max sustainable power. However, my legs fatigued quite badly as the race progressed, so as I’m expecting my endurance to build through the series so should my NP rise.

[Chris Clague]

7th Vet - good guess!

[Steve Hanks]

12th for me after i suffered the effects of 750tss leading up to the race.

Say what you like critical of data but analysis shows HR below threshold for 50% of the race instead of the normal 95 over threshold, 50w below normal race average and extreme fatigue yesterday to the point i had jelly legs plus a Haribo craving whilst walking tells a story entitled "Tired".

My Beastway story so far this year is one of finishing just outside the top 10 whilst sick or tired, fortunately theres only one way to go. Lucky its not this years target just some training intervals tbh!

[JackCurzon]

7th Vet - good guess!

Not only did you make me ride one more lap, you then espunge it from the timing results. You're a hard man Mr Clague, fancy becoming my trainer?

[JackCurzon]

12th for me after i suffered the effects of 750tss leading up to the race.

Say what you like critical of data but analysis shows HR below threshold for 50% of the race instead of the normal 95 over threshold, 50w below normal race average and extreme fatigue yesterday to the point i had jelly legs plus a Haribo craving whilst walking tells a story entitled "Tired".

My Beastway story so far this year is one of finishing just outside the top 10 whilst sick or tired, fortunately theres only one way to go. Lucky its not this years target just some training intervals tbh!

Yep, that sounds the very definition of fatigued. Bloody good going to keep at it feeling like that!

[Steve Hanks]

The second time i came over the line it hit me badly. I literally wobbled up the Hoggenbur, whereas the week before its was a sprint into the new lap.

Im in block week 5 of 7 for the next Scott Marathon so its a busy week, but after that Beastway is in my taper so i should be more rested.

[Chris Clague]

7th Vet - good guess!

Not only did you make me ride one more lap, you then espunge it from the timing results. You're a hard man Mr Clague, fancy becoming my trainer?

Have posted your last lap on FB for all to see. You were definitely slowing down...

All the last laps are there in the system but are oddly excluded from the results. I could pull everyone after their 'real' last lap and they'd appear but I'd need to do that for every single rider.

[danielwolman]

good work guys!

[Steve Hanks]

Epic, thats all I have to say about this week!