LET BATTLE COMMENCE

Once a year at low tide, a beach in South Wales plays host to a race unlike any other, where the only rule is: if you can ride it, you can race it

STU BOWERS

Jostling for position on a crowded beach is usually no fun. But this is different. There are no sun loungers or parasols, I’ve been slathering on chamois cream rather than suncream. That said, I’m rather wishing I had applied a bit of factor 30, but how was I to know that it would turn out to be so sunny on an April day in South Wales? I’m standing astride a Cannondale mountain bike tandem alongside nearly 1,000 other competitors at the start line of the 2019 Battle on the Beach. Almost everyone is in short sleeves and sunglasses, and the atmosphere is relaxed as people soak up the unseasonably warm weather. That won’t last. In a few minutes the starting horn will blast and this thousand-strong battalion will charge down…

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Cyclist Off Road (Digital) - 1 Issue, Autumn 2019

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