Mountain Bike Australia (MTBA) has announced that the Australian Cross Country Marathon Mountain Bike Championships (XCM Champs) will be heading to Derby in Tasmania for the next two years. MTBA will partner with Dorset Council and Launceston Mountain Bike Club as a joint venture to deliver the premiere Marathon MTB event in Australia. It is […]
Shimano XTR Di2 Looking Refined
Earlier this year we saw photos of the new XTR M9000 adorning the BMC of Julien Absalon. The 1×11 setup with close ratios looked sweet, perfect for XCO racing, and Absalon has clearly showed that as he wrapped up yet another World Cup title. At Euro Bike, Shimano had the BMC that Absalon rode at […]
SRAM launch XX1 Quarq Power Meter
You rarely see a Pro road bike without a power meter, and it looks like Quarq and SRAM have taken a step to make it the same in the mountain bike market. At the 2014 Euro Bike trade show, the new XX1 compatible Quarq unit was fitted to the SRAM XX1 crankset. Although Quarq units […]
Grand Raid: The Pas de Lona
Every race has a crux, and in the Grand Raid, which runs from Verbier to Grimentz along the Swiss Alps in the Valais region – it is the Pas de Lona. A vicious hike up a scree slope to well over 2700m, it comes on the penultimate climb, when you have just climbed up about […]
Enduro Training for Marathon Racing
How often are you the rider in a group who claims that they would ride something gnarly “but not on this bike.” Is there a point where the distance based mountain bike racing that many of us love so much becomes a hinderance to the riding and racing we do – and we don’t end […]
Flinders Ranges Epic – Return of the big kilometres
Race organisers Event Strategies have announced that they are running the Flinders Ranges Epic on November 1st of 2014. The Ranges have a history of distance racing events, but this race will have three options for competitors: 64, 109 and 205km. Riders will have a maximum of 16 hours to finish the event. There are options […]
Alice Springs to feature in new Australian XCM Series
News has broken that the Easter in the Alice stage race in Alice Springs will be part of a new Australian National Marathon MTB Series for 2015. After the Real Insurance XCM Series of 2014, there has been little talk of 2015 as of yet. The Maverick Marathon Series still has two of four events […]
Huber and Süss win Swiss XCM Titles
On August 17th, 2014, the 17th Eiger Bike Challenge was set to determine the Swiss Marathon MTB Champions. The race has a traditional route, with a lot of climbing, and very steep descending. The route isn’t representative of the riding around Grindelwald, which hosts the event. The valleys are laced with trails, many of them […]
Eiger Bike Challenge to decide Swiss XCM Titles
Tomorrow, Sunday 17th August, some of the best marathon mountain bike racers in the world will line up to contest the Swiss National XCM Title. For 2014, the race is attached to the Eiger Bike marathon, racing 88km and climbing 3900m from Grindelwald, in the Bernese Oberland. The Swiss have a formidable reputation in cycling, but […]
Ben Thomas: Racing Mixed with Sally Bigham and the PRO experience
Last month Imogen Smith interviewed Sally Bigham (Topeak-Ergon Racing Team) about the announcement she had made via social media. She would be racing the 2014 Craft Bike Transalp as a mixed pair, but with no assistance from her male team mate. As Bigham pointed out, she wanted to ride over the Alps herself, as her […]