Entry lists for the 2016 XCM World Championships have been published, and as the race falls just one week ahead of the XCO World Championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic, you might expect the start lists to take a different shape. And in a way, they have. While some XCO racers are steering clear, others […]
Roc des Alpes Marathon – the best race I never finished
In the whole lead-up to this trip to Europe, I’ve focused more on the Roc des Alpes Marathon than the actual World Champs race. To be held a week before Worlds, I knew that if I was ever to have a chance at getting a podium in a UCI Series marathon in Europe, the Roc […]
Karla Boddy’s Transalp challenge
Karla Boddy is one of the top UK domestic road riders and now also a rider manager for the UCI registered Drops Cycling Team. She is taking on the challenge of the Transalp this year but not just for the hell of it like the rest of us, Karla has a more personal reason for […]
JAH, man! José Antonio Hermida on Cairns and Rio
Multivan Merida XC rider and Spanish super star José Antonio Hermida (37) started his career in Australia, won the Olympic Silver medal in Athens 2004 and is now on his trail to Rio. We met him at the Multivan Merida team meet and greet prior to the World Cup in Albstadt, Germany – held in a castle. […]
Discovering Regional Australia via the Evocities Series
The Evocoties MTB Series arrived in 2015, linking some fantastic pre-existing events and a couple of new ones, in New South Wales Evocities. The events were linked as a way to draw mountain bikers to NSW’s regional towns, to experience the hospitality, what the local MTB clubs could offer, and some fantastic trails. But, what […]
Chris Hellman’s trail to XCM World Championships
You know those cyclists you read about, blessed with an abundance of natural talent, who recount their entry into the sport of cycling by winning their very first bike race? Or they just know from a very early age that they’re somehow ‘different’ from the rest of their competitors? Well, that’s not me. I can […]
XCM Champs: What does it cost to wear green and gold?
Marathon mountain biking isn’t a glamorous sport. In the past year I’ve got nude in a rainy paddock surrounded by blokes because there was nowhere else to get changed, slept in the boot of a car, smuggled a $7.50 toaster into a hotel room to avoid having to pay for breakfast, and washed filthy kit […]
Training in the Tropics – Bump Track and RRR route
Related Event: RRR Mountain Bike Race
Growing up in a southern state, I never learnt much about the history of Tropical North Queensland. Well not beyond the basics. So that means that each time I visit – I learn something new. 2011 and during my first Crocodile Trophy, it was a real eye opener to the life and times on the […]
Training in the Tropics – Smithfield
Smithfield sits about 20km north of the CBD of Cairns, right at the bottom of the road up to Kuranda. It’s just inland from the beautiful Trinity Beach, and also home to James Cook University. Smithfield is one part of Tropical North Queensland that the infamous Mud Cows called home. Wait – the Mud Cows? […]
Training in the Tropics – Atherton
Related Event: Crocodile Trophy
Photos of our riding in Atherton by Robert Conroy – unless stated otherwise. The beautiful, unique and welcoming town of Atherton lies approximately a 90 minute drive inland and uphill from Cairns in the beautiful Tropical North Queensland region. It was set to be our first port of call on our Tropical Training Camp. The area is […]