Oli Beckingsale Prepares for Games MTB

 

17th of February, 2006; Larry Hickmott talks to Oli Beckingsale

 

One of the riders I came across at the Perfs Pedal race last weekend was mountain bike cross country rider Oli Beckingsale. With it being winter here, there isn't a lot of racing about and Oli was at the Perfs to see how his form is. "I haven't put a number on for quite a while, so this will give me an indication of where the form is."

"I have started doing some structured work quite a lot earlier than normal and did a little bit of cyclo-cross as training. After this, I have a weekend off and then I go to Cyprus for a three day event and then a one day international before returning and spending a week at home. Then it's off to Australia twelve days before the race."

Talking about the preparation races in Cyprus, he says "the field is going to be good this year so I'll get a good workout there. I don't need lots of racing to prepare well but I need a little bit. To go okay, I need to be racing five or six weeks before. I have been doing some hard stuff in training but it's never the same as pinning a number on."

For the 2006 season, after a decade with Scott UK, Oli moved to the Giant Racing Team and it will be a Giant bike that he takes with him to Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games. "It's a hard tail type course, quite basic and fast. There is no real need for rear suspension so it's pretty much a standard carbon Giant hard tail. We had a team launch in Germany recently and I have had the bikes for a few weeks now. There are changes like we're on Shimano this year but its all good stuff and after a week on the road, you get used to it."

Asked to sum up how he expects the competition will be at the Games, Oli replied "its going to be tough. It's a small field but to do really good in it, there are nine or ten guys who are pretty fast. So you could have a good day and win or a bad day and come ninth. What with the Canadians, New Zealanders Australians and riders like Kashi Leuchs plus the other English guys like Liam (Killeen) who is one of the favourites for it, I hope to be in that mix."

After the race in Hampshire last weekend, Oli was a little disappointed at how the race panned out (he was 4th)  but was pleased with his form and is looking head now to the MTB cross country races in Cyprus.

 

Good luck to him and all the riders from the home nations in Australia.