Australia is a vast country, where great distances can need to be covered to travel between cities. Australia is also a country with highly a centralised population, most notably in the South East corner of the country. The size of the country and the spread of our population dictates transport and utilities infrastructure – and […]
Racing the Tour Divide: You must climb.
Arran Pearson has just returned from the Tour Divide. This is the third part of his story. You should read part one and part two to catch up. Although there is a lot of climbing in the first 1/2 of the route, it’s in Colorado where you hit serious altitude with several passes over 10,000 […]
Mongolia BIke Challenge Pros: Jason Sager
Sage Advice from Veteran Stage Racer, Jason Sager, an interview conducted by the Mongolia Bike Challenge. The 2013 Genco Mongolia Bike Challenge presented by Orbea has attracted some of the top stage racers in the world. We asked a select group of experienced, professional riders to share with us their tips and advice as they […]
What is it about the Cape to Cape MTB Race?
Australian mountain bikers like the challenge of a stage race. The proof is there multiple times each year, when keen Australian mountain bikers head to South Africa, or Canada, or the USA, or Western Europe, to pursue a riding holiday that focuses on a challenging stage race. This isn’t something that only elite racers do […]
Transalp. The Devil is in the Details
Racing Transalp was a race all the time, not just between the start gun and the finish line. We had a saying, the race isn’t over until you’re in the shower, and it’s fair to say that some of our most gruelling moments came when we tried to find hotels, or negotiate with Italian receptionists, […]
Newy Cogheads: Riding for Heart Kids Challenge
This is the transcript of the discussion between Bill Smith and Andrew Gresham, who started the Newy Cogheads, based in Newcastle NSW Australia. They run a series of group rides around Newcastle, NSW, Australia – and are raising money for the Heart Kids Challenge. Like any group of riders, they are just keen to get […]
Taking your dog to the trails
I am now training with a training mate that smashes me on every steep climb, flies past me on the very technical sections and just stays on my wheel on every descent. And that’s not just because I’m in not such a great shape… She’s pretty fast, loves shredding the trail and jumps way higher […]
Kowalski Classic – a course preview
Myself and Kyle Ward (Rockstar Racing) were lucky enough to get an invite from Alan, of the famed Kowalski Brothers Trailworks crew, to head into East Kowen forest for a preview the trails they’ve just built for the Kowalski Classic Marathon, and also to sample the first 50km of this year’s course – and after […]
Rifle Butts MTB Park Mansfield
After a few weeks of cold and wet weather in Melbourne, it was nice to finally go on a Saturday training ride under clear skies and a beautiful 15 degrees. While the ski and snowboard fanatics of Victoria get their rush on the slopes of Mt Buller, I went to the nearby town of Mansfield […]
How to taper for big races
It’s one of the great mysteries of training and racing: how to turn up on race day with the perfect blend of enough of the right kind of training in the legs, but also enough freshness to be absolutely pinging? Disclaimer first – I’m not going to attempt too much sports science. My history degree […]