Four stars

Battle on the Beach was to be the first XC length race I've done in about 9 months - the National Champs was my last one and that only lasted a couple of laps before I got a flat.  Mostly I've been doing marathons and just long rides; the marathons are so much better value for time than an XC race which is all over in 90 minutes.  The social side was great, and I will miss the long trips in Ben's van with a load of mates, but as I'm working away from home in the week now I needed to be around more at the weekends and be more judicious with my choices of event.  I'd have loved to do Dirty Reiver and the Dorset Gravel Dash again, but sadly both clashed with other events.  I'm not doing any XC racing this year at all, it's just too much effort for not enough enjoyment now the courses and races have got so short.  I'm off to a few UCI marathons - Tiliment Marathon Bike in Italy, Roc Ardennes in Belgium, MB Race in Combloux and Grand Raid in Switzerland.  I'll also be at Mayhem (number 17!).  Should be a good year!  I've also got a new team in Pivot Boompods; a great bunch of folks with a fantastically friendly approach to racing.  Not too serious, but just serious enough that the results still matter!

Part of deciding to step down from XC racing was saying thank you to all the sponsors who have helped me out over the past few years.  Particularly Paul Hore, Jackie at Beyond, everyone at Ison but especially Andy, big Pat, little Pat, Maz and Jordan, everyone at USE Exposure (Jon and Mark), Dave at Schwalbe, Small Batch Coffee, Squirt and more recently Rory, James, Paddy and co at Upgrade.  I've been so lucky over the years to get some amazing support from some truly remarkable people in this industry and I just hope that others get these opportunities in the future.

Onto the race then... as expected Battle on the Beach got even faster this year with some seriously big names at the front of the field.  As usual, I'd ridden 4hrs round Afan on the way over with Tim and Si - so wasn't exactly feeling super fresh on race day, but who cares when the weather is this amazing.  The pace at the start was nuts - I could just about hang on for half the Beach then I went bang and waited for the next group back.  We had a good group going for most of the race even if one rider was a bit too serious about everyone having a turn on the front (I did my bit!!).  Yet again, the course was superb - bone dry, really fast and flowy.  I still struggled getting on and off the beach in the deep sand and lost time here every lap - the fatbike may be making a comeback next year even if it is off-brand!  The finish was slightly different to the other laps so as to give a clear run-in; it went through he only boggy bit on the whole course towards the end and I decided it was better not to get covered in mud and relinquish 15th place (ooohhhh...) to some other guy who didn't mind riding through it.  I was happy to get back to the car a few seconds later, not covered in mud and with a nice clean bike.  Oh how things have changed.

It says a lot that there were about 900 entries for Battle on the Beach and only about 400 for the National XC the following weekend.  It's sad to see the XC numbers going down, but I really think the recent changes to course length (and hence enjoyment - especially at the hillier places like Margam where laps were once about 40 minutes) have taken their toll on numbers.  This was certainly the view of a few other people I chatted to over the weekend.  

Battle on the Beach is a truly unique event which is testament to the hard work of Matt, Nia and co - the atmosphere, organisation and the event itself are just brilliant.  No matter what state of fitness I'm in this time next year, I'll be there.

Why four stars?  I'd like to say it's my team mates in the photo at the top of this blog, but it's actually because I've done Battle on the Beach every year since it's inception, so Matt prints 4 stars on my numberboard.  It'll soon be five :)

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