The opening round of the Finish Line Singletrack Mind Series has been widely heralded as a fantastic success. The planets aligned with perfect weather, a sublime course and a high quality field including the current Solo 24 Hour MTB World Champion Jason English. Round 1 would also unveil plenty of new initiatives for the 2014 […]
Archives for May 2014
Biking the Rock
Germany Capital: Berlin Dialling code: +49 Currency: Euro Longest word: Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft… It is also the home of Heubach and the Bike the Rock race. One thing I admire about road cycling is the heritage that the big races have. To do a race and think that Eddy Merckx cycled on the same road many years […]
2014 Craft BIKE Transalp powered by Sigma
With only two months remaining until the start of the 2014 Craft Bike Transalp powered by Sigma I though it time to start reviewing the 2014 course. This will be my third Transalp and I am pumped to be racing alongside team mate Stu Spies, a prominent member of our UK faction. Stu is currently […]
Riding Australia’s Red Heart – ICME Stage 1
Bearing in mind that a lot of MarathonMTB.com readers are from all around the world, and that many Australians don’t know where Alice Springs is anyway, I thought I’d start this series of blogs about Alice Spring’s biggest MTB event with this fascinating geography primer. Skip ahead a few paragraphs if you just want the […]
Syntace W30 wheelset and finishing kit review
Syntace W30 wheels The wheels are stiff, with very smooth-running bearings, and a lovely, almost Hope-matching freewheel buzz. 30mm (external) rims mean WIDE. So tyres come up with a bit more volume than they would otherwise. The wheels took a few hits through the week, particularly on my bad-stomach day when all energy and technical […]
Racers in Alice Springs set for ICME MTB Stage Race
There are a few ways you might spot that there are mountain bikers in town for a stage race. Bananas sell out at the supermarket. There’s a lot of window shopping at the local Thai restaurants. And there are lots more people riding around with shopping bags… Alice Springs is being taken over by mountain bikers […]
Shimano XTR M9000 for Julien Absalon
Pictures have emerged of the Shimano XTR M9000, out of France, on multiple Everything champion – Julien Absalon. While in Cairns for the 2nd round of the XCO World Cup, Absalon was running a 1 x 10 setup, using current generation XTR. Clearly, some of the product is making production. The photos do show the […]
Reviewed: Open 1.0 – Cape Epic Build
Related Event: ABSA Cape Epic
Bikes of the 2014 Absa Cape Epic – Open 1.0 There were six Opens in the race – two on Team Open-Rotor-Asterion, and four on the two Assos teams. Here is the bike of Subaru-MarathonMTB.com’s Will Hayter (guesting for the Open-Rotor-Asterion team) in its Cape Epic guise. Six Opens is probably more than you’ll generally […]
Confessions of a secret roadie… Eat, sleep, bike. Repeat.
I am quite literally in the vortex, the road racing season has kicked off, the crit season is well and truly underway, time trials are looming and there is that small issue that I race for a MTB team which has universally raised the bar and will be expecting some solid results this year. In […]
Dirty Gran Fondo 2014: It’s not a race! Or is it?
Of course it is a race! But nothing like any other enduro race out there! The Dirty Gran Fondo is one of the most unique concepts on the enduro mountain bike calendar, a race for the masses. It’s an epic journey through the lush forrest of Mt Disappointment where riders choose what bike and distance […]