By Ian Leitch

In a rare foray I decided to do a short race. The Beastway Series is London's only Mountain Bike Series and is a Wednesday evening one hour blast. Running for thirteen years under the direction of the "Structureless Tyranny" each week sees over one hundred riders nose to tail around parks and woodland. This year the venue has moved from the classic Eastway circuit once graced by Eddy Merckx as the London Olympics is taking over the site. The new venue a small country park and zoo - the lap a nine minute twisting loop around steep loose woodland laid out each week by a different shop, team or club. With just ten days before my first big 24 I was there for a bit of a leg tune up, get the lungs bursting. The start involved the usual cheers for the weeks sponsors and then it was go go go. I got a perfect start and hit the first climb leading the bunch. By the top I was rasping for air and took a look behind and to my surpise found myself with a nice gap. The singletrack was superb and having not sat on a road bike for three months my handling skills are in great shape. By the end of lap 1 I was well clear and by lap 3 I was negotiating lapped traffic. Over the next six I found myself smiling away as I took the win by about 3 minutes in an hour and two minutes. The new Deluxe titanium was superb - coupled with my first outing on Stans on my Industry Nine wheels it was silly light! This bodes well for Mountain Mayhem 24 - 150 solo riders are signed up and 10,000 spectators are expected at the World's biggest 24... can't wait.

Photos to follow.