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’. […]
The Pioneer mountain bike stage race is just hours away – or it’s started if you’re reading this down the track. As a 7 day race along New Zealand’s Southern Alps, The Pioneer presents it’s own unique requirements, but also very similar ones to other mountain bike stage races around the world. We often get […]
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 […]
The Bestmed Tour of Good Hope’s international reputation was further enhanced this week after confirmation that five-time Cape Epic champion Karl Platt will be on the start line in early March. The German will lead a strong team in South Africa’s premier road stage race that stretches over five days and 490km in the Cape […]
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 […]
After a thorough search, three-time Absa Cape Epic winner, Ariane Lüthi, has announced her new teammate to join her on Team Spur for the 2017 edition of the world’s most prestigious mountain bike stage race. Germany’s Adelheid Morath will support Lüthi’s attempt to become the only female rider to win four titles. Morath replaces Denmark’s […]
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 […]
“I will not rest until I sip cappuccino in starting block A” This was a strong statement, delivered by a friend I made at my first mountain bike stage race, the 2008 Transalp. Thomas Dooley had uttered the sentence with the mix of determination and irony that I would come to learn typified his personality. […]
