Here in Australia, we don’t have the amount of historical paths and routes that fall into everyday use like some parts of the world. While we still have plenty of examples where indigenous routes of travel have become major traffic corridors, we don’t have quite the same connection with the lived history. We don’t have […]
Hometown heroes shine at 2019 Attakwas Extreme
Pyga Euro Steel’s Matthys Beukes has been crowned Momentum Health Attakwas Extreme presented by Biogen Champion for the second consecutive time. In the elite women’s category, 46-year old Yolande de Villiers (Team Altes Landhaus powered by Madmacs Kawasaki) stormed to victory to become the oldest winner of the country’s “toughest one day mountain bike race.” The event doubles as […]
Hynek and Fagerhaug partner for Cape Epic
With the end of the Canyon Topeak Factory Racing team for 2019, the team’s riders are all doing different things. Sally Bigham has retired, Alban Lakata has joined Team Bulls, and Kristian Hynek has just announced he has joined Vitalo – Future Cycling. The 2014 Absa Cape Epic winner will race the 2019 event alongside […]
FIRST RIDES: Scope O2 carbon MTB wheels
Not a week goes by without another carbon wheel option coming up – although this seems far more common in road cycling than in mountain biking. Still, the options are growing. And you know what? There are lots of really good options coming out. I have been really happy with wheels from Kappius, rims from […]
The Pioneer Stage five – Final stage brings a few surprises
Tired legs roll out of Bannockburn This morning we got up before dawn and munched through breakfast in the dark. It’s always unbelievable to me that, given my usual appetite, when we get into the depths of a stage race I find myself completely without interest in food, so that eating is stripped of any […]
The Pioneer Stage 4 – Mt Difficulty and other difficult climbs
Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Click. Beep. Ok I’m definitely in my smallest gear, but how is that possible? I’ll just check again. Beep. Yep. Shit. Getting going again Today Mike and I started Stage four of The Pioneer with the goal of making it to the first feed zone, then reassessing things after our nightmare […]
Pioneer hits the Alex trails for the Queen Stage
Why is it that we only crash when things are great? All those awful, cold, wet grovels where you’d pay good money for a legitimate Out, nothing. Nothing goes wrong. Except maybe a flat tyre, but that’s fixable. Now when you’re ripping through trails, performing well, loving it – that’s when life deals you a […]
Pioneer Prologue-2018 event kicks off in challenging conditions
Related Event: The Pioneer
Cold. It was cold. We got up at 5:10am, which if you’ve just arrived from Australia feels a lot like 2:10am, and bolted some breakfast before heading for the first shuttle up to Coronet Peak, the ski station that towers above Queenstown and just happened to be under a whole lot of snow just a […]
Croc Trophy Update; Switch of Swiss in GC lead!
Related Event: Crocodile Trophy
Stages 4 and 5 of the 2018 Crocodile Trophy brought with it a shake up in the General Classification lead for Men and Women. The first 3 stages took riders over the great dividing range to the small town of Herberton which was the starting point for the stage 4 Individual Time Trial, a 38km […]
Stage set for 24th Crocodile Trophy in Cairns
Related Event: Crocodile Trophy
The iconic Crocodile Trophy has long established itself as one of the most difficult and spectacular MTB stage races on the calendar. Somewhat of a pioneer in this format of MTB racing The Crocodile Trophy has seen many adaptations since it’s first edition in 1995 that ran from Darwin to Cairns. The race now takes […]