Latest Mountain Bike News

By Raimund Matros

“My brand new Liteville 601 and me trying some difficult lines. I can not really hide my bike trials roots, although I’m now looking for more natural lines, trying to ride with more flow, and I am bridging the gap into freeride. Part two is coming soon.”

Scott Swisspower’s Nino Schurter has reclaimed his series lead having won the third round of the XCO World Cup in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic! Schurter, who also celebrated his 26th birthday on race day has now won two out of the three races this year.

Specialized rider and local hero Jaroslav Kulhavy gave it his all and was leading for most of the race, keeping the large crowds happy, but was beaten to the finish line in the final stage of the race and finished just six seconds behind Schurter.

Ralph Näf had a fantastic race, starting on the fourth line, within minutes he had sprinted up to fifth place, where the Multivan Merida rider managed to stay, earning his first podium finish in two years! Reflecting on the race Näf said: “Although I had planned to do differently, I lacked a bit of self-confidence to take the lead in technical sections. Due to the accordion effect I lost some terrain and had to give chase repeatedly, which cost me some power.

“The fact that I still scored a top5 finish and thus step on the podium gives me an enormous mental boost. Ths success comes at the right time, right in the middle of the Olympic selection. With his fifth-place finish, Näf indeed has scored a substantial point in his favour. Teammate José Hermida had a less successful race, starting on the front row but falling back into 18th place just minutes later.  Hermida worked hard throughout the race and clawed his way up to a tenth place finish.

Double Olympic champion Julien Absalon had an off day. “I got sick on Wednesday and I didn’t have the power in my legs to continue,” he said after giving up the race. He crashed in the first lap and had to run in pain, so retired after the fourth lap. “I was really tired. Now I just want to save my energy and recover properly before the next World Cup round in La Bresse.”Despite not finishing the race, Absalon still remains in fifth place in the overall standings.

Elite Men Top FIve

1 Nino Schurter 1:26.46

2 Jaroslav Kulhavy + 0.06

3 Burry Stander + 0.17

4 Marco Aurekio Fontana + 0.46

5 Ralp Näf + 0.47

Full results can be found here.

Danny Hart and Manon Carpenter have won the second round of the BDS in Fort William, after bad weather forced organisers to bring the race a day forwards.

Halo BDS main man Si Paton said: “We knew from Thursday that Sundays weather was looking horrific, with severe weather warnings in place. Hence we e-mailed every racer on Thursday morning before10:30am to inform them that seeding would be moved forward to Saturday afternoon. At registration today we told riders to make sure seeding counted as it may well turn into their race runs. Come 16:00 on Saturday afternoon Nevis Range paid for a detailed weather report which forecasted a severe weather warning for Sunday, with 1-2 inches of rain and a SW wind gusting up to 100mph.

“After talks with all the major team managers, the UCI and British Cycling Commissaires as well as Nevis Range I came to the decision to cancel Sundays event and run with seeding times as race runs. We therefore went straight to podiums after 18:00 allowing everyone to pack up safely in good weather. It’s never an easy decision to call an event off, especially with the costs involved to the 350 attending racers and their eagerness to ride and race. The decision was not taken lightly and overall riders, marshals and spectators safety is paramount to the Halo BDS organisation.”

With the World Cup returning to Fort William in just a few weeks now, many riders used the race as a chance to get in some extra practice and get to grip with the course changes. It was at Fort William last year that Danny Hart began his World Cup campaign in earnest, and his win here today is even more impressive considering he lost his chain in the top motorway section and was forced to ride the rest of the track chainless!

Elite Men Top Five

1 Danny Hart 4:52.111

2 Marc Beaumont 4:52.632

3 Matt Simmonds 4:54.821

4 Remi Thirion 4:55.392

5 Josh Bryceland 4:56.896

In the women’s race Manon Carpenter once again managed beat Rachel Atherton to first place, no doubt a great confidence boost ahead of the next World Cup round. Jess Stone and Emma Wareham also returned to the BDS podium finishing in third and fifth place respectively, with Katy Curd finishing fourth.

Elite Women Top Five

1 Manon Carpenter 5:31.180

2 Rachel Atherton 5:32.493

3 Jess Stone 6:07.911

4 Katy Curd 6:27.741

5 Emma Wareham

Let’s hope the weather is better for round three in Glen Coe!

Photos by Si Paton

The RockyRoads UCI Mountain Bike World Cup presented by Shimano returns to Nove Mesto na Morave in the Czech Republic for round three of the cross country series. Despite hosting a World Cup for the first time last year, Nove Mesto was voted top cross country event of 2011 by the riders, teams and press.

Watch the women’s race here.

The Halo British Downhill Series makes a return to Fort William this weekend with 350 of the World’s fastest racers are booked in to tackle the toughest course on the World Cup circuit. Over 70 Elites are booked to race, aiming to stop GT’s Marc Beaumont in his tracks after his run away success at round 1 in Combe Sydenham. Giant’s Danny Hart has been on track since Wednesday, getting in early practice before the likes of Peaty, Bryceland, Beaumont, Bond, Smith, Lehikoinen, Buchanan, Cunningham and many more get stuck in.

Grab a chance to get autograph signings and photo opportunities with UCI World Champion Danny Hart who will be at the opening proceedings on Sunday at 10:50am, before he races! The course is probably the toughest on the World Cup circuit and will be physically and technically challenging and your race run will be between on average 5-7minutes long.

Grading – orange extreme (orange extreme is the new black!)
Access – gondola uplift.
Length – 2.82km
Start altitude – 655m
Finish altitude – 100m
Vertical descent – 555m
Finish – Nevis Range car park
Fastest time 5:00 minutes.

Saturday
09:30 Open practise for all riders.
18:00 Course Closed.

Sunday
08:30 Open Practise for all.
11:00 Timed Seeding Run.
14:00 One Timed Race Run.
17:45 Podium.

Award Ceremonies will take place 15 minutes after the last rider has crossed the line.

Saturday and Sunday 12th/13th May 2012.
Halo British Downhill Series Round 2.
Nevis Range
Aonach Mor access road
Torlundy,
Fort William
PH33 6SQ
Telephone: 01397 705825

Punta Ala in Tuscany played host to the second 2012 PRO race of the Superenduro series, the most progressive enduro competition based in Italy. PRO races are prestigious and difficult, the ultimate test for the real enduro rider.

Filmed and edited by rockinthemiddle.com

And as a bonus we’ve also got a video interview from the Superenduro team with Dan Atheron, after taking part in the race.

Only four weeks to go!

Time has simply flown past and it feels that we only left the Oktoberfest a few days ago. But that is clearly not the case and it is now only four weeks to go before the 11th anniversary of the Ritchey Bikefest powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport will kick off on the 9-10th June on the famous trails of Ashton Court, Bristol.

So if you haven’t made plans for the 2nd biggest MTB event in the country which combines great racing with the Bristol typical laid back atmosphere then better make sure you jump onto the entry page and secure your entry now!

In 2012 the Ritchey Bristol Bikefest powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport will return once more to the fantastic event location of Ashton Court, Bristol. But this year we got something new. Tested during the Oktoberfest and given some star ratings the June Bikefest will also run on the new Ashton Court course in 2012 – from beginning to end. The infamous 12 hour team/solo endurance race will take place on Saturday the 9th June and will be followed the day after (10th June) by the 6 hour team/solo event and the 3 hour ‘novice’ event.

Both days are aimed at the experienced rider as well as the newcomer. We will have solo, pairs and teams of 4 categories on both days. All team sizes can be entered in the team open, team ‘old gits’ (average age of riders needs to be 40+ years) or single speed category (please note – no single speed category on Sunday). There are obviously mixed teams and pairs in the running as well. Exception to this rule is the 3 hour novice event will have teams of 2-4 and a solo category.

Over the last 12 months the Ashton Court course has seen a major overhaul and has turned into a superb all weather single track heaven which runs super fast and has fantastic flow. The almost 10km long loop which has around 155m of climbing in it was first used in the 2011 Oktoberfest and was one of the major highlights of the event.

Since then it has seen a huge rise in popularity with thousands of riders making their way to ride the Bristol trails from all over the south west and in fact the country. The Bikefest will use the course in its entirety and will have some Bikefest specific additions thrown in for good measures. To see the course details please click here.

The Ritchey Bikefest is renowned for having (pretty much) everything just on the edge of the start and finish area. This year will be no exception with the campground being just on the edge of the track and only a stone throw away from the start/finish/handover and the event venue. The showers and the overflow campground will be across the road at the Cotham Park RFC (details here) due to lack of drainage in Ashton Court.

12 hour racing is not just about riding your bike fast…there is so much more to it. To make the weekend complete we will have once more live music on Saturday night as well as our Bikefest DJ playing some tunes on Friday evening as well as Saturday afternoon. The Bikefest bar will be open on Friday afternoon/evening as well as on Saturday afternoon/evening and will have a broader selection of drinks available in 2012. Ian in his Drop-Off bus will be serving food starting on Friday evening all the way through the weekend.

Besides brands like Ritchey, NoTubes, Torq, Avanti, Merida and Salsa to name just a few, we will also have the guys from Progold on site supplying lots of cleaning and lubing samples to the signing on bags as well as running a free lube station for the competitors throughout the weekend.

Further to that we will have the guys from local bike guiding and skills instruction company Pedal Progression on site offering free taster sessions throughout the weekend as well as get involved in the Bristol Bikefest Kids Race. More details on what the guys have planned please go to the Bikefest Website.

To secure your entry into the Ritchey Bristol Bikefest powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport make sure that you get your details in quickly. The solo category of the 12hour Bikefest race is getting rather busy and will be closed very soon. All the details on the Bristol Bikefest and the Oktoberfest including downloadable entry forms and the online entry can be found on the updated entry page.

For all other info on the Ritchey Bristol Bikefest including directions, rider briefing, facilities and general event deails, and entry facilities, secure online entry and downloadable entry form,  please go to www.bike-fest.com.

Any email that ends with the words: “Lets make a party” needs sharing!

On the 20th May we will be holding a Transition Trail day at the Forest of Dean for Wanton & Furious cycling.

Kyle & Sam from Transition USA will be in attendance, to talk to consumers & ride with them.

Campbell Coaching & Clive from MTB Skills will also be there to offer free skills taster sessions.

Fly Up Downhill, FOD’s uplift service will be running exclusively for Transition riders and is  FREE, so let all your Transition owners know that its FREE uplift for them on the 20th May.

We will also have some demo bikes available

All transition Dealers are invited to attend & so are you!

It’s quite unusual to see a Sam Reynolds edit where he manages to keep his clothes on throughout. With an awesome start to the season Monster Energy decided to film a ‘day in the life’ video of their rider. This edit follows Sam through 24 hours giving you an insight into an average day in his life. Sit back, relax and get behind the scenes with Reynolds as he hits the trails, smashes the mini bikes, hangs with good friends Olly Wilkins and Brendan Fairclough and parties into the night.

The Bandite Bike Park Punta Ala proved to be the perfect venue for the second PRO round of the Superenduro Powered by SRAM in 2012. It also marked a return to the top for Andrea Bruno, in a race that came down to just a handful of seconds.

In round one at Golfo di Diano Marina it was an all-Italian podium, but would it be again here in Punta Ala? The British invasion of the series continued with Dan Atherton, Al Stock, Paul Aston and James McKnight making the journey over. There were also Slovenian riders, Swiss riders and, for the first time at a Superenduro, a Portuguese rider. Pro downhiller Marco Fidalgo decided a Superenduro race would be the perfect testing ground for his prototype Berg enduro bike.

Punta Ala always provides a real test for the riders, as the race is 60km long and each stage is very different. Racing has been close in the Superenduro series over the last few years, but nobody could have expected how close it was this weekend.

Andrea Bruno returned to his winning ways, regaining the red leaders plate with his first win of the year. Al Stock looked to be on the verge of his first Superenduro win, but crashed hard on stage three, coming in second, still only 2.3 seconds off the win. Just 0.7 seconds behind Al was Davide Sottocornola and another tenth of a second back was Dan Atherton. Fifth, and what would usually still be close, was Swiss rider, Lukas Anrig, 12.3 second back.

The womens race was over the same, demanding 60km course as the mens race. Maria Federica Zanotto  took the win, ahead of  Marianna Uttini and Chiara Pastore. Fourth place went to Valentina Macheda, followed by Laura Rossin.

Al Stock’s strong race started on stage one, The Guardian, taking a 4.2 second win over Lukas Anrig and 6.1 seconds from Alex Lupato. Winner of the prologue the day before, Dan Atherton was 8.3 seconds, followed by David Sottocornola 12.8 seconds off the lead. Rain had been forecast the day before, but held off, giving the advantage to riders who stayed on the dry tyres.

On Stage two Rock-Oh Andrea Bruno came into his own on the technical lower section to take the win. Davide Sottocornola was 4.8 seconds back, followed by Al Stock 10.5 seconds back, Leoluca Scurria 13.2 seconds back and Dan Atherton 13.4 seconds back. Vittorio Gambirasio rounded out the top five, just 15.4 seconds back after a small crash. Alex Lupato’s hope of victory were dashed as a drivetrain problem lost him more than a minute. After stage two was the quick break at the pits, where he re-built his bike and headed back out to try and at least win a few stages.

Lukas Anrig had other ideas on stage three though and put 5.5 seconds into Lupato and dropping him to second place. Atherton was third, 6.4 seconds back and Bruno seven. Gambirasio took another fifth 7.4 seconds back, four tenths ahead of Sottocornola who was edged in to sixth. A Stock blew his lead with a head-first crash near the top of the stage and threw the race wide-open.

On the final stage, The Sentinel, Atherton took the win, just ahead of Stock. Second wasn’t quite enough for Al to make up the time he lost to Andrea Bruno on stage three though. Sottocornola grabbed third and a fourth for Bruno, 3.5 seconds behind Atherton was enough to seal the win.

There is now a two week break before the sprint race at Palazzuolo sul Senio, in the heart of the Apennines on May 27.

Videos to come!