Life In The Saddle

Mud. Sweat. Not enough gears. The reality of racing a mountain bike in 'proper' mountains, was quite a revelation. The X-Bionic Cup, was certainly an Xperience... Within moments of leaving the quiet town of Borno, perched high up in the western Dolomites, we hit our first gradient. I'm not talking a short 500 metre 'drag'; more a 3 kilometre gut buster, of 15-20%; off-road. The 500 strong field strung itself out like a giant conga line; weaving its way up the mountain. I clicked down into my 32x40; trying to settle into some sort of rhythm. The realisation that the next 80 kilometres were going to be a real challenge, hadn't taken long to materialise. Then came the mud. The weather over the last few days had featured an abundance of thunderstorms, and it had left its mark on the Dolomite trails. Dust was not a problem; a thick slop coated the path ahead. I was thankful I'd opted for the Hutchinson Toro tyres, with their purposeful all-weather grip; rat...

My bid to ride more off-road tracks, trails and events in 2017, seems to be going well. It started with the acquisition of my Kona Private Jake cyclocross bike, to use for the daily commute; more recently, it involved a 12-hour mountain bike race, with GripGrab in Denmark . Now, I'm en-route to Italy, to race the X-Bionic Cup and the Sellaronda HERO Dolomites. Knobbly tyres are taking over 'Life In The Saddle'! First up, is the X-Bionic Cup. I was extremely fortunate to win a place to race this great event, which is held in the Brescia/Lombardy region of Italy. The Classic course that I'm racing is 81km long, and involves 3,200 metres of elevation gain - It's a good job I'm quite light at the moment! Following the X-Bionic Cup, I'll travel to South Tyrol; an area that I am beginning to feel I know well, and love! (Read my piece on ' Cycling Nirvana in South Tyrol - The Giro Delle Dolomiti '). I'll be based in Val Gardena, high up in the Dolo...