In a year where bike racing fell off the calendar due to a global pandemic it was amazing that the MTB circus was travelling to Turkey for the UCI MTB World Marathon Championships. It was only three weeks before that I finally committed to attend as I waited to see what travel restrictions would be […]
Archives for October 2020
2020 UCI XCM World Championships live coverage
The UCI Cross-Country Marathon (XCM) World Championships are Sakarya, Turkey. The course has 3 laps, and after mud at the test event – the sun is out! Start lists are available here. They’re smaller than the last few years, but top heavy with talent.
MarathonMTB Team Camp 2020 – down in Tasmania
With restrictions of movement and cancellation of events in 2020 race days for our team have been few and far between. Myself and Mike Blewitt were able to race and report from the Arabian Epic- Jordan in February. Following that the classic Otway Odyssey weekend in Victoria and MTBA XCO national championship were the last […]
BeMC Marathon – A yearly pilgrimage
My love affair with the Belgian Ardennes continues, it hasn’t always been a kind relationship, so many times this place has inspired and then demolished dreams. Each May we make our pilgrimage to the area to battle around these beautiful hills, it’s a trip I’ve been making for around six years for marathon races and […]
2021 Otway Odyssey returns to Apollo Bay
One of the best parts of marathon distance mountain bike racing is going somewhere. Anyone who wants to ride for a long time may get frustrated by going in loops, and maybe that’s why 24 Hour solo racers are a breed of their own! Some of the best mountain bike races are single loops, or […]
Snow Challenges Velo Vert Festival
The weather forecasters were right, the snow falls Friday night and as we stand on the start line of the latest UCI World Marathon Series race it’s a high probability that heavy snow will restart soon after the gun fires. We launch over the timing belt before slowing as our tyres crunch through the snowy […]