Life In The Saddle

I had forgotten how much I love mountain biking. I had forgotten how much it hurts. 12 hours of constant drama, constant concentration, and constant excursion was enough to remind me. A podium finish, in Denmark's biggest mountain bike race - the Scott H12 MTB. The race comes at the end of a great week in Denmark with the GripGrab team. Office meetings are bookended by rides through the forest on the way home with the Krøyer brothers. These brief laps of the forest trails are enough to bring back some recollection of what it is to ride MTB; I am ashamed to confess the last time I rode flat bars was 15 months ago; not the ideal prep for a 12 hour mountain bike race. Race day arrives. The weather is perfection; with the early morning light breaking through the trees. I rode this event in 2016 as part of a team, so I know what is coming, yet my stomach is still a bucket of nerves... The start gun fires. 500+ riders clip in, and kick up the dust. Position is everything in this...

On my recent trip to the Italian Dolomites , I rode more elevation gain than I have in any other week previously. I rode longer climbs than I have ever encountered before. I raced, in two Italian mountain bike marathons; the X-Bionic Cup and the Südtirol Sellaronda HERO Dolomites , the latter of which is officially the hardest MTB marathon in the world! I learnt a lot; both about myself, but also about my bike and kit choices. With that in mind, I thought I would share a few of my kit insights; from a week of 'proper' marathon mountain biking! Lesson 1: Take a 'proper' waterproof jacket When it rains in the mountains, it properly rains. Thunderstorms were a frequent feature of my trip; and when one takes you by surprise, you can be left both uncomfortable, and potentially very unsafe. On my first day riding out from Val Gardena, I climbed straight up to the peak of Stevia; above the snow line, at 2,312 metres. On reaching the summit, the heavens opened. I ha...