Beaches are normally the place for buckets and spades, Frisbees and footballs, but yesterday beautiful Pembrey Beach in west Wales was overtaken by 600 cyclists on a wide assortment of bikes, from massive fat bikes to cyclocross bikes, and a few tandems, in the second running of the howies Battle on the Beach.
The very unique race started on the beach, with the first of three laps featuring a long 10km section on the sand. The battery on my GoPro run out just as the course turned off the beach and headed into the sand dunes and woods that made up the majority of the course. Subsequent laps used a shorter, but no less punishing, section on the beach, making this one of the most unique cycle races I've ever done.
And also one of the most fun, exhilarating, exhausting, rewarding and entertaining events I've ever done.

11 thoughts on “Video: Racing the howies Battle on the Beach”
Brilliant event, brilliant
Brilliant event, brilliant day.
Interesting mix of hard to
Interesting mix of hard to full sus MTBs and cross bikes in there. I see not one fat biker made it past the first 30 seconds at the head of the peloton.
It was indeed epic. I have a
It was indeed epic. I have a sunburnt nose.
“Interesting mix of hard to
“Interesting mix of hard to full sus MTBs and cross bikes in there. I see not one fat biker made it past the first 30 seconds at the head of the peloton.”
Look more closely at the turn off from the beach on the ramp at what bike is in front of David…
where did you finish?
where did you finish?
Under the banner like
Under the banner like everyone else
I finished 21st in category,
I finished 21st in category, 33rd overall, quite chuffed with that, found the beach section hard work, quite a headwind even though it wasn’t really that windy, and unfortunately found myself with a bunch to shelter in on the third time up the beach
Strangely, I found the beach
Strangely, I found the beach a respite… Time to spin and breathe… Some of the loose sandy bits I found really draining….
Must reiterate though, epic day
May I ask which bikes came
May I ask which bikes came first? Was there a trend e.g. fat tyres first or XC bikes first?
Why the loathing for
Why the loathing for fatbikes? Compressed sand isn’t really the territory for fat tyres anyway – but if it was 6″ of soft sand, then it would be a different story.
I’m really missing looking
I’m really missing looking forward to the Battle…roll on 2016