TransRockies was arguably North America’s premier stage race for a number of years and went through a major overhaul last year as it transformed into SingleTrack 6. The format is great with 6 days of riding some of the World’s best trails in a different iconic Canadian town everyday and new region each year. In 2014, […]
The Redback: Race the Red Centre in 2015
Anyone who rides knows that racing isn’t just about competition: It’s about packing your bike up, getting on a plane or hitting the road. It’s an excuse to have a bit of an adventure and travel somewhere new. Of all the places to race in Australia, Alice Springs is the most distinctive. With cobalt skies, […]
Rachel Fenton’s analysis of XCM Worlds
Anyone who follows me, or MarathonMTB on social media will be aware that my World Marathon Championships didn’t exactly go to plan. Around 30km into the 60km race my rear wheel bearings randomly failed. The second descent was pretty hair raising anyway and with my wobbling wheel I felt really unstable on the bike. I […]
Seb Jayne: Courmayeur XCO
The small alpine community of Courmayeur is situated beneath the monolithic Monte Bianco peak on the Italian side of the French-Italian border. Towering at some 4810m Monte Bianco, or otherwise known by its less melodic name Mont Blanc, is Europe’s tallest mountain. A suitable location to hold a mountain bike race! Being a ski town, […]
Aussies and Brits at the 2015 XCM World Championships
The Marathon MTB World Championships are this Saturday, 27 June, and MarathonMTB has been speaking to some of Australia and Great Britain’s representatives to hear what they think of the course, how their preparations are going, and what gear they’ll be using. To find out more about the course, check out our preview, and be […]
Why don’t more women race (plus some advice) – part 2
Since I posted part 1, where I looked at how marketing messages might affect women’s choices about racing, there have been a lot of responses and discussion covering exactly what I was planning to write in part 2. Still, a promise is a promise! First I want to explore some of the issues and then, because […]
Why don’t more women race?
Are there mixed messages in mountain biking? After a couple of years doing media work in mountain bike racing, it’s a question I get asked every now and then by event promoters desperate to grow women’s participation in their competitions. After all, so many women of all ages are taking up the sport – why […]
How to plan a race season
You might think that it’s a bit late (or early) to be thinking about planning a race season in Europe. You might be right. In fact most people have been racing for months now and are fully immersed in the 2015 MTB season. But I took the decision this year not to race early, or […]
What’s wrong with failure?
Failure is still taboo, but if we dared talk about it a little more, maybe we’d fear it a little less. I recently posted a few comments on Facebook about a race that didn’t go so well and was really grateful for the supportive and encouraging comments from my friends, but I also felt guilty. I hadn’t quite […]
Evocities Series kicks off with Ginja Ninja
There was a whole lot of noise late in 2014 about the Evocities MTB series. Said to be the richest marathon series in Australia, it left a few die hard racers disillusioned. Since when were lap based races run on time called a marathon? But lap based races have been the bread and butter for […]