Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)
  • battle on the Beach – who's in?
  • monkeyp
    Full Member

    Really looking forward to this. Driving down with the family tonight. Will be racing a Fatty in the Qwerty cycles kit. Just a shame my carbon forks didn’t get here in time 🙁

    How many fatso’s do we have?

    Andy

    taxi25
    Free Member

    I’ll be there but not on a fatty. Interested im seeing how they get on, not sure how much soft sand there’s going to be.

    monkeyp
    Full Member

    Taxi – I am not sure either, but then, I raced at Ashton Court on mine and it was great around there and that wasn’t soft. I like to think of ‘Fat’ as just another sub-category of racing 🙂

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
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    taxi25
    Free Member

    Your right monkeyp, if your fast your fast on whatever. Hoping to blag a go on one, only seen a couple, not had a chance to try one yet.

    njee20
    Free Member

    I know Gee of this parish is heading down there. He had the decency to ride his around the Surrey Hills, still quicker than me!

    monkeyp
    Full Member

    If you see me, you are welcome for a spin.

    But I warn you, you may decide you like it 🙂

    localhero94
    Free Member

    I was due to go but I’ve been ill this week and since I’m still coughing up green unpleasantness it’s looking highly unlikely I’ll make it.

    Lester
    Free Member

    im out, my knee hasnt healed and im not as fit as i hoped

    scotjohn
    Free Member

    monkeyp from your description you were parked next to me. (I was on the On One Lurcher). Hope you had fun on the fatty, I was surprised how fast some of them were going at the start! I thought they’d be plodding along putting in a ton of effort and getting nowhere fast

    I was there, going for the Most Niche Bike award on my belt drive SS Qoroz Lefty 29er, wearing Vegan Cyclists kit.
    Waiting for the results now.

    gee
    Free Member

    National fat bike champion!

    Woohoo!

    I think I was inside the top 10 overall too.

    GB

    john_l
    Free Member

    Yup, fantastic weekend! Had to pinch myself at one point, cool echelon on the sand – fat bikes, mtbs & cross bikes (I was on the Ridley) all working together. Ace!

    scaredypants
    Full Member

    gee – Member
    National fat bike champion!

    Congrats, though “national fat, bike champion” is the more coveted title round here

    mooman
    Free Member

    I too surprised how good some did on a fat bike. The terrain was a good leveller of bike choice. The soft sand had me off carrying the cx whilst the fat bikes rolled past.

    Found myself swimming across that one ‘lake’ .. found 2 ducks anyways (gave one away)

    mooman
    Free Member

    John_i – were you in group I crossed beach with on 2nd lap?

    I was on white Ridley cx & Cwmcarn Paragon jersey

    john_l
    Free Member

    Could’ve been. I was in black/white Morvelo kit.

    IanB
    Free Member

    I was there, going for the Most Niche Bike award on my belt drive SS Qoroz Lefty 29er

    I though I’d try one-cranked SS fat bike for a bit on the first lap 😕 😳
    Felt it was probably a niche too far, so bolted crank back on for laps 2 and 3

    Great event though. Really enjoyed the course. Singletrack was brilliant on the Singular Puffin.
    5th Open male fat bike, fwiw. Maybe first SS, not sure…

    monkeyp
    Full Member

    What a great day! Punctured on the first lap and had issues re-inflating which Charlie the Bike Monger’s mechanic helped with. Massive thanks to him as it would have been game over otherwise. It seems the fattys were suffering from loads of punctures in the woods.

    Managed 9th fat bike in the open category, 66th overall. Annoyed as I was feeling great until the mechanicals. Could have done with some tri-bars on the fatty for the beach section!

    Not sure if fat was the ‘right’ bike, but it probably allowed more riding than any other type of bike. The only climb which wasn’t possible was the ‘cliff’.

    terrahawk
    Free Member

    National fat bike champion!

    In my day the national fat bike champs were 12 hours long, and it rained. 😉

    (Well done btw)

    It seems the fattys were suffering from loads of punctures in the woods.

    This may seem a dull question, but can’t fatties run tubeless ?

    Results are up; http://www.battleonthebeach.co.uk/results/

    7th/26 Grand Veteran
    87th/225 overall
    With Man Flu on a Single Speed

    rusty90
    Free Member

    That was a memorable day! I’ve never ridden a race quite like that before; running walking up a sand dune with bike on my shoulder one minute, ploughing through knee-deep bog the next. Being lapped by George on his fatty was a humbling experience. Well done Matt Page for a superbly organised event.

    njee20
    Free Member

    National fat bike champion!

    5th on a fat bike, chapeau GB!

    stavromuller
    Free Member

    MTQG, according to Pat of Ison Distribution, yes you can run Fat Bikes tubeless but it takes a bit of ingenuity, so he’s the man to ask.

    gee
    Free Member

    Hi

    My fat bike tubeless guide…

    GB

    Decided to go tubeless on the fat bike tonight. I’d squirted some sealant in the tubes in the mean time, but as the tubes are so enormous the weight was considerable. Before I started the weight was 29.7lbs on the scales.

    I used 3 layers of gorilla tape on each wheel, then refitted the tube, inflated to 25psi to seat the beads, then very very carefully let all the air out, removed the tube keeping one bead seated (this took a couple of tries), the fitted the valve and 150ml of tubeless sponge (Nuts! I usually use 50ml). The technique which seemed to work best was to lay the wheel down with the loose bead facing down to force the tyre into the well of the rim under its own weight.

    Hanging the wheel like you do with a normal bike just didn’t work as the tyres are so heavy they pull down and open up a big gap between the rim and the tyre.

    I then used a gas canister to get it seated and finished off with a track pump. Seems to be holding air fine, was a little weird when I rode it round the road as the bead seemed to be leaking air under load – never had this before with tubeless so will leave it to seal overnight and see what happens.

    The weight was 27.9lbs on the same scales when I’d finished – happy days! It is really noticeable on the fat bike as that’s 1.8lbs off the wheel weight.

    IdleJon
    Full Member

    monkeyp, I think I passed you on the beach on the last lap. I did say hello but the wind probably took it away. (Green jersey on an old silver Kona Jake.)

    I also saw MTQG’s jersey a few time but not close enough to see the uber-niche bike.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the event and thought the finish summed it up. I went into the arena behind a fat bike who was following a full-sus 26er. We all sprinted…. Great fun.

    Big thanks to Matt and his helpers.

    Would anyone have changed the bikes they used? I would do it again on a cross bike but maybe with slightly wider tyres. (I had 32mm front, 35mm rear.)

    Gee, sounds like you need a Cheetah, commonly used for fitting truck tyres.

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81nqWwanDTg[/video]

    I wouldn’t change bikes, I reckon a 29er hardtail was ideal, and I don’t think I lost out too much riding single speed, but a set of aero bars would have helped on the beach.

    monkeyp
    Full Member

    MTG – been wondering the same myself. As I said above, the fatty allowed me to ride more than I would have on any of my other bikes, but I bet the biggest gains could be had on the parts where a fast bike with semi-slicks would excel.

    That said, it was fun tackling the soft sandy sections.

    taxi25
    Free Member

    Bit of a nightmare for me, crashed heavily on the first lap and had to retire with sore ribs 🙁
    But a great event, very interesting seeing all the different bikes racing together, and that no particular bike seemed to have an advantage over the full lap. Particularly impressed with how capable the fat bikes were. Not just with riders like gee on them, but with more normal people on board as well.

    tazzymtb
    Full Member

    ace event, the only things I would change are my legs, and maybe less beer before starting, last lap with beer burps was was fun.

    SS fat Back of the pack stylee

    IdleJon
    Full Member

    Battle on the Beach vid

    A friend of mine took this.

    singlecrack
    Free Member

    Taz makes a very good wind brake as well ….for 3km …lol.

    mooman
    Free Member

    29er HT would seem the bike of choice next year!

    That said. The race was won and lost on the beach section. If you could get in with a group who all worked together then you made good time .. if you were solo going across it, or if nobody wanted to help you, then you lost either big time or what was left in your legs.

    flashes
    Free Member

    Really good day. 197th overall, whoa woo……

    tazzymtb
    Full Member

    Singlecrack…I still think it most un sportsman like that you hid from the wind behind my substantial girth for the whole sodding beach ride..spinning your gearie legs and chuckling. ..I will get you back young man, just you wait..it’ll be dog poo on your bite valve or similar! 😀

    I’m crap at both photoshopping and memes, but I thought I’d have a go anyway

Viewing 35 posts - 1 through 35 (of 35 total)

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