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.