The first weekend in September saw not one, but two rounds of the UCI marathon series – the Val di Fassa Bike and the O-Tour Bike Marathon; and it was the latter which both world champion Christoph Sauser and team Subaru-MarathonMTB.com chose to attend. It’s an 88km, 3,000m climbing race, taking in two loops out […]
Archives for September 2013
I remember now… Stu Spies at the O-Tour 2013
Funny thing this marathon racing, you spend a lot of time staring at your front wheel don’t you? Or the dirt in front of it, or your fork crown or your lock-out latch or someone else’s rear tyre, rear end, rear something. It can be a little, zombie, right? Basically you are putting out just […]
Tour de Timor 2013
The Tour de Timor started in 2009 and has been an annual event on the MTB stage racing calendar ever since, growing and improving every year into a successful international multi-day MTB stage race. 2013 was expected to be no different, however six weeks out from the start of the race, the race organisation was […]
Rocky Mountain presents their Staycation
If you’re prone to fits of jealousy, you might not want to watch this. The seasons have started their march towards winter for the northern hemisphere, but rather than head south, the Rocky Mountain team stayed put in British Columbia. As the video below shows, they had a blast. The accompanying grab from the press […]
Swiss Epic – the Stage Race we Need
Earlier this week, it was announced that Switzerland will finally have the MTB Stage Race to showcase the terrain that the country boasts. Switzerland’s new six-day mountain bike stage race from Verbier through Leukerbad and Grächen and ending in Zermatt will take place in 2014. This week’s test ride let the first riders experience the […]
Ben Thomas’ Blog: Manx End 2 End
It’s been a busy few weeks for Mountain Trax – Vauxhall Motors Cycling Team as preparations continue for our expansion in 2014. The email inbox is a hive of activity and important meetings are being organised. However there are still a few big races remaining this year including the two final European Marathon World Cups […]
XTERRA Czech and Germany : An Eastern European Adventure
While I was supposed to get ready and packed to jump on a plane back to Australia, I found myself fitting in training sessions whilst visiting friends and family in Holland. I was (easily) convinced by my fellow Xterra competitors to race two more races which were held back to back in East Germany and Czech […]
MBC: Wallace and Williamson win GC, Looney nabs a stage win
Cory Wallace sealed a convincing overall win at the 2013 Genco Mongolia Bike Challenge presented by Orbea with a third stage victory, as Catherine Williamson crossed the line wrapped the leader’s jersey she too has worn since the opening day of racing. Stage 7 on Saturday led riders through 86 kilometres with 1,400 metres of climbing as […]
Mongolia Bike Challenge: Handling the remote
It’s almost impossible to compare remote races against those in highly populated regions, or a cross country stage race which runs out of one town. It’s in the name; remote races aren’t near the regular amenities and services we would expect, which is part of what makes them such a unique experience. There are a […]
MBC: Batmunkh and Blewitt animate stage 6, but Zamora wins solo
Marcel Zamora (Buff-Niner) closed a dramatic day’s racing with a solo stage win on stage 6 of the 2013 Genco Mongolia Bike Challenge presented by Orbea on Friday. Zamora won after closing down a huge breakaway effort by Maral-erdene Batmunkh (Genco Tour Team) and Mike Blewitt (Subaru-MarathonMTB.com). The duo had escaped soon after the start of […]