This year, privateer cyclist Tom went to defend his title In the Battle on the beach gravel race. Tom breaks down the experience, the race, his fuelling and how he managed to beat hundreds of others to the finish line.
Battle on the Beach just might be one of the craziest races in the UK...
Each year sees over 1,000 taking to the start line to navigate an approximate 45km route around Pembrey Country Park. The race itself starts right on the edge of the beach before following the sea line for 5km before the race then darts back into the sand dunes to take on a mixture of wide open gravel tracks and tight, single track sandy tracks.
Going into such a race as defending champion is always a strange feeling. It gives you a sense of confidence on one hand but on the other pressure so being able to balance those two emotions is key. What’s unique about this race too is the course, each year it’s a little different and this is often down to the weather conditions. Last year it was wet, windy and extremely slippery whereas this year was the complete opposite and meant for some much tighter racing.
For such an event your form is going to play a big part but an even more deciding factor I would say is the equipment you are using and your nutrition strategy. Without the correct fuel all the training and preparation for such an event can be pointless and for me personally it is an aspect I think most athletes don't think about enough. For example, from what I could see I was the only one in my group who was taking on energy gels throughout the race and in fact I didn’t just take one but three.
Watch now
To give you an insight into how I won it I filmed it all for you, everything from the equipment I used to my in race tactics with plenty of in race footage I captured on my Insta360.
So how did I fuel?
If you’ve not fuelled correctly the days leading up to the race then you’re already playing catch up and for me personally there are a few things I like to do. Them being increasing my carbohydrate intake and reducing the amount of fibre I’m consuming.
The morning of the race I then always opt for a tried and tested breakfast option in the form of the Veloforte Smooth Cocoa Complete Overnight Oats. These are a staple of mine and I love how simple they are to take away on a race weekend and the fact they don’t require a fridge is game changing. They provide a perfect mix of carbs to protein that I find really helps to level out my energy levels in the hours before the race. I always tend to aim to have these around 4 hours before the start of the race.
As the start time nears I will then just graze on a Veloforte Energy Bars, in particular either the Classico or Ciocco and I typically have this around 2 hours pre race. From this point onwards I will then just continue to stay hydrated and sip on a bottle of Solo electrolytes pre race, then during the race I will opt for a bottle of Passo electrolytes. If you’ve not yet tried then you’re missing out!
With 15 minutes to go I will then have a caffeine gel in the form of Doppio, again this is my tried and tested favourite flavour pre race so it’s what I use! As the race was held over 3 laps, fuelling was pretty easy.
I just sipped on my electrolytes across the duration of the race and then had an energy gel every lap. On the second I had another caffeine gel in the form of Desto to really awaken my senses and help keep me alert of any attacks before I chose a Tempo energy gel as we turned onto our final lap.
At the end I was then greeted by a Nova protein shake which I managed to have inside the magic 20 minute window post race. The Veloforte recovery shakes provide the optimum ratio of carbs to protein and also electrolytes and since implanting them into my recovery routine I’ve certainly noticed a big difference to how quickly I’m able to recover.
Primo - Natural Energy Gel
Fresco Energy Chews
Amaro Energy Chews with Caffeine
Now for how the race played out
With 1,000 riders all starting at once you never know how the race is going to play out, especially as the first 5km is essentially a drag race along the beach, fighting for wheels and to be the first into the single track exit off of the beach.
This year the beach section was a headwind so meant things were a little more controlled as no one wanted to burn their matches too early on. In fact so much so I put in an attack off of the front in an attempt to go solo. A risky move I know, but I actually got a gap as no one really knew what to do but sadly I think I was a little too much of a target and so was quickly reeled back in.
One or two other riders did manage to slip up the road but I was more focused on the whole shot off of the beach. We in fact approached the exit of the beach so fast we swallowed up the two riders out front within a handful of seconds and with the single track nearing the pace was really on. I knew I just had to keep my cool and not do anything silly, surf the wheels and just try to keep myself as far to the front of the race as possible.
Something I was pretty successful at and which proved decisive as when we hit the first single track the race exploded. With a series of fast flowing corners we soon hit the arena and hit the beach once again to start lap two. This time there were no more than 1,000 people behind me but more like 50.
With this year’s field being one of the strongest yet, with many past winners and beach racing specialists the next 15 minutes were incredibly tactical. No one dared attack off the front but no one wanted to take on control, in fact it got to the point it was getting so cagey a lot of riders who had been dropped were soon catching us back up.
To this I didn’t mind too much, these catching back up had obviously worked a lot harder than our group who were just pulling short, easy turns through and off and I knew I just had to worry about the next single track section. This proved to play out perfectly because as soon as we hit the single track through the sand dunes once again the pace really got pushed on.
There were two beach specialists in particular who had come over from Europe who were the key players in this pace change and it turns out I was the only one who could follow. Trying my best to surf the soft sand I held their wheels and successfully hung on until we hit the beach again.
From over 1,000 riders to just three.
The final time up the beach certainly was the hardest, with just the three of us and neither of us wanting to over commit we ended up doing pretty short stints on the front before the next rider took on the wind. We did this for the whole 5km up the beach so it didn’t require too much brain power and instead my mind focused on how I could win this.
The final lap saw us take on the most technical route back to the finish with plenty of single track and a few technical sandy climbs to navigate so I knew I had to be at the front. But which section should I go on? It’s always a tough one to work out, commit too early and If the others can follow they will just sit on your wheel and get a free ride. It turns out I didn’t have to wait too long as we hit quite a muddy patch (we were in Wales after all) and I used that to my advantage and put the power down, soon opening up a small gap.
The elastic never really snapped but I managed to open up a 10 to 15 second gap and every time I turned to check it was about the same. Don’t crash was the only thing I was concerned about as one silly mistake and it could have all been over.
Luckily I managed to safely navigate my way through the twists and turns back to the arena to successfully defend my title.