Posts Tagged ‘mountain bikes’

This inaugural event, not really a race, is to be a multi-surface cycling festival and will involve 3 days of cycling on the best trails and roads in the Marin Headlands. It will be held on the 23rd – 25th July, 2010. Organised and run by AdventureCORPS Inc. an athlete-run firm producing and promoting ultra-endurance and extreme sports events, it promises to be a weekend of adventure and fun.

This event sees a longterm dream coming true. Ever since his  article on ‘Mountain Bikes: Who needs them?’ in the February, 1993 issue of Bicycle Guide, Chris Kostman of AdventureCORPS has dreamed of hosting a rally to celebrate the “Any Bike, Anywhere” ethos and lifestyle.

In his opinion, Rough Riding is a state of mind, a riding style with limitless freedom and an all-pervasive sense of adventure. The Rough Riders slogan is “Any Bike, Anywhere” and the general idea is to use as little technology as possible while traversing a variety of riding surfaces and terrains.

The region chosen for the event, the Marin Headlands, offers truly spectacular cycling with views of the San Francisco Bay, Alcatraz, Mt. Tamalpais (“Mt. Tam”), Tiburon, Mill Valley, the Bay Bridge, a bit of the Golden Gate Bridge, and dramatic, rugged Northern California coastline.

Some consider the route chosen to be “mountain bike territory,” but this route is 99% rideable by an accomplished Rough Rider on a road bike with 32mm cyclocross tyres (or on a cyclocross bike), and perhaps 90-95% rideable on a road bike with 28mm road tyres.

It promises to be a great weekend in an absolutely spectacular cycling paradise.

Friday will be check-in, get to know the other Rough Riders and collect your goodie bag. There will be a very hilly to mountainous ride all on paved roads with option for a trails bypass from Ross to the Fairfax-Bolinas Rd and a pizza party in the evening.

Saturday will be the epic, ultimate rough riding adventure with roughly 55 miles and approximately 6000′ of elevation gain and features single track, double track, fire road, gravel road, abandoned paved road, and newly paved road.

Sunday sees an 8 a.m. start with a ride up Railroad Grade to the summit (East Peak) of Mt. Tam, time to enjoy the view, pose for more photos, and a regretful return.

Admission to the Rough Riders Rally is $169. There is a 100 rider limit and it will SELL OUT! Sign up NOW! Please note, once the event is sold out, it is SOLD OUT. Photo ID is required to check-in for the event. Entry includes: Friday evening Pizza Party, Saturday evening Awards Dinner, route maps, the opportunity to enter the bike ridden that weekend in the Bike Show, the opportunity to enter photos in the Photography Competition, Rough Riders Rally Magazine, Rough Riders water bottle, Rough Riders patch, Rough Riders decal, Rough Riders pin, Rough Riders cycling cap, AdventureCORPS tote bag, Hammer Nutrition samples, plus discounted services from Tam Bikes…

Bike races everywhere and it’s our intention to draw your attention to some of the best ones – in our humble opinion anyway!

Yesterday we told you about the Cape Epic due to be run in March/April 2010. Another epic race also scheduled for April – 17th April to be exact – is the Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic. The organisers are AdventureCORPS of Furnace Creek 508 (A week of extreme cycle races… now it’s FURNACE CREEK 508)and Badwater Ultramarathon ( The Death Valley Badwater Ultra-Marathon) fame.

Mount Laguna is one of California’s best kept secrets of the outdoor world. The 6,000 ft peak is just 50 miles east of San Diego. It’s a magnificent and beautiful place.

The 2010 Mount Laguna Bicycle Classic is the newest AdventureCORPS cycling event. The race is 103 miles long with 3 different ascents of  Mount Laguna, San Diego’s highest point, totalling 9,890 ft total elevation gain.

The first ascent will be via Sunrise Highway from the north, the next via the fabled and car-free Kitchen Creek from the south-east, and the final ascent is by the little-known and truly epic Pine Creek drainage from the west. There are just three stop signs and NO traffic lights on this incredible route which starts and finishes in Pine Valley, CA! All 3 loops begin and end in or near Pine Valley, CA.

• Loop One is a clockwise route from Pine Valley to Guatay, north on 79, around Lake Cuyamaca, and south on Sunrise Hwy over Mt. Laguna. (It does not quite return to Pine Valley.) Distance: 43.4 miles; Elevation Gain: 3770 feet.

• Loop Two is a counter-clockwise route from Sunrise Hwy east on Old Hwy 80, north on Kitchen Creek (which is closed to cars for 3.7 miles in the middle), north on Sunrise Hwy to the Mt. Laguna summit, then south on Sunrise Hwy and back to Pine Valley. Distance: 33.6 miles; Elevation Gain: 3300 feet.
• Loop Three is a clockwise route from Pine Valley, west on Old Hwy 80, then up the one-of-a-kind Pine Creek Road (as featured in the event logo) all the way to Sunrise Hwy, then south over Mt. Laguna and back to Pine Valley. Distance: 25.7 miles; Elevation Gain: 2820 feet (2000 feet of which is gained in the 10.2 miles on Pine Creek Road).

The time limit for the race is 12 hours.

The following video, with thanks to AdventureCORPS, as well as showing you a fabulous slideshow of photographs from the region, also gives you detailed route maps for you to study.

Keep your eyes open for these somnolent beasts on the highway:

Please note that the Mount Laguna Classic has a 300 rider limit – once it is sold out is SOLD OUT. If you want to participate in this $79 race – sign up NOW with www.adventurecorps.com

AdventureCORPS’ events tend to sell out quickly so don’t think about this for too long if you’re interested in participating…

As you know we are all about extreme sports and in our endeavours to bring you interesting news and stories we do a lot of research into all kinds of whacky things that people get up to both in their spare time and professionally. One name that keeps popping up all the time is Red Bull. Beyond the high energy drink what is it with Red Bull?

Red Bull was founded by Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian businessman and billionaire, whose parents were Croatian and who currently owns a 49 per cent share in the energy drinks giant, Red Bull GmbH. He was born on May 20 1944 in St. Marein im Murztal in the region of Styria.

Dietrich Mateschitz

Life was fairly ordinary for Mateschitz as he grew up in Austria. He attended the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and graduated with a marketing degree after ten years.

After finishing his degree, Mateschitz went on to work for Proctor & Gamble, where he was employed within their marketing department. He progressed up the career ladder to eventually become the marketing director for Blendax tooth paste. It was during one particular business trip that the initial idea for a stimulant beverage began to take shape.

Dietrich Mateschitz

In 1982, when sitting in a hotel in Hong Kong and suffering from jetlag, Mateschitz was musing into the popularity of ‘tonic drinks’ that were big sellers in the Far East when the idea of selling similar beverages in the West came to him. He then went on to form a partnership with a couple of local businessmen who were already producing a drink called ‘Krating Daeng’ (Thai water buffalo) and it was from this that Red Bull was born.

He founded Red Bull GmbH with his Thai partners Chaleo & Chalerm Yoovidhya. It was agreed that Mateschitz would run the company and after much research, testing and set backs, the caffeinated energy drink was finally launched in Austria in 1987.

Red Bull was an instant hit in it’s native country and as sales continued to grow, it was launched in other European countries. Not everything went so swimmingly though. Sales in Germany suffered as supply couldn’t meet the demand of 1 million cans per day and the product had to be re-launched six months later. France and Denmark banned the sale of the drink due to health concerns over the high caffeine level and the use of the chemical taurine.

But health issues aside, over the years Red Bull has managed to take a strong foothold in the competitive drinks market in Europe and America. In most countries, it lines up third behind the likes of Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the total number of cans consumed. By 2008 sales of Red Bull had increased by 17% on the previous year to 3bn Euros ($4.4bn; £2.3bm) having shifted 3.5bn cans in 143 different countries. These impressive statistics are mainly due to clever marketing which has increased the profile of the drink through non-traditional advertising streams.

From the outset the Red Bull brand has been associated with a variety of glamorous and exciting sporting events such as mountain-biking, snowboarding and paragliding. With Mateschitz being the marketing strategist that he is, he saw the potential on offer by tapping into large audiences and giving the Red Bull brand a “cool” image by being linked with sports and athletes. The profile of the brand seemingly increasing as a result of the many extreme sporting events the company sponsored.

So what are the extreme sports that the company sponsors. What follows is a compendium of just some of those extreme sports.

• Rugby Union
• Downhill Mountain Bike Racing
• BMX
• Snowboarding
• Freestyle Soccer
• Aerobatic Flying
• Kite Surfing
• Skate Boarding
• BASE Jumping
• Soccer
• Athletics
• Cricket
• Wake Boarding
• High Diving
• FMX
• Free Skiing
• Formula 1
• Cliff Diving
• Air Racing
• NASCAR
• Surfing
• Rallying
• Crashed Ice
• Break Dance
• Para Gliding
• MX Racing
• MX Freestyle
• Daytona
• Art
• Music
• Dance

Well that won’t be all – we are bound to have missed a few out – other than the energy drink then this is what Red Bull is about – marketing. It sponsors events and individuals in these high profile sporting events – what brilliant marketing – something Mr Mateschitz obviously learnt very well during his ten years at university.

To add to the fun we thought you would appreciate a couple of videos of extreme sports that Red Bull is supporting. The first, not surprisingly from redbull is of some truly awesome action from Red Bull Rampage – mountain biking in Utah.

The second is again from redbull of the Snowscrapers event held in New York in February which was won by Shayne Pospisil.

This one from redbullusa demonstrates the humourous side of Red Bull – some crashes from soapbox racing at an event they sponsored held in Seattle.

No doubt about it – a great combination of fun, sport and adrenaline – keep up the good work Red Bull.

Due to popular demand, the deadline to enter the New World Tour de Wakatipu mountain bike event has been extended to the 5th April, 5pm. This is the inaugural 2009 Easter event. Ignore the previous deadline and spread the word!

ENTRY FEE:
$65 per person
$45 Junior (19 years and under)

For all entries $5 go to Cure Kids.

We first told you all about this event a few weeks ago… 7th March to be exact, and it seems as though so much attention has been drawn to the event that the response has been fantastic – 500 confirmed entrants so far and expected to climb to 700 or so.

Remember that the 45km event takes place in previously inaccessible parts of the district, traversing a course from Millbrook Resort to Chard Farm. The entries for the event now close on Sunday 5th April. The race is on Easter Saturday, 11th April.

The event, which caters for elite, sport and recreational mountain bikers, “has caught the imagination of people from all over the region and other parts of the South Island,” says Geoff Hunt, director of Southern Traverse and organisers of the event.

“This is an event which offers people exclusive access to the right
bank of the Kawarau River. The chance to go to places which are
usually off limits has created a huge response with over half the
field entered in the recreational division. This indicates clearly
the demand from ’social athletes’ for events of this nature and we
are pleased to be able to provide a course which suits all levels.”

So, if you’re in the vicinity, and looking for something different to do – go to the official website and sign up quickly on the online entry form…

www.tourdewakatipu.co.nz

And while we’re reminding you about forthcoming events, if freediving is what you’re interested in, don’t forget that the Dean’s Blue Hole Competition starts tomorrow, 1st April and will go on until the 11th.

Dean’s Blue Hole is the world’s deepest blue hole (underwater sinkhole), which plunges 202 meters (663ft) to the ocean floor, in a bay on Long Island, Bahamas.

Good luck everyone…