Breck Epic. The race is rad. The courses are beyond fun. The vibe? Mid-90s mayhem. This is what the 6 day UCI Breck Epic in Colorado sells itself as and it delivers. The Breck Epic consists of 6 big back country loops that all start and finish within a mile of the bustling ski town of Breckenridge. […]
Archives for August 2019
The Pros and Cons of Training on a Home Trainer for MTB Racing
With winter in full swing in the Southern Hemisphere and the bitter months not far awaiting those in the North, the use of the home trainer for cycling activity normally does or starts to consume more of our cycling time. This can be daunting for some whilst others relish the opportunity to get their training […]
Racing the Appenninica MTB stage race
The Appenninica MTB stage race may be the new kid on the block, but it has all the ingredients to firmly establish itself in the European stage race calendar. The brainchild of Milena Bettocchi and Beppe Salerno, they bring their wealth of knowledge of running cycling holidays across the region of Emilia Romagna. Combining their […]
Course Records Blown Apart at The Redback 2019
Paul Van der Ploeg thumped the final right hand corner into the Mercure Hotel on Sunday morning in Alice Springs to claim his 5th stage win of the 2019 Redback and overall Redback Crown. And he smashed the course record by four minutes while he was at it—coming home in a tick over two hours. […]
Swiss Epic 2019 Stage 5
The final stage of the Swiss Epic, stage 5, took the race in full circle, back to Davos. Covering 64 kilometres and 2,350m of climbing, the stage promised no easy finale, with a number of challenging climbs. MarathonMTB.com’s day at the Swiss Epic With one day to go and over 6 minutes lead, Imogen and […]
Swiss Epic 2019 Stage 4
I know from experience that you can’t pack much more than 2,000m of climbing into 50km if you want to finish in the same place you start – so while today’s Swiss Epic stage looks mercifully short, it was bloody hard work, and that’s how it always stood out from the race route. Swiss Epic […]
Swiss Epic 2019 Stage 3
Every race has one, and today was the Swiss Epic’s Queen Stage. The most demanding, most emotional, hardest stage of the race. Today took in 80km and 2,200m of climbing, and while on paper this may look easier than other stages (think stage 1, with 3,000m climbing), the technicality of today’s trails, and the repeated, […]
Swiss Epic 2019 Stage 2
The Swiss Epic’s second stage presented us with a grand tour of St Moritz, the iconic ski town of luxury shops and private jets. So it was kindof a shame to see two hundred bikers tramp through reception in filthy gear yesterday and pretty much ruin the carpet at our lovely hotel, but nobody seemed […]
Swiss Epic 2019 Stage 1
Last time I came to the Swiss Epic was in 2015 and the event was based in the Valais region, with the route taking us from Verbier to Zermatt. This year, the fifth year of the race, the Swiss Epic roadshow has left the Valais region for the first time and headed to Graubuenden – […]
Ahead of the Swiss Epic 2019
I have often said that the day before a stage race can be as hard as a race itself. And even with planning, today was not without stress. The Swiss Epic starts tomorrow, and as I’m about to set off for some dinner in Davos, it seems like there has been little time to rest […]