Well after yesterdays horror and semi-terminal implosion in the final 5km today was all about survival and pacing, no real tactics just get to the end respectably! Hard to do when you get sucked along in the vortex that is the mad UCI peloton but this faded the minute we hit the climb and my […]
Search Results for: stage race
Perskindol Swiss Epic – Verbier to Leukerbad, 95km Stage 1
Stage 1. Queen stage. 95km, 3050m climbing. BOOM! That was one tough day in the saddle. Around the start line it was pretty surreal, lining up in the same starting box as the people I have been watching on TV for years – even as the race started I stuck with them until it got […]
Singletrack Mind Series race 3 at Awaba
The race for series honours heats up at Awaba With wildly fluctuating forecasts in the lead up to the third round of the Finish Line Singletrack Mind MTB Series, competitors and the organisers Chocolate Foot were very pleased to be blessed with perfect weather including a light overnight shower which would add grip to the […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 5: The final to Kudowa-Zdroj
Stage 5 – Walim to Kudowa-Zdroj: 80 kilometres What happened? After a whole day of rain yesterday, a bit more overnight, and a cloudy, foggy morning, riders could have been forgiven for wishing that organisers would take pity on them and shorten the 80km Queen Stage of Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 just a little. Yesterday’s 44km […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014: Stage 4, Wallowing in mud to Warim
Stage 4 Bardo to Walim, 44.2 kilometres What happened? With plenty of rain from the award ceremony onwards, Stage 4 would be wet. And it wasn’t a case of the water just coming up from the ground, it was falling from the sky as well. This race has a jovial vibe, people are having fun. […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 3 – Battling the border to Bardo
Stage 3 Stronie Slaskie to Bardo, 67 kilometres What happened? The race left Stronie Slaskie in beautiful weather and after a ‘neutral’ lap of this beautiful town, headed up, and up, and up, on a 13 km gravel climb, and into border country. The race then turned technical, inching through muddy singletrack made of roots […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 2: Vuelta a Stronie Slaskie
Stage 2: Vuelta a Stronie Slaskie: What happened? After what felt like a brutal stage yesterday on Stage 1, today was a little friendlier, earning a ‘3’ for difficulty rather than the ‘4’ of yesterday (from a scale of 1-6). What this meant was that the climbs were a little less steep, the descents a […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 1 – Touring Stronie Slaskie
Stage 1 – Tour de Stronie Slaskie What happened? After yesterday’s short, 15 km prologue, the real Sudety MTB Challenge started today, with a 65 km course that included 2423 metres of climbing. Starting in the beautiful park in central Stronie Slaskie, the course quickly turned off the main road and onto a steep climb […]
Stage 7 Transalp 2014: 62.73km and 2325hm
The final day of a multiday race such as Transalp is never as easy as the guidebook depicts and our stage 7 was equally as tough as any of the 6 stages we had completed prior. On paper the stage looked simple… 62.7km with a mere 2300hm from Trento to Riva Del Garda… an uphill […]
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 […]