I’d hoped this story would be more triumph than tragedy where I could use my favourite, “I love it when a plan comes together” line as I saw my hard work come to fruition around the rolling hills of Belgium in the Rod d’Ardenne marathon. But nooo, I had to get sick the week before […]
Power analysis from Trans Schwarzwald MTB stage race
Related Event: Trans Schwarzwald
In between my XCO racing for this year, I decided to give stage racing another go after my first attempt in 2012. Back then, I did the Trans Germany MTB stage race and failed miserably, grovelling through the majority of stages and vowing to never return unless I was fully prepared. It really was […]
Ortenberg Bundesliga – Putting the Heat in Heat Exhaustion
Kicking off my final three week block of races was the fifth round of the German Bundesliga XC series this past weekend. The course was set around a quarry in the small town of Ortenberg just north of Frankfurt. As a C2 classification race and a round of the German national series, the race had […]
Trans Schwarzwald begins
Let the Trans Schwarzwald begin! 3km at 14% with 1km at 18% … And that was the first 3km of Stage 2! That was a hard start, so let’s take a little break … Nope After a small downhill it’s straight into climb number two, another 2.5km at close to 10%! Alright, surely that’s it, […]
Power analysis in marathon racing
For this past weekend, I decided to book in a double header with an XCO race on Saturday and the Saarschleifen Half Marathon on Sunday. The XCO was my main focus but with the Vaude Trans Schwarzwald stage race fast approaching, I wanted to see how my body would react to hard racing days back […]
Explore: Thuringian Forest
Some see the rolling hills of the Thuringian forest a nuisance to their transport routes but to many others the expanse of green in summer and white in winter is a playground of exploration waiting to be uncovered. I had little idea of what awaited me prior to arriving as to find it I searched […]
Out of Hibernation
Related Event: Trans Schwarzwald
After my stage dive into rocks and subsequent broken thumb a week before the Cairns World Cup, I crawled back into my hole for some intense hibernation. Unlike a bear, my goal was to become lean and mean for my upcoming European season. And, as a great bear once attested to “A bear, however hard […]
Evocities MTB Series – Round Two in Albury
Related Event: Evocities MTB Series: Albury 6hr
Exploring new places to ride a bike can be an exciting adventure but where do you start? Maybe word of mouth, some innocent stalking on the internet through Strava, or just picking a random town on a map and hoping there are trails there. Luckily there is a way to get a guided tour of […]
Vaude Trans Schwarzwald 2016
The Black Forest in Germany’s south west corner offers an incredibly vast array of riding options that are all accompanied by beautiful vistas of classic German hamlets and rolling hills. Offering participants a guided tour through the region between 10 and 14 August is the Vaude Trans Schwarzwald MTB Stage race. Although less ‘guided […]
DIY Indoor Training
You know what’s involved, sweating, swearing, a swirling stomach tempting to eject breakfast with each passing second. The indoor trainer is a choice for some but a necessity for others at times when the outside can be even more hostile! So it’s raining outside, you only have time for an hour ride before you need […]