News has broken that the Easter in the Alice stage race in Alice Springs will be part of a new Australian National Marathon MTB Series for 2015. After the Real Insurance XCM Series of 2014, there has been little talk of 2015 as of yet. The Maverick Marathon Series still has two of four events […]
Archives for August 2014
Huber and Süss win Swiss XCM Titles
On August 17th, 2014, the 17th Eiger Bike Challenge was set to determine the Swiss Marathon MTB Champions. The race has a traditional route, with a lot of climbing, and very steep descending. The route isn’t representative of the riding around Grindelwald, which hosts the event. The valleys are laced with trails, many of them […]
Eiger Bike Challenge to decide Swiss XCM Titles
Tomorrow, Sunday 17th August, some of the best marathon mountain bike racers in the world will line up to contest the Swiss National XCM Title. For 2014, the race is attached to the Eiger Bike marathon, racing 88km and climbing 3900m from Grindelwald, in the Bernese Oberland. The Swiss have a formidable reputation in cycling, but […]
Busting the Crocodile Trophy’s biggest myths
Over the years, like all the most challenging events in the world, the Crocodile Trophy has accumulated a lot of myths about it. It’s nothing but dry desert roads. You won’t get a shower. You might get bitten by a snake. At least two of these are myths. Now let’s bust some more. The Croc […]
Ben Thomas: Racing Mixed with Sally Bigham and the PRO experience
Last month Imogen Smith interviewed Sally Bigham (Topeak-Ergon Racing Team) about the announcement she had made via social media. She would be racing the 2014 Craft Bike Transalp as a mixed pair, but with no assistance from her male team mate. As Bigham pointed out, she wanted to ride over the Alps herself, as her […]
McNamara and Richardson lead Shimano MTB Series
Paris Basson and Brooke Rowlands won the last round of the GP4-hour Shimano Mountain Bike Grand Prix at The Australian Botanic Garden, Mt Annan. In the GP7-hour competition turned out to be a nail-biter: Canberra’s EdMcDonald persisted on the challenging track and won ahead of Quantum racers Michal Kafka and Ondrej Slezak. But it was Callum McNamara that […]
Sella Ronda… Zero
This blog was supposed to be a preview of the Sella Ronda Hero: the 2015 UCI World MTB Marathon Champs. On a perfect day, in perfect weather, I failed to ride around the course. So, here’s the story of what went wrong, and what’s right about that. When people find out that Mike and I […]
Racing the 2014 Transalp
In 2014, the Craft Bike Transalp ran over 7 days, from the centre of kitsch, Oberammagau, Germany, down to the favourite holiday location of Dutch and Germans alike – Riva del Garda, Italy. Two of our Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team were riding as a mixed pair, and although Naomi Hansen and Stu Spies didn’t have an ideal […]
Australian Mountain Bike Season ready for expansion
Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) has announced the details of the Subaru Australian Mountain Bike Series for 2014-2015 and 2015-2016. The series gives Australian riders the opportunity compete for the title of National Series Champion, as well as accruing UCI points toward international representation. Following on from the 2014 Series – which saw an was conducted […]
Grand Raid 25th Anniversary
The 25th anniversary edition of the Grand Raid, from Verbier – Grimentz, promises a unique show, thanks to a start list that holds many of the best in the world. In 2013 the victory escaped Christophe Sauser after a flat. What will happen this year, while the world champion admitted that the Grand Raid was […]