For 2015, the ICME Stage Race has morphed into the Redback – with 4 days of mountain bike racing on the hand-crafted trails around Alice Springs in Australia’s Red Centre. Close to 200 mountain bikers will descend on Alice Springs for The Redback, presented by Ingkerreke Commercial, often known to be Australia’s most legendary […]
The Redback: Race the Red Centre in 2015
Anyone who rides knows that racing isn’t just about competition: It’s about packing your bike up, getting on a plane or hitting the road. It’s an excuse to have a bit of an adventure and travel somewhere new. Of all the places to race in Australia, Alice Springs is the most distinctive. With cobalt skies, […]
Michael Milton signs up for the Redback MTB Stage Race
Paralympian Michael Milton doesn’t do things by halves, and this year he’s set his sights on The Redback mountain bike stage race in Alice Springs. Milton lost a leg to bone cancer when he was nine year’s old however it hasn’t stopped him from doing what he thinks is fun. Michael Milton is one of […]
Jongeward and Blair win 2015 Easter in the Alice
Thanks to Bob Taylor and Ben Gooley for the use of their images. Cooler temperatures greeted riders this morning as they lined up for the last stage of Lasseters Easter in the Alice stage race. Having endured desert weather of soaring temperatures and low humidity for the last two days, light cloud cover and temperatures in […]
Bike Check: James Downing’s Cannondale F-Si
As a lot of the marathon racing world moves to full suspension, Australian racer James Downing has just received his 2015 Cannondale F-Si – the update version of the ever popular F29. Quite possibly one of the most popular carbon hard tail race bikes for privateers, along with the Scott Scale 29. We’ve heard about […]
Racing Australia’s Red Heart – Does it really have to end?
Well it’s over! As usual I’m left with a mixture of relief that there’s an end to the pain and inability to finish my muesli each morning, and sadness that the adventure is over. Stage races are like that. I’ve heard the only cure for post-stage-race blues is to plan another one, so at least […]
Racing Australia’s Red Heart – darkness and rain! ICME 5 & 6
I finished racing hours ago but I’m still shaking. It’s the inevitable result of sleep deprivation, lactic acid accumulation, caffeine ingestion, and a lot of adrenalin! I can now safely admit that I loathe night racing, but was trying to keep positive before Rapid Ascent’s ICME stage 5 last night in the hope that this […]
Racing Australia’s Red Heart – ICME stage 4 and the race to recover
This morning we raced an individual mountain bike time trial over 22 kilometres, through sandy, washed-out four-wheel-drive track and singletrack. The course was a little less curvy and a little flatter than I’d hoped, but I managed to put myself through enough pain to win by a few seconds, which made me very, very happy. […]
Riding Australia’s Red Heart – ICME Stages 2 & 3
Just because it’s the desert doesn’t mean its flat, and Alice Springs has one tough climb on its western edge: Anzac Hill. It’s not very long – only a few hundred metres of sealed road, but the gradient boots up to about 26%, and averages about 12%. Stage 2 of ICME, yesterday evening, had us […]
Riding Australia’s Red Heart – ICME Stage 1
Bearing in mind that a lot of MarathonMTB.com readers are from all around the world, and that many Australians don’t know where Alice Springs is anyway, I thought I’d start this series of blogs about Alice Spring’s biggest MTB event with this fascinating geography primer. Skip ahead a few paragraphs if you just want the […]