Merida 100 MTB Marathon Series - next one in Ruthin on 17 September
NPS National MTB Marathon Series - Various dates
Roc D’Azur MTB Festival- France, Oct 2006
UCI International MTB Marathon Series – Various Dates

The final Beastway series is now over – London Phoenix marshalled the first race on 24 May in appalling weather conditions and participated en masse in subsequent rounds with four prizewinners and two podium places. Riders in the picture above, from left to right: Liz, Abi, Douglas, Jane, Dan, David, Paul, Charlie, Jason and Nick. Chris also raced, and then disappeared to sort out the results. Thanks to John at Beastway for the picture. See Beastway site for more race pics and results.

Beastway Mountain Bike Series – Wednesday evenings May 24th until July 28th
Merida 100 MTB Marathon Series - Various dates
NPS National MTB Marathon Series - Various dates
Roc D’Azur MTB Festival- France, Oct 2006
UCI International MTB Marathon Series – Various Dates

Beastway Mountain Bike Series – Wednesday evenings May 24th until July 28th
Merida 100 MTB Marathon Series - Various dates
NPS National MTB Marathon Series - Various dates
Roc D’Azur MTB Festival- France, Oct 2006
UCI International MTB Marathon Series – Various Dates

London Phoenix fielded two 24-hour teams at the inaugural Bontrager Twentyfour12 event at Lodgewood Park. The course started off dry, dusty, rooty and technical – Keith B himself assured all the riders we would be getting a great MTB experience, then led the field on a rolling start in the blistering midday sun.

David had the misfortune to break a chain on the first lap (how many times this month is that?) but with that incident aside the boys – Nick, Dan, Jason & David – were soon racking up impressive lap times.

The girls had technically won as soon as each of us completed the course – are there really no other women out there who wanted to take on this challenge? Still, even without real competition to spur us on we were ahead of the (only) 12-hour women’s team before night fell.

Then came the rain. All that dust turned into a thick slick layer on top of slippery mud, and virtually all the riders unlucky enough to be out on the course that lap became walkers and bike pushers. And oh what joy to return to the camp site to find the water pressure had been lost and there were no showers to be had.

Still, laps had to be ridden and expensive new lights had to be used in anger. The men’s team rode through the night, and the women only took a short break. Pasta was boiled; curry and fish and chips were ordered; malt loaf was devoured.

The course dried out over the course of the morning, producing some searingly fast lap times. On the final lap Dan even produced a sprint finish.

With 3/4 of the women’s team proud to own Gary Fisher bikes we were thrilled to meet the man himself at the finish. And our photos should feature in a Paul Smith exhibition in Tokyo some time next year, in all our stripey-shirted glory.

Chloe, Abi, Kelly & Liz somehow rustled up four LP shirts that weren’t covered in mud for the podium presentation – and everyone present made vows to do more night riding and 24-hour events henceforth.