Entered My First Gravel Race........with the Frey Beast

[juggernaut1]

I'd love to ride a Beast for a day... but in reality that's probably too much bike for my aging ol' ass and the standard version really leaves me wanting not. I have a spare motor so I've contemplated building a lighter weight off road rocket... but then reason convinces me that those days are probably better off left in the past.

And that also illustrates the difference between Ultra owners and those with less. We go up 20 degree grades all day long like a walk in the park, barely worth mentioning and they document and post about it like it was a lunar mission.

You probably wouldn't like the Beast after just a day. I have 2 ebikes and it takes a little time adjusting to each after riding the other. The Beast is heavier, more gears to row through and slower rolling tyres compared to my lighter more nimble Earth T-Rex with fast rolling tyres.

The Beast is so comfy to ride though with the dual suspension setup and Schwalbe soft radial tyres. The weight is also an advantage on the long fast downhill gravel sections, where it feels planted compared to the lighter bikes which appear more skittish.

Up to 20 degrees up hill on pea gravel with over 400 competitors is also an interesting exercise! In the earlier stages of the race when the field is bunched up you are constantly blocked by other riders so you can't necessarily get a constant run on the inclines, having to backoff and reposition for a gap. Quite often I had to leave the tyre tracks and ride on the outside edges to get around groups of riders. Some of the gravel sections are also private farm tracks so they are not necessarily well maintained, with potholes and corrigations an added bonus!

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Congrats on your first race! I should try it sometime — if for no other reason, just to practice shrugging off humiliation.
;^}

...the reality is I ride on eco pas 1 everywhere regardless of wind, terrain, or elevation.

If you've tried other ways to use assist, and you keep coming back to lowest assist in all these situations, that's entirely your call. As long as we ride responsibly, we should feel free to ride any way we want.

"Lowest possible assist at all times" was my default with my 1st ebike. Given our hilly terrain, it was good preparation for the less powerful but lighter ebike I ride on those hills now.

From memory the peak climb was 20 degrees.

Could it have been 20 percent? That's already very steep. A 20 degree slope has a 36% gradient.

 

[juggernaut1]

Congrats on your first race! I should try it sometime — if for no other reason, just to practice shrugging off humiliation.
;^}



If you've tried other ways to use assist, and you keep coming back to lowest assist in all these situations, that's entirely your call. As long as we ride responsibly, we should feel free to ride any way we want.

"Lowest possible assist at all times" was my default with my 1st ebike. Given our hilly terrain, it was good preparation for the less powerful but lighter ebike I ride on those hills now.



Could it have been 20 percent? That's already very steep. A 20 degree slope has a 36% gradient.

I ride both of my ebikes on the lowerst PAS. I guess I just turn them on and go riding! Good prep for comps.

You may be correct re the elevation gain - my apologies. For instance one of the climbs was 8.8% average over 1.8 km's. So 20% sounds more feasible. I don't remember lifting the front tyre of the ground so it can't of been that steep

 

[Stefan Mikes]

I entered in the 90klm race with 2025 vertical metres of climbing

Curious: what was your gross ride time on the race?

 

[juggernaut1]

Curious: what was your gross ride time on the race?

Total time was 4.06.20 including stopping to refill water bottles, etc per the official timing.

Moving time was 3.58.33 per my garmin.

 

[Gionnirocket]

If I did the math correctly.. That's a nice pace with all that climbing. Especially if you have obstacles and other riders to contend with.

I'll add one more to the Q & A
Do you happen to know the max power output in Eco 1?
For example my PAS 1 is set to max out at 1.5a or approximately 72 watts nominally. But you really need to be on the pedals hard to see that and I mostly see an amp (48w nominal) in most situations
PAS 2 bumps the numbers to 3A/144 watts but again most situations 2a/96 watts

 

[juggernaut1]

If I did the math correctly.. That's a nice pace with all that climbing. Especially if you have obstacles and other riders to contend with.

I'll add one more to the Q & A
Do you happen to know the max power output in Eco 1?
For example my PAS 1 is set to max out at 1.5a or approximately 72 watts nominally. But you really need to be on the pedals hard to see that and I mostly see an amp (48w nominal) in most situations
PAS 2 bumps the numbers to 3A/144 watts but again most situations 2a/96 watts

Thanks - per the official timing I managed to overtake 150 competitors by the 20.1 km mark. But fell back 23 places by the finish line. Probably due to my stopping time at the circa 40 km mark.

I have no idea regarding PAS levels. I might email Frey for this info.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Thanks - per the official timing I managed to overtake 150 competitors by the 20.1 km mark. But fell back 23 places by the finish line. Probably due to my stopping time at the circa 40 km mark.

I have no idea regarding PAS levels. I might email Frey for this info.

Can't you see the power on the display?
I assumed it came with the Ultra default DPC18 display

edit
Quick Google says that you probably have the third party APT 750c which is a nice one. I have their 860c.

If you do.. you should see real time power usage.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

...It actually reminded me of a good read I had on tensela.tech the other day about e-bike battery maintenance, it really hits home how treating your battery right isn't just about the tech...

nice try.

 

[juggernaut1]

Man, reading this gave me actual goosebumps. Winning the e-bike category and placing 114th outright? That is just badass. But honestly, what really got me was the part about the leg cramps. I know that exact, soul-crushing moment at the water station when your legs turn to wet cement and you wonder, "Why do I do this to myself?" We’ve all been there, doing that awkward, stiff-legged hobble back to the bike while trying to pretend everything is fine. You pushed through pure misery to get that win, and that makes it so much sweeter.

I also love that you dropped your friend by an hour (though I'm sure he's already plotting his revenge, and honestly, that's the best part of racing with a buddy!). But what really struck a chord with me was your battery management. Finishing with 20% left after 2,000m of climbing on a heavy gravity-casing setup is masterful. It takes serious mental grit to stay in Eco 1 when others are flying past you. It actually reminded me of a good read I had on tensela.tech the other day about e-bike battery maintenance, it really hits home how treating your battery right isn't just about the tech, it's about the rider's discipline. You and the Beast were totally in sync out there.

Thanks for the comments. I do struggle when I stop during a longish casual ride and get back on the bike. Next time I'm going to carry enough water for the event so I dont have to stop. I kept the battery management as best I could because I wasn't sure if the Beast would cut out once it dropped down to a certain voltage as I have never run it below 40%. I also wasn't sure how good the battery health was as the bike is nearly three years old, so I'm sure it lost some capacity over that time.

Yes my friend has already started looking at range extenders for his Amflow. He has been in a few races and has been the only Amflow ebike. He said everyone else is using ebikes with range extenders. Also under the racing rules ebikes are not allowed to carry another battery, or have another battery at a food/water zone, that can be swapped in. So to be at the pointy end you need decent battery capacity. Some races also have various distances but limit ebikes to the lower distances. Regardless of the distance, having more capacity is always going to be of benefit as you can use a higher assistance level.

 

[juggernaut1]

Can't you see the power on the display?
I assumed it came with the Ultra default DPC18 display

edit
Quick Google says that you probably have the third party APT 750c which is a nice one. I have their 860c.

If you do.. you should see real time power usage.
View attachment 210892

My bike has the DPC18 display. Yes it does show watts but it is fairly crude from what I can tell and from memory also includes leg power?

 

[Gionnirocket]

My bike has the DPC18 display. Yes it does show watts but it is fairly crude from what I can tell and from memory also includes leg power?

No I don't think it includes leg power... But that's easy enough to test. Just ride in PAS 0 and see if there's any reading. None of the displays I've used include leg power.
What do you mean crude?
I didn't use the DPC-18 for long but the readout is very similar to the APT displays. At times there may be a bit of lag in updating but the numbers seem to be accurate.

 

[fexixav]

A friend of mine mentioned he was participating in his first gravel race with his Amflow Pro. I had a look at the courses which varied in distance - 25klm, 49klm, 90klm and 125klm.

I entered in the 90klm race with 2025 vertical metres of climbing as I thought this would give the greatest personal challenge and really test out the Frey Beast. This also happend to be the same race my friend entered with his Amflow.

I only had a few days to prepare for the race and strapped on an additional bottle holder on the top tube and changed out the Magura rotors and pads for new ones. I left everything else as is.

The gravel race had over 2,000 competitors over the four distances and there were 436 cyclists in my race. The 125 klm race drew the largest contingent and included cyclists from all over Australia and some from other parts of the world. This race was also enable cyclists to qualify for the UCI world gravel championships which were being hosted at this location later in the year.

The 90 klm course also formed a majority of the 125 klm race. There were staggered starts for the various distances and ages. I was in the last group to leave, but were mixing with the 125 klm competitors further up the track.

Given I had never ridden the Beast 90 klm neverlone including 2025 of vm's I had no idea whether I or the battery would last the distance. I did the vast majority of the race in Eco 1 with Eco 2 used half way up a few climbs and Eco 3 with about 3 klm's to go. I crossed the line with 20% battery remaining! I was quite surprise how the big Bafang Ultra motor sipped away at the battery, even more so that I was running a tubed setup with the Schwalbe Radial Alberts Pro's in a gravity casing 27.5 x 2.6 (rear) and 29 x 2.6 (front).

Some of the downhill sections were quite fast and I reached rolling speeds approaching 55 klm/hr and was generally able to keep pace with the traditional gravel cyclists. I mainly lost ground on the straights and fast uphill sections against the faster traditional gravel cyclists who were riding in groups taking turns at the front, whereas I was riding solo and also checked https://www.yacinetvhub.com during my downtime. I was able to make up some ground on the steeper gravel climbs.

The race certainly took a toll on my body. At around the 42 klm mark I stopped to refill my water bottles and could hardly walk to the refill station then suffered a leg cramp when I got back on. All in all it was a great personal challenge, I also had a lot of fun and would look forward to competing again next year.

My only goal was to finish the race........but to my surprise I actually won the ebike category!!

I also finished 114th outright out of the 436 competitors, and 12th in my age group (55-59).

In case you were wondering, my friend with his Amflow finished over an hour behind me with 3% battery left.

That’s an amazing result! Finishing a 90 km gravel race with over 2,000 m of climbing is impressive on its own, but winning the e-bike category and placing 114th overall is a fantastic achievement. The Frey Beast clearly handled the challenge well, especially with 20% battery remaining after mostly using Eco mode. Great effort, and it sounds like a memorable race experience!