Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, Australia, has long been known as a tourism destination. It’s on the map for grey nomads, backpackers, and 4WD enthusiasts alike. Plenty of Australian mountain bikers have known about it as well, thanks to the Central Australia Bike Challenge, that became the Red Centre Enduro and now the Ingkerreke […]
Archives for April 2014
Lasseters Easter in the Alice – Day One
The first day has come, been raced, and gone, for Lasseters Easter in the Alice. Saturday 19th April held some dread – split stages. With a 27km time trial in the morning, and then a 27km night race starting at 7pm, it makes for a long day. Recent rains in Alice Springs have made the […]
Tips for racing a mountain bike time trial
It’s pretty common these days for a mountain bike stage race, even a marathon stage race, to include a short TT leg, usually by way of a prologue. Mountain bike TTs give riders a chance to thrash out some of their nerves, and from a race director’s perspective are useful for sorting out seeding safely, […]
24 Hour Racing floods the Australian Spring
24 Hour racing has been changing in recent years. While the crowds might not be as huge as they were around 2004 and onwards, the events are no less relevant to mountain bikers in Australia. The events themselves have changed, and each one has it’s own character and purpose. Mountain Bike Australia has just announced […]
Giant Obsess of Eliza Kwan
If you are cross country inclined in Australia, the chances are you have grown up on lap based endurance races, or ‘Enduros’ in the form we originally knew them. Both Rocky Trail Entertainment and Chocolate Foot run some stellar race series around the ACT and NSW, and clubs and other promoters get into in other […]
2014 Roc Laissagais
“You’re going to do what? After the last couple of times? Are you sure?” Such was the comment of various riding mates upon hearing that I would be returning to the Roc Laissagais in 2014. 2012 – one week after the Cape Epic. It turns out that one week isn’t really long enough to recover […]
Wallace and Anset win Real XCM Round 3: Wombat 100
The Real Insurance XCM Series is not letting up, with Round 3 right on the back of Round 2 last weekend. Many of Australia’s Elite MTB races headed to Cammeray Waters, where the Wombat 100 is based. The race takes its name from Wombat State Forest, which is about 700 square kilometres size, about an […]
Shimano Unveil XTR M9000 – more gears, more options, more everything!
Shimano have chosen the Sea Otter Classic and the accompanying trade show to unveil the latest generation of XTR – M9000. Reportedly the most advanced XTR group set to date, the M9000 group has been completely redesigned – and offers riders more choice than Shimano have offered previously in gear range, actuation, ergonomics, chain ring […]
How to inflate tubeless tyres
Inflating tubeless tyres might not be straight forward if you don’t have a compressor at hand, or strong arms and a high volume track pump. Although some tyre and rim combinations seal up with ease, other compatible combinations prove to be difficult without a high, continuous flow of air. Thankfully, there are smart people out […]
Skills Coaching For Mountain Biking
Mountain bikers, or at least most male ones, are inveterate fettlers. Always tweaking a bit of bike set-up, getting excited about a new piece of kit, or boring everyone stupid about tyre or shock pressures. And even those that don’t do this probably spend considerable amounts of money on servicing for their bikes. And those […]