New Zealand has never been short on places for challenging events, and the South Island has often delivered the combination of epic scenery with terrain and conditions to test athletes. Earlier in 2021, the Central Otago region played host to the first edition of The Prospector MTB Stage Race – and it’s on again for […]
Oliver and Burnett crowned Prospector champions
New Zealand has the terrain to host a variety of mountain bike races, and while The Pioneer is gone (for now?) The Prospector popped up in 2021 as a 3-day mountain bike stage race in the Central Otago region of New Zealand’s South Island. With a prologue on Friday followed by two stages, the race […]
The Pioneer Stage five – Final stage brings a few surprises
Tired legs roll out of Bannockburn This morning we got up before dawn and munched through breakfast in the dark. It’s always unbelievable to me that, given my usual appetite, when we get into the depths of a stage race I find myself completely without interest in food, so that eating is stripped of any […]
The Pioneer Stage 4 – Mt Difficulty and other difficult climbs
Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Ok I’m definitely in my smallest gear, but how is that possible? I’ll just check again. Beep. Yep. Shit. Getting going again Today Mike and I started Stage four of The Pioneer with the goal of making it to the first feed zone, then reassessing things after our nightmare […]
Pioneer hits the Alex trails for the Queen Stage
Why is it that we only crash when things are great? All those awful, cold, wet grovels where you’d pay good money for a legitimate Out, nothing. Nothing goes wrong. Except maybe a flat tyre, but that’s fixable. Now when you’re ripping through trails, performing well, loving it – that’s when life deals you a […]