With clear blue skies on the drive into Megeve, we got a real sense of just how tough this race was going to be, mountains rising up from the valley all around, many still with lingering snow, the snow covered peaks of the Massif du Mont Blanc in the distance. Alan Colville and myself had come...
On the recent trip out to Austria for the Alpentour Trophy, we came across this gem of a place to stay; Austrian-alps.com, deep in the heart of some amazing riding and skiing areas, just 60 minutes south east of Salzburg, in the Pongau area. Its lesser known status means smaller crowds and...
Stage 4 was the TT. only a mere 14km, but up a mountain, 1100m of climbing. This wasn't a head down fireroad bash up the to the top either, a mixture of trails, twists and turns broke it up, making the kms tick feel like they ticked by a little faster and the pain a little less! Riders went...
Stage 3 was the Queen stage, not long at 67km, but with 3100m of ascent and the weather report was looking tough too, heavy rain all day. Thankfully the unpredictable mountain weather did its thing and changed for the better, overcast and humid, with a just a splattering of rain. The main climb of...
Today we got to see the majesty of these surrounding peaks and ride in glorious sunshine. With 58km and 2900m of climbing, which amounted to 2 big climbs it was going to be a tough day in the saddle. Today was a proper adventure into the mountains, past raging rivers, high waterfalls, singletrack...
What a beautiful part of the world. The town of Schladming, nestled deep in the mountains, but we wouldn't get to see much of it today. The forecast was, unfortunately, right. Rain. Non stop all day with the mountains shrouded in cloud cover. Quite a contrast to the heat yesterday, basking in SS...
The folks at The Pioneer have made a few changes for 2o17 edition of this stunning race, 20% brand new course for 2017! After a few month's of riding, consulting and planning the 2017 course is ready. Prologue Highlights. Staying true to the epic nature of this event and ensuring a...
The Alpentour Trophy is on next week 9th - 12th June. Our Endurance Ed, Scott, is heading out. 4 stages, 'only' 195km, but 8800m of climbing, with a 14km uphill TT for stage 4. That's straight up a mountain, 1100m of climbing! It is all based out of the picturesque, Austrian town of Schladming, not...
It has been amazing to watch just how this event has developed over its past 5 editions. From humble beginnings with a cap of 270 riders, it now welcomes nearly 550, with a good number of elite riders and strong riders across all other categories. Its popularity and renown is such that it now...
Just arrived for a build and in flight testing is the all new Niner RKT RDO, their new go to race rig for xc/marathon. A redesign from the Jet 9 RDO, which now sits on that blurred line between xc and trail bike. The RKT is designed for one thing, speed, as Niner's no compromise frame for fast...
From the 13th-15th May is the 5th edition of the BeMC. 5 years ago, the BeMC started out as the brainchild of Koenraad Vanschoren and Thomas Vercaemst, 2 strong mountain bikers who wanted to create the hardest mountain bike tour in the Benelux. With a number of single day marathons in the country...
A little late.....Standing on that start line, it felt almost sad that this adventure was coming to an end, that stage race bubble we had been living in for the past 7 days, race, eat, sleep, making new friends and catching up with old ones. All those hours training, on and off the bike, for the...