The hub for marathon mountain biking
Reigning champions Hans Becking (NED) and Jiri Novak (CZE) just got the company of XCM World Champion, Portuguese Tiago Ferreira and Belgian Roel Paulissen, who both have won the title of the World Marathon Championship (XCM) in their careers. Ferreira is the current world champion, after winning the title at the end of June in Laissac […]
Previous years Euro races have been reduced to ‘not being lapped’ so this year I was eager to try a little something different. At least until my quads get a little bigger. So this year I’m targeting smaller races like this weekend’s Cat 2 at Pec Pod Snezkou in the Czech Republic. After the World Championships […]
The Belgium Mountain Bike Challenge might only be 3 days but it’s impossible not to get wrapped up in it. Eat, race, eat, sleep, repeat. The post race depression quickly kicks in as reality strikes. No sooner had we finished the final 6 hour stage we were on the road driving the 8 hours back […]
Tomorrow the fifth edition of the Belgian Mountain Bike Challenge, in short the BeMC, will kick off in La Roche-en-Ardenne. During three days and 260 km covering 7800 meters of climbing over 500 participants from almost 20 different countries will fight for the final victory. I’m currently sat in our accommodation with 2 nervous Brits, […]
Marathon mountain biking isn’t a glamorous sport. In the past year I’ve got nude in a rainy paddock surrounded by blokes because there was nowhere else to get changed, slept in the boot of a car, smuggled a $7.50 toaster into a hotel room to avoid having to pay for breakfast, and washed filthy kit […]
The first round of the UCI XCO World Cup is on this weekend at Smithfield Mountain Bike Park north of Cairns. The mountain bike world has been flying in to the tropical paradise over the last week or more. As the first round of the World Cup in an Olympic year, and the fact that […]
After 3 days of racing across the Easter weekend a total of 524 cyclists completed the Volcat GP, a UCI category 2 event. Sadly I was amongst the none finishers having picked up the bug on stage 2 which left me too ill to race stage 3. The 2 days I did experience though were […]
This Easter weekend, 25 – 27 March, the Spanish Catalan Hills will host the 3 day UCI category 2 Volcat GP. This year the town of Igualada will host all 3 stages making it logistically easier for participants. Whilst the Elite race competes for UCI points as individuals the open race is run as a […]
This past weekend the UCI category 2 Algarve Bike Challenge took place. The event is a marathon stage race taking place over 3 days. You can read my preview for the event here https://marathonmtbcom.wpengine.com/2016/03/03/algarve-bike-challenge-preview-and-stage-race-catch-up/ The event was a pair’s race so I teamed up with Austrian Uwe Hochenwarter who rides for the Craft Rocky Mountain […]
Stage 4, the finale of Costa Blanca Bike Race 2016, a 7km timetrial. The route looked simple enough on paper but there was a great big dirty 300 meter ascent in the last 2km’s. There was talk of there being sections of 30 or 40 percent gradient, not possible we thought! On arriving to the […]
