All photos by John Gibson and Jean McAllister for Singletrack 6 Singletrack 6 has grown into a great multi day race in BC as it incorporates a tour of some of the most beautiful towns in Canada with some great singletrack riding. The days are short at around 30-40 km which makes it appealing to the […]
Get red hot at The Redback this winter
In Australia, there is more than just a chill in the air in some parts of the country. With early snow falls in the Alps, and even snow on the ground on the Tablelands last week, it’s clear winter is making its mark for 2018. And while some of the racing is winding up for […]
Epic Rides launch Hail the Trail
After a successful inaugural year raising more than $USD26,000 for trails, the second-annual Epic Rides “Hail the Trail” fundraiser has launched on March 1 with a goal of raising $USD40,000 by raffling off four high-performance mountain bikes worth $USD6,000 each. Hail the Trail will benefit the four host communities in the Epic Rides Off-Road Series […]
BC Bike Race release their 2018 course
The changes to the BC Bike Race course this year are both big and small, but regardless of size they all achieve the same goals; more singletrack. With the introduction of the Cowichan Valley as the new Day 1 Squamish will be the new Day 7 and the communities in between will flow in the […]
Everything you need to know about Alice Springs
Alice Springs is easy to spot on the map of Australia – it’s smack bang in the middle! So while it’s equidistant to every beach in Australia as some locals like to say, the mountain biking in Alice Springs is completely different to what you normally find on the east coast, where most of us […]
The seven stages of marathon mountain biking
Like grief, or a long-term relationship, a marathon mountain bike race is a journey through a spectrum of emotions, from joy to despair. Here’s our take on the seven emotional stages of a marathon mountain bike race. 1. Anticipation You sign up. You call your mates and tell them to sign up. You’re all signed […]
Stromlo school
Since finishing my PhD earlier this year I’ve gone back to tutoring. Sixty per cent of the academic workforce in Australia is casual, an issue that I’m probably not going to explore in a blog about mountain biking, but one that I thought I’d mention in case you’ve ever wondered why I never seem to […]
Redback Wrapup
Yesterday The Redback’s sixth and final stage took in 45 kilometres of desert trails, sand traps, and rock features. We lined up just south of the Telegraph Station, the town’s trail hub, and rolled up the bike path, at a neutral pace. I hoped to catch sight of the dingo munching on a dead kangaroo […]
The Redback rolls on – Stages 4 and 5
If you think of all the sports in all the world, from archery to zorb football, then divide all these sports into their different disciplines, so that gymnastics becomes parallel bars, pommel horse, the rings, beam, and so on, you’d have what – a couple thousand? I can lay these sports end to end on […]
The Redback time trial – Stage 3
I woke this morning on day two of The Redback in Alice Springs to what I thought was a truck reversing into my hotel room. Turns out the wind had blown up overnight and was roaring through the courtyard of the Mercure, shaking the ghost gums and kicking up sand. It brought cooler weather, with […]