The hub for marathon mountain biking
Riders took joy at crossing the finish line after 7 days of exhausting, stunning, character building and painful mountain bike miles across the Southern Alps of New Zealand in The Pioneer stage race today. On the menu for the final stage was far from a cruisey parade into town. Although the stage profile suggested 59km […]
Day 6 of The Pioneer gave rider’s a welcome shorter stage of 64km today. However, initial excitement of a significantly shorter day in the saddle was quickly put to rest with a look over the course profile. The stage beckoned 64km of pretty much entirely uphill riding to the XC ski village of ‘Snow farm’. […]
After a relatively tame first day in Christchurch for the 2017 Pioneer stage race yesterday, today was when the real business got underway for the hardy competitor’s of this truly epic race. A pleasant 8am roll out from the polite town of Geraldine began relatively conservatively with a moderate pace across the first 15km of […]
Day 1 of the 2017 Pioneer stage race in New Zealand began in the newly built Christchurch Adventure Park this morning with a 21km time trial. For some teams this was their first meeting for others it was time to hone those tactics they have been discussing for months of preparation. The weather was perfect […]
This weekend I am pretty gee’d to be heading to the EPIC Pioneer mountain bike stage race in New Zealand. Apart from seeming to be a spectacular event this race marks a MTB racing milestone for myself. I have been tying numbers to the handlebars of my mountain bike since the year 2000, however this will be […]
It is here. The second Pioneer Mountain Bike Stage Race sets off this Sunday with the opening Prologue at the Christchurch Adventure Park, before we are left to ponder longer stages and plenty of climbing over a further six days of riding that will take them around and over the Southern Alps to the finish line […]
A couple of weeks ago I covered what you need to take as essentials for The Pioneer – things you’ll have on hand each day on the bike, either as mandatory equipment, or items that will help get you to the end of the race if things go pear shaped. But The Pioneer is a […]
Regular travellers say that packing the right things is easy, and others think that packing is an art form. I have never gone down the path of debating whether to roll or fold my clothes, or to pack only clothes in complementary shades, or to only take linen shirts – but I have put some […]
South Africa has a stage race scene unmatched around the globe. Topeak-Ergon pro Erik Kleinhans even guessed that he could probably race a stage race almost throughout the year, from weekend events to week-long events. One of the most prominent marathon stage races, The Cape Pioneer Trek, kicks off on Sunday the 16th of October at […]
Today was the last day of the first Pioneer mountain bike stage race. Final stages are different beasts in every stage race I’ve done. In shorter stage races, there’s no need for a parade, or gifted wins. In some longer stage races, the race leaders might grace a stage win to other teams, if they […]
