In July, Chris Pedder and Rachel Fenton will be tackling the BIKE Transalp as it travels from Austria to Italy, over the Alps in seven days of glorious mountain biking. But first – training camp! Over the years Chris and I have done a lot of cycling together. You might argue that neither of us […]
Wolhuter and Boyes seal Liberty Winelands win
Chris Wolhuter and Craig Boyes sealed the overall win after cruising to their third consecutive stage victory in the Liberty Winelands MTB Encounter on Sunday. The Imbuko-Freewheel Cycology pair, who had an 18-minute buffer going into the final day, completed the 48km final stage around Kleine Valleij in Wellington in 1:58:45. Hanco Kachelhoffer and Colin Noel […]
The not so hidden talent in rural Australia
Where do Australia’s finest athlete’s come from? One would presume it is from the bustling metropolis’ that offer the greatest access to resources, wealth and opportunity. However a brief investigation of Australia’s most successful athlete’s made me realise that a disproportionate ratio of our athletes are of rural rather than urban heritage. In fact […]
Curve 29er Race 30×30 MTB wheels – just landed
There are no shortage of carbon mountain bike wheels on the market at the moment. But understanding what is a good wheel and what isn’t might not be as easy. We’ve just had a set of Curve Cycling’s 29er Race 30×30 XC Race wheels land at the MarathonMTB.com service course, and we’re about to get them […]
Sani2c trails get a refresh
Not all stage races are created equal – and some stand out for the food, some the racing, some the extreme terrain – and others just for the trails alone! The 2016 edition of the KAP sani2c is approaching and with yet another fully subscribed event race founder ‘Farmer Glen’ Haw and his team have […]
Leonardo Paez and Annabella Stropparo win 2016 Volcat Stage Race
After 3 days of racing across the Easter weekend a total of 524 cyclists completed the Volcat GP, a UCI category 2 event. Sadly I was amongst the none finishers having picked up the bug on stage 2 which left me too ill to race stage 3. The 2 days I did experience though were […]
Swiss dreaming – memories of the 2015 Swiss Epic
The mountain bike year has well and truly begun. Unlike riders in the north, in Australia we receive little respite over the holiday period. We don’t go skiing, we don’t escape to summer climes. We live in the perfect training haven, more or less. So while our whole National XCO Series has been wrapped up, […]
Spitz and Belomoina take Cape Epic stage victory
Mountain bike legend and Olympic gold medallist Sabine Spitz of Germany seems to be taking a liking to the Absa Cape Epic and today she and teammate Yana Belomoina swept to an impressive win in the race’s Queen Stage. Spitz and her Ukranian partner punched the air as they finished the 93km Stage 5 nearly two […]
Drama strikes stage 3 of the Cape Epic
The third stage of the 2016 Absa Cape Epic brought drama and delight – it just depended what team you were in. Swede Jennie Stenerhag, second overall in the women’s category with South African Robyn de Groot (Team Ascendis Health), collapsed over the finish line after a tough and very hot 104km ride. She was […]
Algarve Bike Challenge 2016
This past weekend the UCI category 2 Algarve Bike Challenge took place. The event is a marathon stage race taking place over 3 days. You can read my preview for the event here https://marathonmtbcom.wpengine.com/2016/03/03/algarve-bike-challenge-preview-and-stage-race-catch-up/ The event was a pair’s race so I teamed up with Austrian Uwe Hochenwarter who rides for the Craft Rocky Mountain […]