To paraphrase Dan Atherton, I couldn’t wait to get school out of the way so I could get on with life, specifically racing and training full time. I finished my Abitur (German High School finals) in May having half-heartedly prepared for both the exams and early season racing. My first race was round one of […]
Norco Revolver MarathonMTB team bike builds
In 2016 our team switched from Bianchi Methanol bikes to Norco Revolver models. This wasn’t a decision made quickly or easily, and spawned from a quick bike test on one of the Revolver models before they were released in early August 2015. As an amateur sporting team, our bikes are purchased. Sometimes up-front, other times […]
Five ways to survive a marathon MTB event
Most mountain bikers will participate in a marathon event, or at the very least a challenging marathon ride, at least once. Marathons usually take four or more hours to complete, and the physical test of pushing the body for that long is surpassed only by the mental challenge of staying focused, positive, and coping with […]
Tankwa Trek steps into the UCI category for 2017
The Tankwa Trek isn’t South Africa’s oldest three-day mountain bike stage race. Neither is it the biggest. But it is firmly on track to become the most internationally recognised, following the addition of two new sponsors and the upgrade to International Cycling Union (UCI) status. The three-day race, which was only established in 2013, has […]
Bike Buller for XC demons
Related Event: Bike Buller
Bike Buller has been growing and evolving over the past years, and it would be easy to look at the line up and think there isn’t as much to offer the cross-country or marathon racer as there used to be. But that would be wrong. While many of the newer events are gravity focused, the […]
Flinging into the deep end at the Highland Fling
Related Event: Camelbak Highland Fling
Photos by Zoe Binder and Richie Tyler The Australian marathon mountain bike calendar has swollen to bursting point, and not every event cuts it. But the Highland Fling has always been amongst the biggest and the best in the country. Rolling into Bundanoon yesterday afternoon, it was easy to be reminded why. Racers and their […]
Andrew Blair’s form guide for the Highland Fling
Related Event: Camelbak Highland Fling
This form guide for the Highland Fling has been provided by Swell-Specialized racer Andrew Blair. It’s November again. That means daylight saving has started, the weather is getting nice, and of course the Highland Fling is just around the corner! As always the field is very strong. Looking through the start list there are a […]
The Bago Bluff marathon: A hard arse addition to the Aussie XCM calendar!
Related Event: Bago Bluff MTB Marathon
The coastal NSW town of Port Macquarie is well renown for its touristy drawcards including stunning beaches, coastal rainforests and abundant Koala population. Less well known is the beauty of the close by hinterland around towns such as Wauchope and Beechwood. Very fertile ground has made way for a healthy dairy industry peppered with the […]
Cape to Cape 2016 Stage 2: bungles in the bushland
After a hectic first stage of the 2016 Cape to Cape, we have an idea of who the strongest riders are in the race. There are lots of them. There truly is one of the strongest fields in Australian mountain biking here in Western Australia. The time gaps from the first stage were small, and […]
Cape to Cape 2016: Stage One. Enter sand man.
Related Event: Cape to Cape
The Cape to Cape mountain bike race has gone from strength to strength, building with such a crescendo that the event in southern Western Australia that attracts riders from the local towns, Perth, the east coast and from overseas. With well over 1000 racers, Cape to Cape is one of the biggest mountain bike stage […]