South Africa is climbing out of winter, and momentum is building for the 2014 Bridge Cape Pioneer Trek mountain bike stage race as almost 400 riders from 15 countries have secured their entries, with a number of top names confirmed on the start list. The seven-day race starts on 12 October 2014, covering a distance of […]
Hellfire’s a Coming – 2014 Hellfire Cup Entries close soon
The Hellfire Cup made quite a stir in 2013, being first postponed by fire, and then ravaged by floods on the new date! The organisers were ruffled, but not ruined. And for 2014 the Mountain Bike Stage Race with the festival atmoosphere is heading back to Tasmania for another four days of racing and entertainment. […]
Busting the Crocodile Trophy’s biggest myths
Over the years, like all the most challenging events in the world, the Crocodile Trophy has accumulated a lot of myths about it. It’s nothing but dry desert roads. You won’t get a shower. You might get bitten by a snake. At least two of these are myths. Now let’s bust some more. The Croc […]
Ben Thomas: Racing Mixed with Sally Bigham and the PRO experience
Last month Imogen Smith interviewed Sally Bigham (Topeak-Ergon Racing Team) about the announcement she had made via social media. She would be racing the 2014 Craft Bike Transalp as a mixed pair, but with no assistance from her male team mate. As Bigham pointed out, she wanted to ride over the Alps herself, as her […]
Racing the 2014 Transalp
In 2014, the Craft Bike Transalp ran over 7 days, from the centre of kitsch, Oberammagau, Germany, down to the favourite holiday location of Dutch and Germans alike – Riva del Garda, Italy. Two of our Subaru-MarathonMTB.com Team were riding as a mixed pair, and although Naomi Hansen and Stu Spies didn’t have an ideal […]
Transalp and BIKE Four Peaks set 2015 dates
Just after the 2014 Craft BIKE Transalp finished, the dates for the 2015 event, and that of it’s sister event, BIKE Four Peaks, have been announced. The Transalp has run since 1998, and until 2013 ran as an eight day stage race from southern Germany to Lake Garda, Italy. In 2014, the race shifted to […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 5: The final to Kudowa-Zdroj
Stage 5 – Walim to Kudowa-Zdroj: 80 kilometres What happened? After a whole day of rain yesterday, a bit more overnight, and a cloudy, foggy morning, riders could have been forgiven for wishing that organisers would take pity on them and shorten the 80km Queen Stage of Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 just a little. Yesterday’s 44km […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 3 – Battling the border to Bardo
Stage 3 Stronie Slaskie to Bardo, 67 kilometres What happened? The race left Stronie Slaskie in beautiful weather and after a ‘neutral’ lap of this beautiful town, headed up, and up, and up, on a 13 km gravel climb, and into border country. The race then turned technical, inching through muddy singletrack made of roots […]
Sudety MTB Challenge 2014 Stage 2: Vuelta a Stronie Slaskie
Stage 2: Vuelta a Stronie Slaskie: What happened? After what felt like a brutal stage yesterday on Stage 1, today was a little friendlier, earning a ‘3’ for difficulty rather than the ‘4’ of yesterday (from a scale of 1-6). What this meant was that the climbs were a little less steep, the descents a […]
Sudety MTB Challenge: Prologue and ‘Pure MTB’
The Sudety MTB Challenge has begun, and for a race that promises to be ‘Pure MTB’ and an “Unusual event” plus being “an above average race” I’m surprised more people don’t know about it. Today the Prologue began in the afternoon, one that was forecast to be plagued with rain but in reality just had an […]