The hub for marathon mountain biking
My illustrious friend Mike Blewitt is going to beat me, but I HATE the term ‘bucket list’. To me it’s like the easiest way to set expectations that can never be met and challenges that can never be a achieved through wanton lack of rational logic. A list of shattered dreams and forgotten promises. The Cape […]
How hard can the Absa Cape Epic be? Let’s just chuck that out there so you can all roll around on the floor laughing with that ‘oh he is so dead’ hilarity that comes from knowing the answer. No, I’m not trying to be provocative, that is a genuine question. It’s a question that I’ve […]
I’ll never forget the day I was left most perplexed by our team manager Mike Blewitt after his seemingly bipolar reaction to my newest bicycle purchase. We were setting up our steeds in the basement of our apartment in preparation for the Dolomiti Superbike, a fantastically tough one day marathon race in the heart of […]
‘You doing Mo’vember Spies?’ The pressure from a colleague had increased dramatically come month end October. I’d run out of excuses, I couldn’t avoid him, he sits near the door to the office and my only escape. ‘ARGH! Alright, but I get to choose my charity.’ After much debate the dice was cast, the razor […]
I keep getting all ‘hero worship’ but heres todays chat, Matt to Karl Platt, ‘Hey Karl you doing the Munga?’ Karl to Matt ‘Yeah, it should be good but I’ve never done 24 hour racing before’, Kulhavy to Sauser ‘Hey Susie we go from the gun yeah?’ *nervous laughter from those in earshot* Sauser to […]
Well after yesterdays horror and semi-terminal implosion in the final 5km today was all about survival and pacing, no real tactics just get to the end respectably! Hard to do when you get sucked along in the vortex that is the mad UCI peloton but this faded the minute we hit the climb and my […]
You can’t imagine any time trial near this Swiss town will be anything other than challenging. Verbier sits looking over a stunning valley at around 1600m, surrounded by 2000m plus ski runs that during the summer act as a magnet to any mountain biker who likes to keep things punchy. The climbs are tough, the […]
I’m a bit of a delicate flower, I look for a good bed, some good food and a warm shower when planning the next mtb adventure. You can call me soft but I’m just admitting that even Mr I-prefer-a-duvet wasn’t prepared for what waited for us in Verbier! Oh man! The Perskindol Swiss Epic is in […]
Today was, in a nutshell, BRUTAL! Due to our unfortunate Day 2 (Naomi’s muddy eyeball) we start each day in the mad house that is ‘Pen B’. Why is it a madhouse? Well simply put you have a serious mix of fitness capability, competitiveness and technical skill. This all culminates in a furious attack […]
Wow! Ok so that was part reality check and part amazing, the reality check coming right at the 75km mark when I realized there may actually be a dark art to racing as a mixed pair! The stage started with a slightly terrifying ‘neutralised’ section of 20km, this is generally meant to safely ferry riders […]
