It’s inevitable – in time many road riders find the pursuit of pavement pounding on narrow tyres a little… plain. The enlightened cyclist chooses to ride both on road and off, and if you’ve seen the way and want to expand into the world of dirt, we’re here to help. Mountain biking has a slightly […]
James Downing: For the love of Alice Springs
Some places are on our personal race calendars as we have them as a major target. Others are there as you know they always draw a big field, or because you’ve arranged to try something new with friends. Some places make it just because the riding, and racing, ar exceptional. Everyone has their own choices […]
Cory Wallace relives the Glacier 360 in Iceland
Iceland “the land of fire and ice” is a small island nation lying just south of the Arctic circle in the North Atlantic ocean. It has become a tourist hotbed as people come in droves to see its extraordinary landscape full of Volcanic activity, geothermal energy, glaciers, waterfalls and vast expanses of moon like rock fields. […]
A season on Shimano XTR Di2
Since 2012, the MarathonMTB.com Team riders have predominantly run Shimano group sets. Usually a mix of XT and XTR parts, mixed for the best combination of price, weight, performance and durability. Favour fell to parts from Shimano due in part to their parts availability when away from home, especially in Europe. Personally, I’ve aimed to […]
3Epic – 2018 XCM World Championships returns to the mountains
After the flat out and fast race in Singen in 2017, the 2018 cross-country marathon (XCM) World Championships head back to the hills. And not just any hills, but to the Italian Dolomites where the race is attached to the 3Epic. The Dolomites have mountains that rise steeply from alpine meadows, towns nestle in the […]
Why ride and race in Alice Springs?
Here at MarathonMTB.com we have a soft spot for Alice Springs. With over a dozen visits between the whole Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team over the past decade, we are repeat offenders when it comes to visiting the Red Centre to ride (and race) our mountain bikes. We often get asked what draws us back, why go again […]
Who can win the 2017 Cape to Cape
The 2017 Cape to Cape has been running like clockwork. About 1800 riders have descended into the red dirt, loam, sand and limestone trails of Margaret River, for the 4 stages of racing. Brendan Johnston is leading Open Men and Samara Sheppard is leading Open Women. But, there’s 50km still to go and nothing is […]
How do I hydrate for a marathon MTB race?
It’s one of the questions we’re asked most often here at MarathonMTB.com, so we chatted to our team of marathon riders and put together a bunch of answers, starting with the most pressing one… What to drink? What should I drink in a marathon MTB race? It really boils down to a couple of choices […]
The takeaway gifts from the Mongolia Bike Challenge
2017 was the eighth edition of the Mongolia Bike Challenge which has now established itself as a ‘bucket list’ race for international mountain bike stage racers. What makes this race so epic? And why do athletes travel from far and wide to compete in such an obscure and remote part of the world? Having completed […]
Exploring the Old Ghost Road
To experience sublime natural beauty is to confront the total inadequacy of language to describe what you see. Words cannot convey the scale of a view that is so stunning it is felt. In such moments natural beauty becomes a kind of devastation – it is pure encounter, too compressed in time and space to […]