It’s one thing to enter a mountain bike stage race like the Dragon Trail, but how do you truly prepare? Riding your bike more before an event is a good start, but there’s more to it than that if you want to know you’ll get through the event and have fun – or be competitive. […]
Belgian and Kenyan duo score Rwandan Epic win
The Rwandan Epic is a new face on the global mountain bike stage race circuit. Having first run earlier this year after some delays to get rolling, the second edition just finished on the November dates where the event has now found its home. The Belgian team of Jens Schuermans and Frans Claes, who won […]
Maxxis BIKE Transalp rated UCI S1 in 2023
In 2023, the OG of mountain bike stage races, Transalp, turns 25. To celebrate this milestone the race from 9-15 July will be listed as a UCI S1 event. This means riders who take part in the men’s and women’s categories can achieve ranking points. Race director Marc Schneider considers the step to list the […]
Sammie Maxwell and Ben Oliver win 2022 Whaka 100
On October 23, New Zealand’s best mountain bikers and many from around the Oceania region gathered in Rotorua for the Whaka 100. The mountain bike event has quickly become known for being tough, but also very rewarding thanks to the event organisation and high quality trails. In 2022, the main event would also host New […]
Maxwell and Cooper snare NZ Eliminator titles at Whaka 100
The Whaka 100 is one of the most prestigious events in the Oceania region. While the marathon commands respect from anyone who has put a number on the bars, it also needs a way to sort the starting order. For 2022 the event moved from the traditional time trial to an Eliminator event. And then […]
Whaka 100 to fire up Rotorua
The 2022 Isuzu Utes Whaka 100 takes place this weekend in Rotorua, New Zealand. And for the first time in years, New Zealand mountain bikers will also have a Marathon MTB National Championship to contest, with the elite ranks duking it out for the coveted National Champion titles in the 107km Whaka 100. But for […]
An ode to the hardtail
Words: Amy Henchoz I’m just gonna say it. Hardtails are awesome. When you can tame them. The feeling of smashing it down a descent when you and the bike are perfectly in tune, feeling everything the bike feels and accepting the abuse, using it to your advantage to feel where the grip is and just […]
My year of amateur mistakes (that I hope I’ll never repeat)
Words: Amy Henchoz Half measures aren’t so much a thing in my book. Either it’s fun and relaxed, or I’m all in. Back when I was still fairly new on a bike (I first rode a trail centre in 2019) people used to ask me if I raced, I’d laugh and say that was for […]
Absa Cape Epic 2023 Route: full analysis
The Absa Cape Epic route reveal is one of the most hotly awaited stories of the mountain bike stage racing calendar. With its well-deserved reputation as the hardest-fought and toughtest physical challenge on two wheels, we’ve been checking and rechecking our emails in anticipation of the 2023 route release – and here it is. By […]
Reef to Reef Day Four – just tempo
Words: Imogen Smith Firstly, a clarification. The suggestion that Mike ride the last 17 kilometres to the finish of Stage 3 on our only back wheel after sitting at the feedzone for a couple of hours was mine – not the other mixed racers’, not the R2R people, and definitely, definitely not Mike’s. Also, we […]