brecon beast

welshkev

anyone else doing it? i've never done it before and have entered the 60km route :shock:

mikeyj28

When is it? I am up for this.
I have never done it before but by all accounts it is supposed to be harder than the CRC Builth Wells Marathon.

welshkev

9th sept mate, 60km or 110km i think :shock:

welshkev

it's getting closer now, anyone else entered?

miss notax

Looks interesting.... I'm up for this - will try and convince Notax

camerauk

Have entered the 60km as well
not sure what to expect as never done it before hope the weather drys up

welshkev

I'm out of doing it. A broken bike for 2 weeks combined with a bad chest have really wiped me out and there's no way I'm fit enough to do the 60km. A bit gutted really :-(

camerauk

Sorry to hear that
I am not sure what to expect but should be a good day out I may do the long loop if I reach the cut off point in time and I'm feeling ok but will probably be the shorter 60km lol
weather is meant to be good as well

welshkev

yeah weather looks like it'll be great. i'm gutted but i've still got a bad chest and on climbs i'm just dead as i can't suck in enough air

a mate of mine said you can't do the long one if you've only registered for the short one - not sure if that's true or not though. :?

good luck anyway though mate, apparently there's a lot of fireroad climbs, one long rocky, steep climb and some rocky descents. my mate who's done it before says it's easy, but 40km to him is a normal 'short' ride

camerauk

ok thanks for the heads
I know how you feel about the climbs and getting air in when your not well
Maybe see you there next year
will let you know how I get on

camerauk

Well I tamed the Beast yesterday it was a great day out weather stayed kind as well which was a bonus

I did not think I would make the start, as Thursday evening my back went
but after a trip to the chiropractors on Friday morning and a few painkillers Sat it eased up

I started doing the long route which was meant to be 82km but problems with a sign at the last checkpoint/Split after 54km said 60/100km routes, so I decided that I did not have another 45km in my legs so opted to go back on the shorter route only to find out later the sign should have read 60/82km they had used a sign from a previous years route :evil:

So I ended up doing 75km feeling a bit cheated as I could have done another 8km easily oh well next year.

The Gap was just one of the highlights of the day, the climb up to the top was steady and a bit of a grind but the decent down was awesome, arms and legs were screaming at the bottom and it certainly game my back a workout

I will certainly be back to tackle the Beast again next year

welshkev

glad to hear you enjoyed it mate, i'm gutted i missed it

the lad who i mentioned has done it before and said it was easy snapped his mech hanger about 20km in so he didn't finish either!

camerauk

Thats a shame there were some nasty rocks etc around just waiting to take off a hanger etc

I am glad I did it and got to the end, I will be back again next year to do it again

Welsh_Farmer

BUMP

so who is signed up for this year. Me and a group of lads from around here will be going along. Can't wait.

camerauk

I have signed up again going for the long route this year
I really enjoyed it last year some steep climbs but great fun
Hoping to beat my time from last year
Sure you will enjoy it

YeehaaMcgee

Welsh_Farmer wrote:

BUMP

so who is signed up for this year. Me and a group of lads from around here will be going along. Can't wait.

Me and a few others are supposed to be doing it this year. Going to use it as a kind of warm up for the Coed y Brenin enduro.

Psychotext

Is this likely to be particularly technical? My nephew showed some interest in it but he's not really up to doing red grade descents yet (anything massively rocky he'll get off and walk).

YeehaaMcgee

Well, it's an 80k mountain bike enduro. Draw your own conclusions.

Welsh_Farmer

Having ridden most of it in sections I would say it is not overly technical. Long, yes, but most of the distance is on fireroads or country lanes. Lots of the offroad is on grassy tracks and the odd rocky descents have been improved over the years I have known them so that they have lost their sting.

Psychotext

Cheers. Fitness isn't a problem (we've done 80+ miles before) but he's still lacking confidence on the sketchier descents.

welshkev

Psychotext wrote:

Cheers. Fitness isn't a problem (we've done 80+ miles before) but he's still lacking confidence on the sketchier descents.

they change the route slightly most years. if they go over the gap again he'll be walking, a lot!!

YeehaaMcgee

Going to have to pull out of this one, sadly. Broken hands and long distance MTBing aren't a good mix!

mikeyj28

So it is fair to say that most of the course is either Tarmac, fire roads or grass? I was of the undstanding that there are a lot of rocky sections on the course? Also how hilly is it?-endless hard grinding climbs or more gentle ones?
Would a giant anthem be up to it on the course?
Signed up for this year and will give it a go but have no idea as tithe course.

camerauk

Here is a very good writeup I found from last years ride to give you and idea of what to expect

http://www.mtbe.co.uk/the-brecon-beast- ... 28649.html

camerauk

So how did everyone get on?
I enjoyed it although I had a really bad back from about 10km in so changed to the short course finished in just over 4 hours
I did find there was a fair bit of road this year which was a shame