Part of chasing mountain bike marathons and stage races around the globe is stepping into the unknown, being fully aware that you are about to do something that you can’t know everything about, and that you might not fully be prepared for. In the age of readily accessed information, you still yearn to know what […]
O-Tour Preparation – Stu Spies Style
As mountain bikers we’re a pretty adventurous lot, we seek out trails and places that the general masses gloss over or drive past without batting an eyelid to all that potential fun hidden just behind a fence or slightly off the main drag. We revel in our secret knowledge of cut throughs, alleys, drainage canals, […]
The Montafon 2013 : A family reunion whilst racing the Austrian Alps
When I set foot in Switzerland on the 19th June, I hadn’t been in Europe for over 6 years, I was meeting close friends and family I hadn’t seen for 10-15 years. My reasons for my trip to Europe were mainly sport related and I hadn’t really given it much thought that I was going to travel […]
Remembering Australia at the Mackay Mountain Marathon
The first thing anyone said to me in Mackay was ‘which bag is your’s, ma’am?’, It came from the guy in thongs, boardies, and a hat who’d been sitting in the aisle opposite me on the plane, and pretty much set the tone for my weekend at the Mackay Mountain Marathon. While I waited for […]
Nienke’s Euro Bog: Xterra Italy
Xterra Italy : Happy Faces Smash Races I had another unpleasant experience on the trains after Xterra France. exhausted from the race I dragged my bike and luggage through 3 different countries hopping on and off trains for 8hrs, speaking bad French, bad German and in the end bad English, only to find the car […]
Racing to the Line in Transalp: “Never Panic”
When I wrote my last blog post for MarathonMTB.com about racing in Europe, I was looking at it as an outsider, it was all a bit of a novelty, all a bit of fun. When Mike and I started Transalp eight days ago it wasn’t much fun. I felt like I had in most marathons […]
On The Side Lines
The last week has been tough ‘on the side lines’ watching teammates Mike Blewitt and Imogen Smith rip apart the Craft Bike Trans Alp 2013. TransAlp is one of the toughest team stage races in the world, eight days traversing the ‘alps’ from Mittenwald in Germany down to Riva del Garda in Italy. Today they […]
Transalp: Not touring, Racing
Approaching an international mountain bike stage race, it’s nice to come in feeling fit and strong. But it pays to set your expectations too. Coming into the Craft Bike Transalp 8 day race from Mittenwald to Riva del Garda, Imogen Smith and I set our goal as top 10 on the general classification by the […]
Transalp: Push yourself and you push your team
The first day of Transalp, Mike pushed me. The second day, we pushed each other. Today, I pushed myself. Day three had some of the most intense climbing of the race. It was only a short stage, 58km, but brutal, starting with a 25km climb from 500m to 2400m, and chased by technical descending and […]
Stu Spies’ Blog: Get out of the box and into the race
Top 50, we better, top 40, doable, top 30….oof! So Northern Monkey aka Matt bridge, harbinger of hurt, had set us some straight forward goals, I liked these, I agreed. I’m a 4 time vet of Transalp, this is Bridgey’s 3rd, so we are wise, respectful of the event and the raft of ups and […]