I know a few others on here came along to this event too. It was a fantastic race (the weather helped) using some wonderful singletrack - and quite a bit of sand! On Saturday I rode part of the course on my 29er hardtail and my brand new (only arrived the day before) cyclocross. The cyclocross was definitely faster on the 3.5km beach section so I decided that I'd give that a go, even though I anticipated being slower through some of the singletrack.

Last night I finally exorcised most of Pembrey from my bike - even having to remove the seals from my 'sealed' wheel bearings to flush out the sand....

Still, it could have been worse:

" Ian Barrington, one of the favourites for the Fat Bike championship lost a crank arm on lap 1, but continued to ride the final 2 laps pedalling with just his right leg. "

I just hope Ian compensates by taking off his right crank arm and doing a few miles just with his left leg!

There is a ride report here: http://singletrackworld.com/2014/03/how ... the-beach/.

Next years race is on March 22nd and there is a new race in Pembrey later this year - a 6 hour relay race for teams of 2 or 4.

Richard

yeah yeah

Actually, that report makes it sound like I did two laps with one leg, which I didn't. I did the last quarter of lap one (~3km) with one crank, bolted it back on in the pits and went out again (also forgot to put my multitool in my pocket before the start. #lesson no.1 when going to a race with your kids - allow more time to do stuff, and make a list of the things you need so you don't forget them...)

Still, good race. All things considered, I did quite well with just one leg. I said to one bloke who came up behind me if he wanted to come through, and he said "no, you're alright, you're going quite quickly for someone with only one crank"

Anyway, the main delight of the race was the singletrack. I've been using the Puffin around the Beacons a lot lately, and as good as the Beacons are and capable the Puffin is on the rocky stuff, flat out woodsy singletrack isn't something we've got a lot of. Turns out the Puffin was vaguely exciting on the twisty stuff. The way you could chuck it into the turns and just grip grip grip meant you could carry lots of speed. There was a lovely off camber left hander over a crest where you could drift both wheels nicely too. Lots of fun. It was mildly annoying that geared riders would pass me on a flat bit and then hold me up on the twisty stuff, but I finally got a clean run at all the singletrack on my last lap and it was ace

33:18 was perhaps a bit light gear-wise, so perhaps 33:17 or 32:16 next year I think

Ian

p.s. taking the right crank arm off doesn't work...

p.p.s I was lucky with punctures too - the bike is sat in the garage with two completely flat tyres now...

I guess using SPDs is helpful if you lose a crank!