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 – […]
On test: Camelbak Ultra 10 Vest
The world of marathon and stage racing has some unique demands on equipment, especially when weather, nutrition and self-sufficiency come into play. After Mike raved about the Camelbak Octane 10, it was time to find a large but light pack for myself. The Camelbak Ultra 10 is superlight at just 280g for the bag, and […]
Remembering why at The Willo
Everyone in the MTB community looks forward to The Willo. It’s a cool track, it’s close to home for lots of us, and it’s a chance to stop and remember a really, really great person. James Williamson was the guy at races who always had time to stop and say hi, and smile, and chat, […]
Imogen Smith’s Otway Odyssey recap
I’ve never done the Otway Odyssey – weird, because it’s one of Australia’s best-known races. There’s just always been some clash that’s kept me away in the past, so this year was my first go. A few aspects of the race sounded pretty interesting to me: It’s known for its longclimbs, crazy good singletrack, and […]
The Pioneer Stage five – Final stage brings a few surprises
Tired legs roll out of Bannockburn This morning we got up before dawn and munched through breakfast in the dark. It’s always unbelievable to me that, given my usual appetite, when we get into the depths of a stage race I find myself completely without interest in food, so that eating is stripped of any […]
The Pioneer Stage 4 – Mt Difficulty and other difficult climbs
Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Ok I’m definitely in my smallest gear, but how is that possible? I’ll just check again. Beep. Yep. Shit. Getting going again Today Mike and I started Stage four of The Pioneer with the goal of making it to the first feed zone, then reassessing things after our nightmare […]
Pioneer hits the Alex trails for the Queen Stage
Why is it that we only crash when things are great? All those awful, cold, wet grovels where you’d pay good money for a legitimate Out, nothing. Nothing goes wrong. Except maybe a flat tyre, but that’s fixable. Now when you’re ripping through trails, performing well, loving it – that’s when life deals you a […]
Pioneer Prologue-2018 event kicks off in challenging conditions
Related Event: The Pioneer
Cold. It was cold. We got up at 5:10am, which if you’ve just arrived from Australia feels a lot like 2:10am, and bolted some breakfast before heading for the first shuttle up to Coronet Peak, the ski station that towers above Queenstown and just happened to be under a whole lot of snow just a […]