The 2020 edition of the Audi Nines presented by Falken is currently underway! In collaboration with Bikepark Idarkopf, a crack team of top international riders has gathered in a repurposed stone quarry in Germany’s Hunsrück-Nahe bike region for a session of the superlative kind. In the GoPro Course Preview, fans can get an exclusive first look at this year’s out-of-this-world mountain bike venue. New and Improved Venue In the Course Preview, course builders Sam Reynolds (GBR) and Clemens Kaudela (AUT) are joined by Erik Fedko (GER) to show the ins and outs of the 2020 Audi Nines venue. On the…
Author: Tomas
Austrian town Schladming was our second destination target on our vacation trip. After few days in Swiss Bike Kingdom we went to the one of the most famous austrian bike parks. Local trails are well known for downhill fans – there were few UCI World Cup rounds. Riders fought for points in this place six times, but the last time was in 2009. The town of Schladming Schladming town is located at altitude of 745m above sea level and it’s a small town in federal state of Styria with just under 7000 inhibitants. In the old days it was a…
Graubünden is the largest and easternmost canton in Switzerland. It has international borders with Italy, Austria, and Liechtenstein. The biggest town of Graubünden is Chur, which is also the oldest town in whole country, but in mountainbikes world the best known city is Lenzerheide. It’s only 18km to the south from Chur and it’s known mostly from organization of UCI Mountain Bike Downhill World Championships in 2018 or DH World Cups. Bike Kingdom Bike Kingdom, the most important cycling center in Graubünden, made its debut in the 2020 season. But what excatyl is the Swiss Cycling Kingdom? In a nutshell, it is a…
Three weeks. 15 competition and practice days. 73 hours on the bike. 167 kilometers raced. 4590 meters descended. It’s been a time. The marathon multi-discipline mountain bike series that brought together 25 of B.C.’s top mountain bike athletes at the end of July wrapped today with one final race. For the fastest woman, her race run in the Sun Peaks Air DH was the ultimate victory lap. Vaea Verbeeck both clocked the fastest time of the day amongst the women (a 6:42.593), and with it clinched the overall women’s CLIF Crankworx Summer Series Championship title. It’s really sweet. I love…
Exploring the countryside and mountains whether by bike or foot is becoming steadily more popular. The difficulty of hikers and bikers sharing the increasingly crowded trails is often given too little consideration. The bike destination of Lenzerheide is aware of the problem and as part of its rebranding in 2020 as ‘Bike Kingdom’ has already taken the first steps to create a more peaceful and harmonious coexistence on the trails. The conflict of ‘Biker vs. Hiker’ is an issue that is becoming more obvious due to the current circumstances, even in larger bike destinations like Lenzerheide with over 900 kilometers…
18 days in to back-to-back-to-back racing and training, B.C.’s best mountain bikers still managed to turn it on when it counted, on a grueling, long and physical track in the Maxxis Sun Peaks DH. I love this track. The top two and a half minutes of this one was so fun. It’s fast and straight and everything you want in a Downhill track. It was really physical. Four and a half minutes long. That’s basically the longest Downhill track you’ll find anywhere in terms of World Cup length or Crankworx length.I felt like I needed a bit of redemption after…
The top qualifiers in today’s Sun Peaks Dual Slalom, while tired after 2.5 weeks of racing, came to win today. And win they did. Vaea Verbeeck was the fastest among the Elite Women, making it a clean sweep of Dual Slalom across the series, having won in SilverStar and in Kicking Horse. The rider who calls Coldstream, B.C. home said the win was “definitely welcome” heading into the final two days of competition. It’s definitely getting to the points where we’re so tired, it’s a bit of a weird thing to process now. It’s not something I’ve dealt with before.…
Enduro action in the CLIF Crankworx Summer Series wrapped today, with the final of three Enduros crowning it’s champions at Sun Peaks Resort. It feels really good. It was a little more up and down than the other ones. I had a mechanical on Stage One that was a little bit scary, but after that, got my bike fixed and then from there it was sort of like, ride as fast as you can. Stage Two and Three were so much fun that it wasn’t even like I was racing, besides the pedal at the start of Stage Three. From…
“A good bike rider is a good bike rider,” said Rhys Verner from the finish corral of the final event of the CLIF Crankworx Summer Series in Kicking Horse. The statement was a response to the fact that he and Jesse Melamed, two Enduro specialists, managed to take the two top spots in the Maxxis Kicking Horse Downhill race today. I think that’s what we had all hoped for and were expecting with this series. Kind of random, weird results. It’s definitely interesting, all of us doing different disciplines. We’ve just finished the second week of three, and there’s so…
After a week and a half of dusty tracks and hot days on the CLIF Crankworx Summer Series, racers were thrown a curve ball by Mother Nature. Midday, the skies opened up over the craggy peaks of Golden, B.C. and dust turned to sludge. The ensuing rain delay on qualifications and finals left racers playing the waiting game and battling their inner demons, instead of their opponents. It was pretty mixed emotions really with the rain at the beginning and then a big course hold. Racing’s racing. Always fun and I had a great day.- Lucas Cruz The Pemberton downhiller…
Fabio Wibmer’s style and prowess on his mountain and trials bike are widely known and acclaimed. The 25-year-old not only seeks the highest possible standards when it comes to his riding style, but also for the style of his bikes – best shown by the all new signature lines, that Fabio now presents on his partners’ Magura and SQlab YouTube channels. The true value of a pair of on-point brakes, is demonstrated right at the beginning of the first clip: A quick pull on the lever of the Magura MT5 Fabio Wibmer Signature brake and Fabio’s hectic and busy life…
“I feel like I’m in the best shape of my life right now,” said Finn Iles after taking three of four stages in the Kicking Horse Enduro today, including the longest stage of the day that followed on the heels of a punishing climb. I went a little bit faster on the big, massive pedal because I thought that if I had more time at the top I’d be able to rest and just be ready for the stage… So I was up there and I felt really good. I dropped in, almost crashed within the first three corners because…
As a contact point, it’s a small but crucial component for every rider and a big step for PEMBREE founder Phil Law. With the market launch of its first flat pedal, the British company is pursuing a modern corporate philosophy that should have long been standard in the bicycle industry: manufacturing excellence, product quality and strength coupled with environmental sustainability. With the launch of its first flat pedal targeted at e-MTB, freeride and enduro, the ‘R1V’, Phil is realizing his long-cherished desire to take on a pioneering role within the cycling industry with “innovative products and green solutions”. Establishing PEMBREE…
It was a big day for mountain bike fans around the world, with two Downhill races to follow along with, wrapping the action of Week 1 of the CLIF Crankworx Summer Series. First up, the Maxxis SilverStar DH saw the Summer Series’ mix of 25 downhillers, enduro riders, all-rounders, and even one of the world’s best slopestyle riders line up at the start gate. The race is the first Downhill race to hit the airwaves since Crankworx Rotorua in March. “In the morning I woke up and was like ‘Oh, it’s Downhill day, this is sort of your thing. Time…