Stage 8 (Final Day): 60km. 2700m ascent. Maximum time limit: 6.5hrs. Time taken: 4hrs 5min Like many other stage races, Iron Bike finishes with a relatively easy day. That is, easy compared to the rest of the week and not just a walk in the park! In the book it was 55km with 3 major climbs and 3 descents. […]
Matt Page’s Blog: Iron Bike Stages 6 and 7
Stage 6: 90km. 4100m ascent. Maximum time limit: 12hrs. Time taken: 7hrs 06min Today I slept through my alarm for the first time, tiredness has reached a new level and writing this at 6pm I feel like crashing out, but with just 2 days left I hope I can keep things together. Despite sleeping at 1000m it was still […]
Matt Page’s Blog: Settling into Iron Bike
Stage 5: 80km, 3500m ascent (not including chairlift). Maximum time limit: 12hrs. Time taken: 7hrs 40min The longer this race goes on, the harder the recovery becomes, especially after a hard stages it can be really difficult to get everything needed done as well as getting enough sleep. I don’t think I would even consider doing Iron Bike without […]
Matt Page’s Blog: Iron Bike stages 3 and 4
Stage 3: 68km, 1270m ascent. Maximum time limit: 13hrs. Time taken: 5hrs 25min Looking at the route map it looked like an easy day, just one climb and a long descent. I know this race better than to expect an easy day and the 11 maximum time limit was a clue that this was not an easy stage. The […]
Matt Page’s Blog: Iron Bike
Iron Bike Prologue & Stage 1 This year the prologue was the same format as last year, an urban crit around the start town of Limone Piemonte. It means very little for the overall, other than handing out the leaders jerseys. Its a great way to get the town involved and held at 8pm when […]
Iron Bike: Hard gets Harder
In July 2013 the Iron Bike stage race will celebrate it’s 20th edition with plans to make it even more memorable. The event, held in July and situated in the Italian Alps is regarded as the hardest MTB stage-race in the World by those who have ridden it. In recent years it has gained popularity […]
Matt Page’s Andalucia Bike Race, Stage 5
After yesterdays killer stage I was feeling very tired in the evening after and the chest problem that I’ve been been carrying for about 2 months which had got much better since being out in Spain decided to come back with a vengeance and I couldn’t stop coughing. A massage, good meal and an early […]
Matt Page’s Andalucia Bike Race, Stage 4
Today was the Queen stage, or in other words the hardest. It was also the longest and had the most climbing with 2650m gained in the 87km. Most people were dreading today but not me, I was looking forward to it. After IronBike if the climbing figure doesn’t start with a 5 then it doesn’t […]
Matt Page’s Andalucia Bike Race, Stage 3
The start of today’s 71km (2,055m climbing) stage went back to being farcical. Priego de Cordoba have obviously paid a fair bit to have the race come through the town and wanted to show us every little street there was. Riders were far calmer than previous stages, but the route was just stupid, especially as after 4km […]
Matt Page’s Andalucia Bike Race, Stage 2
Today’s start looked easier judging by the gradient chart, a flattish 12km then into a climb. Strange how it never seems to work out like that? The start was crazy yet again, starting on wide streets, then taking us onto narrower streets where I almost took out Milton because of a very sudden right hand […]