Marathon mountain biking isn’t the sport you can always participate in a lot. The volume of training we must do to complete a race in an enjoyable state, and the travel, and recovery for an event takes a toll. But with so many great events on the calendar, it can be hard to pick and choose. […]
Elite ranks fill for the Otway Odyssey
Related Event: Otway Odyssey
The racing year is underway, with the first two national XCO rounds done, and the next two on the horizon. But it is the Otway Odyssey which kicks off the marathon racing season. One of the hardest, yet most scenic, marathon MTB races on the calendar, the Otway Odyssey always draws a crowd. And as […]
Norco Revolver MarathonMTB team bike builds
In 2016 our team switched from Bianchi Methanol bikes to Norco Revolver models. This wasn’t a decision made quickly or easily, and spawned from a quick bike test on one of the Revolver models before they were released in early August 2015. As an amateur sporting team, our bikes are purchased. Sometimes up-front, other times […]
Sipping cappuccino in starting block A
Related Event: Craft BIKE Transalp
“I will not rest until I sip cappuccino in starting block A” This was a strong statement, delivered by a friend I made at my first mountain bike stage race, the 2008 Transalp. Thomas Dooley had uttered the sentence with the mix of determination and irony that I would come to learn typified his personality. […]
Huber and Pirard win 2016 Crocodile Trophy
Related Event: Crocodile Trophy
The 2016 Crocodile Trophy has been a tight battle in the men’s race, and has also had until drama for the leading women. But after eight hard days of racing the Crocodile Trophy racers crossed the finish line on Four Mile Beach on Saturday 29th October. Urs Huber was the fastest man on the time trial […]
Uber Huber unstoppable at Crocodile Trophy
Related Event: Crocodile Trophy
The second-last stage of the Crocodile Trophy took the riders further north and towards the coast to Wetherby Cattle Station where Urs Huber won another stage in a sprint finish ahead of Sebastien Carabin. Annemiek van Vleuten claimed her third stage win as eighth outright ahead of Ruth Corset and Alice Pirard. New amateur leader is […]
Cape to Cape 2016 Stage 2: bungles in the bushland
After a hectic first stage of the 2016 Cape to Cape, we have an idea of who the strongest riders are in the race. There are lots of them. There truly is one of the strongest fields in Australian mountain biking here in Western Australia. The time gaps from the first stage were small, and […]
Cape to Cape 2016: Stage One. Enter sand man.
Related Event: Cape to Cape
The Cape to Cape mountain bike race has gone from strength to strength, building with such a crescendo that the event in southern Western Australia that attracts riders from the local towns, Perth, the east coast and from overseas. With well over 1000 racers, Cape to Cape is one of the biggest mountain bike stage […]
Bell and Combrinck beat giraffe at Cape Pioneer Trek
Stage One of the Cape Pioneer Trek would always be the real deal, where racers would flex their endurance muscles and reveal what they had in store for their competitors for the week ahead. But did anyone expect such a start from Bell and Gawie? Off the bike, Nico Bell and Gawie Combrinck are soft-spoken […]
Kleinhans and Beers take the lead at Cape Pioneer Trek
Late entrants Erik Kleinhans and Matt Beers were rewarded for their spontaneity when they won the opening stage of the 2016 Cape Pioneer Trek international mountain bike stage race in Mossel Bay, South Africa on Sunday. Competing as Team Full Sus/Topeak Ergon/Red-E, the South African pair sped around the scenic oceanside 13km prologue stage in […]