Markus Kaufmann and Jochen Käß have won the sixth stage from Kaltern to Trento at the Craft Bike Transalp. Centurion Vaude 1 completed the 98.25 km and 2,894 metres of climbing in 4:07:37.4 extending their lead over third ranked team mates Daniel Geismayr and Hannes Genze (4:10:37.4) in the overall ranking to 10:44 minutes. Second place went to Alban Lakata and […]
Transalp Stage 5 – Sarntal to Kaltern (67km – 2785hm)
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 […]
Transalp Stage 4: Naturns to Sarntal (73km and 2645hm)
The most important thing to remember about a race like Transalp is that there is NEVER an easy day.. today was a mere 73km on paper (very sociable compared to yesterdays 100km and the preceding days of 87km and 97km) but the fine print includes a 30km climb from around 32km to 62km taking us […]
Transalp 2014 stage 3 “The Queen Stage”
Firstly, I will have to up-speed on the events of stage 2 (yesterdays stage from Imst to Nauders) Stu and I were otherwise occupied and failed to log a full report. Stage 2 started in Imst, in the rain and the rain continued for the entire stage… Stu and I rode well (to clarify […]
Craft Bike Transalp 2014 – Oberammergau to Imst – 96km
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 […]
Yak Ru Preeminent MTB Race 2015
Have you ever wanted a reason to visit Nepal? I recently stumbled across the Yak Ru website .. an annual mountain bike event in Nepal that takes riders along to an altitude of 5416 metres. The eight day event (5 days racing, one day resting and 2 days recovering) covers a mere 240km through […]
Craft Bike Transalp 2014
With a mere 7 days before the start of Craft Bike Transalp 2014 the butterflies are swarming and the neurones starting to tingle (i.e. I am starting to feel a little SCARED). This is not the first time I have races at Transalp and I have completed the infamous Cape Epic on 3 or […]
The Art of Crashing
Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Racer Stu Spies loves a road race – in fact he just loves racing. Stu checks in with his thoughts on crashing. Surely part of his build towards the 2014 Transalp? We don’t like to talk about it, sometimes we barely acknowledge its existence, but it is woven into the fabric of what we […]
The Valley of the Sun – Vermiglio XC
As well as having the season final of Game of Thrones on, last Sunday also had the Vermiglio round of the international Italian series. The course was up in the Val di Sole valley a bit higher than the location for the world cup rounds. Naturally being in the alps, the course had its fair […]
Preparation is key: Craft Bike Transalp 2014
With a mere one month and 5 days remaining until the start of Craft Bike Transalp in Oberammergau it is time to start thinking about more than just the physical preparation. Training the body is now an autonomic response so it is time to look to the ancillary details that ave to be addressed: the […]