With the enforced hiatus from racing upon us, many including myself are reminiscing of race days gone by. I am extremely grateful to have had the opportunities and support to make racing across most corners of the world happen. It’s given me a pretty broad appreciation for how the world works and more specifically how […]
Can I take my XC bike to Maydena Bike Park?
If you live in Australia you would have heard about the launch of Maydena Bike Park in early 2018. About 90 minutes north west of Hobart, Tasmania, the town of Maydena sits on the doorstep of the wild west of the island state. This is where the vast expanse of protected wilderness starts. This is […]
Houffalize – A Marathon in Preparation
I’d hoped this story would be more triumph than tragedy where I could use my favourite, “I love it when a plan comes together” line as I saw my hard work come to fruition around the rolling hills of Belgium in the Rod d’Ardenne marathon. But nooo, I had to get sick the week before […]
Preparing for the Snow Bike Festival
Related Event: Snow Bike Festival
The Snow Bike Festival has grown since inception a few short years ago, filling a gap in the UCI mountain bike calendar as a UCI S1 stage race, and also catering for the need for many of us to ride our bikes more often, in more places. Mountain bikes are a tool for travel, adventure, […]
A season on Shimano XTR Di2
Since 2012, the MarathonMTB.com Team riders have predominantly run Shimano group sets. Usually a mix of XT and XTR parts, mixed for the best combination of price, weight, performance and durability. Favour fell to parts from Shimano due in part to their parts availability when away from home, especially in Europe. Personally, I’ve aimed to […]
Bikes of the Crocodile Trophy: Mike Blewitt’s Norco Revolver 29 FS
Related Event: Crocodile Trophy
The 23rd Crocodile Trophy finished last Saturday, and as usual it was a test of the support crew, riders and their bikes. The 8 day race takes in a huge variety of terrain with about 13000m of climbing and over 600km of racing. I have done the Crocodile Trophy 3 times before, so have a […]
Mongolia Bike Challenge stages 3 & 4. Into the Wilderness!
Related Event: Mongolia Bike Challenge
Stages 3 and 4 of Mongolia Bike Challenge 2017 have now been run and won. With plenty of drama taking place over the past 2 days we now have a change in leadership for both the women’s and the men’s category. I last wrote reporting on the ‘queen stage’ of this year’s race, however now […]
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 […]