Following my first two races, I was keen to put a proper week of training in again and hopefully find some legs before the next race in Switzerland. The first order of business was buying a fan (the mechanical kind, not the people), to get a good night’s sleep in the heat, and a pillow […]
Reflections on the Grand Raid
Related Event: Grand Raid
Grand Raid BCVS is arguably the biggest one day classic in mountain bike marathon racing. It’s an event I’ve always wanted to compete in, 125km from Verbier to Grimentz with over 5000m of ascent through the beautiful Swiss mountains. This year was the event’s 28th edition. I don’t get nervous about too many races but […]
SCOTT-SRAM to new heights in 2017
It’s early 2017 and the world of mountain biking is alight with who is riding what, and what teams have gained or lost riders. With two current Olympic and World XCO champions, the Scott team could only go up, and their new extended partnership with SRAM, plus a new rider, shows they will be the strongest […]
Ariane Kleinhans wins Swiss XCM Championship
Racing for a national title should never be taken for granted, and this past weekend Ariane Kleinhans lined up for the Raid Evolènade in Evolène with the drive and determination to take 1st place. Not 2nd. First. The following insights come from Team Spur manager Nic Lamond. “A rare moment of indecision darted across Ariane Kleinhans’s face […]
BMC release new Teamelite 01 – a Racing Evolution
The Swiss don’t do things by halves, and BMC haven’t been known to take bike design lightly. The Impec Lab has teamed up with the BMC Mountainbike Racing Team to create the new BMC Teamelite 01 – the world’s most technically advanced hardtail mountain bike. Cross-country racing, and marathon racing, demands absolute perfection from your […]
Swiss Epic: Chasing the Cape Epic?
Related Event: ABSA Cape Epic
The Swiss Epic starts on September 15th – now just days away! The announcement in 2013 was eagerly greeted by mountain bikers around the globe, as those who have been know the quality of the singletrack that Swizterland offers. The trails aren’t purpose built bikepark boulevards, but instead they are narrow, well made walking trails […]
Sauser and Landtwing win National Park Bike Marathon
In late August you could often be forgiven for thinking summer was well and truly over in the Swiss Alps. Last weekend, the Grand Raid was raced in clear but very cold conditions, and this weekend, the 13th National Park Bike Marathon, in the Graubunden region of Switzerland. The race gets it’s name as it […]
Grand Raid: The Pas de Lona
Every race has a crux, and in the Grand Raid, which runs from Verbier to Grimentz along the Swiss Alps in the Valais region – it is the Pas de Lona. A vicious hike up a scree slope to well over 2700m, it comes on the penultimate climb, when you have just climbed up about […]
Enduro Training for Marathon Racing
How often are you the rider in a group who claims that they would ride something gnarly “but not on this bike.” Is there a point where the distance based mountain bike racing that many of us love so much becomes a hinderance to the riding and racing we do – and we don’t end […]
Huber and Süss win Swiss XCM Titles
On August 17th, 2014, the 17th Eiger Bike Challenge was set to determine the Swiss Marathon MTB Champions. The race has a traditional route, with a lot of climbing, and very steep descending. The route isn’t representative of the riding around Grindelwald, which hosts the event. The valleys are laced with trails, many of them […]