Bikes of the 2014 Absa Cape Epic The Absa Cape Epic is always a good opportunity to get a good idea of what’s going on in the world of cross-country mountain bike technology. It’s such a testing event on both riders and kit that you get a mix of super-light and more real-world equipment, all […]
Cairns – a launch pad to Europe
Eight flights, one world cup, two crashes, four countries and one yoga session in an airport. These past few weeks have been very busy, and as you can see from the video below, all did not go smoothly. I knew the Cairns World Cup was going to be a rocky affair but I hoped that […]
What a Marathon racer learnt from the Cairns World Cup
I didn’t expect to come away from watching the Cairns UCI MTB World Cup with anything other than a feeling of inadequacy. I was there with a green media pass around my neck to report for Australian Mountain Bike magazine on how XC racers are dealing with the increasing ‘gnarliness’ of World Cup tracks – […]
2014 Absa Cape Epic review and wrap-up
2014 Cape Epic review A big adventure What an adventure. For a very small minority of the participants, the Absa Cape Epic is a race, pure and simple. Nino Schurter, Jose Hermida, Rudi van Houts, Christoph Sauser – those guys are all racing, throwing it down every day for eight days, sprinting for stage wins, […]
2014 Roc Laissagais
“You’re going to do what? After the last couple of times? Are you sure?” Such was the comment of various riding mates upon hearing that I would be returning to the Roc Laissagais in 2014. 2012 – one week after the Cape Epic. It turns out that one week isn’t really long enough to recover […]
The 2014 Cape Epic – in Summary
The ABSA Cape Epic is a brute of a race. Once you have won the first round against the race, securing an entry, you have almost a year of mental burden. You must train, you must be prepared. Do not take the Cape Epic lightly, as it will destroy you. Finishing this race in one […]
Absa Cape Epic 2014 stage 7 – it’s all over
The Absa Cape Epic is over for another year. If you’ve been riding, there are a lot of things you’re going to miss. And if you haven’t, there are a lot of things you have missed, but fear not, because entries just opened for next year… Things you’re going to miss The sheer simplicity of […]
Oceania Championships 2014
If you have heard anything about the track that was used for the recent Oceania Championships in New Zealand, you will probably understand where this first paragraph is headed. It was a proper XC track. Not a track you would take grandma on to show her how to ride a mountain bike. It didn’t take […]
Cyprus Sunshine Cup: Czech duel in Voroklini
The last stage of Cyprus Sunshine Cup at Voroklini ended up in a Czech duel. Ondrej Cink took the win in front of Jan Skarnitzl. Third place went to Thomas Litscher (Sui). In a tight finish of women’s race, Jolanda Neff (Sui) was able to pass Blaza Klemencic (Slo) to take her second win in […]
I.Idro Drain-Bianchi MTB Launch with High Ambitions
Bianchi MTB team’s official presentation took stage in late February at the Sala Viterbi at the Province of Bergamo, Italy. Back from a successful worldwide campaign, the historical Italian offroad team – changing its name from TX Active-Bianchi to i.idro DRAIN-Bianchi and supported also in 2014 by Italcementi – introduced its seven-rider 2014 roster, while […]