Video: Ben Cathro's British National DH Championships Race Diary

Sep 30, 2021 at 15:00
by Pinkbike Originals  



Before taking on the back half of the World Cup DH season, Ben Cathro set his eyes on the British National DH Championships. Join Ben as he goes through his race weekend including how he gauges how much to practice, how much to rest, and when to give it the beans.


We'd like to extend a huge thank you to WHOOP who supported this project.

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Member since Feb 15, 2012
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34 Comments
  • 56 1
 A bit disappointing to see whoop being pushed so heavily in this vid, this more closely resembles a whoop ad than a video sponsored by whoop. I guess this is PB under outside I suppose.
  • 13 0
 This is the future of PB unfortunately, but if BC is involved I’ll still click.
  • 13 0
 Yeah, in the walk the talk last year he was perfect: he just thanked the sponsors and asked us to support them, especially in the last couple when Ben was support for Edmonson and Micyla (spelling?). That was very cool of the series sponsors to allow other bikes/brands on it. That's the sort of no bs marketing that works on me. This video, in contrast is pretty cringe worthy... But, if Cathro has to make a half edit half infomercial occasionally to get to the races, I think we can give him a pass.
  • 26 0
 Garth Algar: [dressed head-to-toe in Reebok sportswear] "It's like people only do things because they get paid. And that's just really sad."
  • 4 0
 @SATN-XC: underrated comment!
  • 4 0
 I have this trick of gauging strain by how I feel…it’s my internally-sponsored physiology you see, and it gives me this amazing feedback like tiredness, freshness, soreness, thirst, fatigue, desire…If I desire two coffees instead of my usual one this is a high-strain warning.
  • 1 0
 Yup, it's a subtle promotion push for whoop...wonder if he got paid by whoop...it was interesting but not what I expected.
  • 3 0
 @SATN-XC: party on Wayne
  • 16 0
 I’m a massive fan of Ben and want to be supportive of anything that can help him make an income and keep making great biking videos. He’s the best in the business.
This perhaps went slightly too far down the marketing route vs his normal stuff. I’d perhaps suggest something like mentioning a product only twice per video and for no more than a minute in total. Wind it back a touch and you’ll get the best of both worlds. Keep doing your thing brother!
  • 2 0
 +1
  • 11 2
 "and how deep I dick"
  • 21 0
 This comment was brought to you by the WHOOP strap(on).
  • 4 0
 Very good.
  • 4 0
 If this was an advert it's a pretty poor advert.

Ben needs to sleep for 10 hours after a few runs of a Dh track to recover to 100% and he raced at around 50%.
If he followed the device for good prep then he would have raced closer to 100%. Surely his experience over the months leading up to the race would have shown this.
It's one of the big issues with a device that has no inbuilt UI.
Ita significantly cheaper to manufacture something without a display as well as using less power from the battery.
  • 5 0
 Noooo, Ben, no. I sleep as much as I can, 1 baby, wife, work, pinkbike, training, beers, that watch will say I have to sleep like 17 hours, you tell me when
  • 5 0
 To be fair cathro has been a big fan of whoop since he started out on this. It may be an ad but it’s also interesting to hear how it works for him.
  • 6 0
 Always strain before a race , push out a big one & lose a lb of sprung weight.
  • 3 2
 yep....very product based...but then I stop and think....do I get enough sleep prior to events...no...almost never. I intend to. But then I don't. I for one need reminding...and I can take nagging from a well-designed app. This promo made me think....always nice to hear Cathro anyway...but it made me think about eating better, resting better, balancing things better...and that's good.
  • 1 0
 I know that there is a need to pay for the content in some form or another, but there was a massive amount of that video just about the Whoop product. And there was nothing that I saw on the thumbnail that would have made you think that either. Whoop are pushing hard across a lot of different athletes at the moment, that I am seeing at least, might just be a part of that, I hope that BC is not forced into a changing his content to such a commercialized format going forward.
  • 1 0
 what a loud of rubbish, yes it was hot, but when the hell do you do on a Saturday night at a race your in a field . racing finished at 5ish walk the track again, eat, sort you bike Saturday night not in morning and still be in bed by 8-9 common sense you don't need a app to tell you that i was there it was hot i was knackered Saturday i done 10 runs so i made sure i got 10 hours sleep and won the next day its simple race sense
  • 3 0
 Even though it’s a whoop strap advert, was still a compelling watch.
  • 3 0
 Less whooping, more cycling faster.
  • 1 0
 I sleep like shit before races (too much nervous energy), which I have now come to realize is the reason I'm slow. Yeah...let's go with that!
  • 2 0
 Great tips on some fast pro-lines. Just a shame practice finished over 2 months ago.
  • 1 0
 Don't let the algorithms psych you out. They are good to keep you on track but they can play with your confidence. I really liked that Mood WEARETHEGOOD track. Thanks
  • 2 0
 If a device told me that in order to have a good ride I had to get x hours of sleep I would get x-x+3 hours of sleep.
  • 2 0
 self supported race + filming .. hats off to BC
  • 1 0
 Props to Cathro but otherwise that is gratuitous product placement Gash-tro.
  • 1 0
 I enjoyed it, advert or not. Great drone footage, good content and liked the music. Keep up the good work sir.
  • 1 1
 Thank you ! Whoop for your great products and for supporting our lad, Ben !
  • 1 0
 managed about 2mins of that infomercial.
  • 1 0
 cool commercial
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