Stage 3 Stronie Slaskie to Bardo, 67 kilometres What happened? The race left Stronie Slaskie in beautiful weather and after a ‘neutral’ lap of this beautiful town, headed up, and up, and up, on a 13 km gravel climb, and into border country. The race then turned technical, inching through muddy singletrack made of roots […]
Archives for July 2014
Ucka UCI marathon – the sales pitch
Sometimes a report is all about the racing action – the struggle for the lead, the sprint finish, the mechanical and human dramas. But on this occasion I find myself wanting to write something of a sales pitch. This is a race that has it all – amazing scenery, post-race swimming in the sea, superb […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 2: Vuelta a Stronie Slaskie
Stage 2: Vuelta a Stronie Slaskie: What happened? After what felt like a brutal stage yesterday on Stage 1, today was a little friendlier, earning a ‘3’ for difficulty rather than the ‘4’ of yesterday (from a scale of 1-6). What this meant was that the climbs were a little less steep, the descents a […]
3 Ring Circus
They say practice makes perfect and I was hoping that last years ‘practice’ at the 3 Ring Circus would put me a step higher on the podium this time around so I could get the win! After getting back from Europe, I needed a break to unwind and rest up. With three weeks off and […]
Lavis rides away with the Circus
Across the weekend Wingello State Forest, in the Southern Highlands of NSW, turned on perfect winter weather and set the perfect stage for performers taking part in both the Night and Matinee 3 Ring Circus mountain bike races. The Night Performance (Saturday 26th) Over 100 riders blazed a trail of light in the forest for […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 1 – Touring Stronie Slaskie
Stage 1 – Tour de Stronie Slaskie What happened? After yesterday’s short, 15 km prologue, the real Sudety MTB Challenge started today, with a 65 km course that included 2423 metres of climbing. Starting in the beautiful park in central Stronie Slaskie, the course quickly turned off the main road and onto a steep climb […]
Sudety MTB Challenge: Prologue and ‘Pure MTB’
The Sudety MTB Challenge has begun, and for a race that promises to be ‘Pure MTB’ and an “Unusual event” plus being “an above average race” I’m surprised more people don’t know about it. Today the Prologue began in the afternoon, one that was forecast to be plagued with rain but in reality just had an […]
Preparation: Two Aussies get ready for Sudety MTB Challenge
Sudety Mountain Bike Challenge (tagline ‘no bullshit, no compromise’) starts with a prologue around Stronie Slaskie today. and Mike Blewitt and I will be racing it for Team Subaru-MarathonMTB.com in a mixed pair. Stronie Slaskie, in the picturesque Sudety mountains in Poland, is 16,000 kilometres from Sydney – so we thought it best to bring […]
Stage 7 Transalp 2014: 62.73km and 2325hm
The final day of a multiday race such as Transalp is never as easy as the guidebook depicts and our stage 7 was equally as tough as any of the 6 stages we had completed prior. On paper the stage looked simple… 62.7km with a mere 2300hm from Trento to Riva Del Garda… an uphill […]
Journeys through Bohemia
I think the beauty of mountain biking lies beyond the cool equipment, the buzz of railing singletrack, the euphoria of twisty alpine climbs, the relief of cleaning a section you always baulk at and even the perverse joy of having funny tan lines. For me, adventure and travel are at the heart of what I […]