The hub for marathon mountain biking
The Perskindol Swiss Epic has become a must-do mountain bike stage race in just a single year. The inaugural edition attracted riders from around the World and was instantly acclaimed as a must-do event. A combination of perfect organisation and challenging, technical terrain with huge alpine climbs and two race formats mean there is something […]
The Swiss Epic attracted some of the very best MTB racers in the World, from XC, to Marathon and Enduro in the first edition in 2014. While there were lots of very special bikes within the field, I caught up with the Topeak-Ergon team to capture Robert Mennen’s Lux CF 29. Robert was racing with Alban Lakata and […]
A week ago I arrived in Switzerland, meeting race partner Stu for the first time in the baggage reclaim. Having not ridden with Stu before I was a little apprehensive to say the least. While I wasn’t at the Swiss Epic for a “result”, I still wanted to push myself and do well and a […]
3 days done, that’s the halfway point and we are on the run in now… except when its 3 days with elevation profiles that look like sharks teeth! On paper it was only 61km to Grächen, but within that it contained 3000m of climbing. How is that even possible?! On a road bike back home […]
Stage 1. Queen stage. 95km, 3050m climbing. BOOM! That was one tough day in the saddle. Around the start line it was pretty surreal, lining up in the same starting box as the people I have been watching on TV for years – even as the race started I stuck with them until it got […]
Consider the standard of racing among the Swiss riders, who dominate top flight XC plus the number of well known Marathon events in the country, including the Grand Raid, and it is very surprising that there has not been a major MTB Stage Race in Switzerland before. Today, as riders from around the World came […]
On Saturday October 4th, howies and A Cycling are putting on a brand new coastal cycling event in Wales. It will be a six hour team relay, racing from high to low tide (3pm to 9pm) on a spectacular 7km course through Pembrey Country Park. This follows on the success of Battle on the Beach […]
Howies Battle on the Beach is the first bicycle beach race in the UK, and will be held in Pembrey on the Welsh South Coast. It’s the first time a major cycling event has been held at Pembrey Country Park, once a Ministry of Defence playground. So riders will have to ride over ex military tracks, […]
I am sure Bundanoon was a popular search location for all the weather websites last week and despite checking at least 4, they were all in agreement: The 8th running of the CamelBak Highland Fling was going to be a wet one and possibly for the first time in the events history? Saturday’s events escaped […]
The Crocodile Trophy is one of the longest running mountain bike events in the World. I only know of one other stage race that claims to be older and beats it by a single year. In 2013 the “Croc” celebrated its 19th year and has become one of the biggest and hardest races in the […]
