Posts Tagged ‘Mountain Biking, Cycle Racing, BMX’

All eyes will be on the Patagonia Adventure Race that begins today. Adventure racing had a difficult year last year as the economic crisis that hit the world made sponsorship difficult to find, but this year things are looking better and the season is getting off to a good start with the wildest of all the races starting any minute.

The Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race (jcarterhatch) was formally opened last night in a spectacular ceremony that seemed a world away from the wilderness of Patagonia. The elite team Helly Hansen-Prunesco returned the winner’s trophy at the ceremony. All eyes will be watching them this year…

56 competitors from 14 international teams  gathered with the attending media to see race organizer Stjepan  Pavicic  unveil his carefully planned route for the 2010 race.

This will be one of the toughest tests in the race’s history – with the course traveling almost the length of Chilean Tierra del Fuego before heading south beyond the world’s most southerly community on the Isla Navarino. There are two major mountain bike sections and more than 200km of trekking this year through unpredictable peat bog.

The bog, or Turba as it is known in Spanish, will take some getting used to for the challengers. It often looks solid, but it absorbs so much water it can suck you in to your waist in an instant.

Chris Lomas, of Team Fast and Light, summed up the fears for many of the racers: “My biggest fear is getting lost. This place is so vast. Anywhere in the UK, and most places in Europe, you can get lost, but if you keep going, you’ll hit civilization after a day or two of walking. Out there (Patagonia), you can go for weeks without seeing anyone. It is a true wilderness.”

Trekking is historically the most challenging – and spectacular – part of the course and this year will be no different as the route travels past some of the best peaks in the notorious Darwin Range.

Pavicic, who has explored the Patagonian mountains for more than 20 years, explained: “The trekking in Chilean Patagonia is phenomenal but it is extremely wild. There are plenty of routes to enjoy for tourists, but where we go there’s nothing – just an extreme wild land of bush, bog, forest and mountains.”

The rough waters of the Beagle Channel will also prove a challenge for even the most professional kayaker.

Bernard Hug from the Swiss Team summed up the spirit of adventure racing: “We love to travel and to see something of the world. And we love extreme sports. In Patagonia we’re able to see beautiful landscape and compete at the same time with so many athletes from all over the world, so that’s perfect.”

Dennis Piretra, Chief Communications Officer for race sponsor, Wenger, described the essence of adventure racing in a nutshell: “The purity of the challenge that lies before the teams is very special and in today’s day and age, very unique,” he said. “The prize is not monetary, the prize is pride and glory. This spirit of this race hearkens back to times that were very different and people sought adventure not for financial gain, but to feed a primal need for discovering the unknown and finding our personal limits.”

The race will begin on the Straist of Magellan at 10:30am this morning, Patagonia time.

Good luck to everyone.

If you are a very adventurous person, you have high levels of strength and endurance and you are brave enough to challenge difficult terrains and rocky mountainsides, then maybe Extreme Mountain Biking would be great for you. So what is extreme mountain biking? It is not just taking bike tours such as you see in biking magazines; there are a lot of things to consider with this sport, from mountain biking attire to the type of mountain bike tours to make.

Photo courtesy of seasonallyunadjusted.com

Extreme mountain biking is a sport where people race their mountain bikes on rocky mountainsides and dirt terrains. Mountain bikes are very powerful bicycles. They have unique features that allow the cyclist to balance even on the most rocky, off-road terrains. A lot of mountain bikers participate in mountain biking races that include amateur cyclists who just join for the experience.

One of the most innovative and fresh multi-disciplined sports is mountain biking. For every specific category of extreme mountain biking, participants are forced to undergo lots of training. This is to monitor development in skills as well as retaining past techniques. Each category varies in terms of rules and regulations. This is why this sport requires a lot of practice, patience and discipline. Imagine riding and taking control of a bicycle that is on a bumpy and wild hiking trail.

Risks, stunts and courses that challenge the cycle and rider makes for a rare breed of athlete. Of course, being an excellent extreme mountain biker requires hard work to hone skills for years. Sometimes bikers can be unprepared by the unpredictable road surface and the obstacles in the challenge.

There are five specific categories in extreme mountain biking, all of which may be set over rough, steep and rocky trails or tracks. Sometimes, they can take place on very narrow trails in fields, forest or streambeds.

1. Downhill mountain biking. This includes huge jumps that span up to 40 feet and drops down of 10 feet. The terrain is expected to be steep and rough. It is definitely one of the most unsafe and it requires a lot of physical work when compared to the other categories.
2. Free riding. This is the most spontaneous of all. There is no need to restrict yourself to any particular style. A rider is given a choice to perform any combination or series of downhill courses, a few drops and jumps probably. Stunts are more important than skills in this category.
3. Cross country. This is the most common category. It is probably the most popular too. It includes a bike trail of around 30 miles in a loop or in terrain full of jumps and descents. It is great for amateurs, especially if a rider is planning to move to more dangerous types.
4. Dirt jumping. The events for this category are just about showcasing the boldest and scariest, most insane stunt or trick where you can see bikers playing in the air.
5. Street riding. This can be done anywhere. It commonly includes grinding ledges and obstacle riding. Rotations on flat ground are also common.

For any rider who wants to get involved and excel in extreme mountain biking, great training is essential. It is very important that you decide on which category you you want to try and then gear up for it, so that you can play safely. We will over the next few weeks examine in more detail the mountain biking categories in an effort to inspire you for the year ahead.

This compilation of the various forms of mountain biking has been put together by watanidiot from material provided by Vario. You can see why mountain biking has such an appeal to the young and fearless.

Having written about the Seven Summits we had to do some digging and came across a group who call themselves Extreme World Challenges – www.extremeworldchallenges.com  and they are quite a cool bunch of guys.

Wanting to rush this off the press because we find their next extreme challenge to be just around the corner – indeed entries for this challenge close at the end of the month.

The challenge is known as the Yak Attack – sounds bizarre – but what is it? Well not surprisingly it is considered one of the toughest challenges you are ever likely to come across.

It takes place in Nepal which is where most people go if they are going to climb Mount Everest or walk in the breathtaking and and very thin atmosphere of the Himalayas. It is the hardest terrain on earth and in this event you will be challenged beyond anything you have ever done before.

It is not the distance – at only 420kms in distance most veteran mountain bikers would complete such a trail in a couple of days. No it is the altitude. Over the course of the 10 day challenge the trail rises in excess of 8,000 metres – yes you read that correctly – metres – in terms of feet that is more than 24,000 feet.

The actual highest point on the trail is a place called Thorong La which gains an altitude of 5,416 meters and as you can see in the photo below it can get a wee bitty chilly up there.

photos courtesy of www.yak-attack.co.uk

The race starts at the beginning of March and should you wish to enter this extreme challenge you must visit the website http://yak-attack.co.uk/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/ because the entries close at the end of December.

This race is not about winning – it is about the challenge and the camaraderie – it will cost you about $1,500 to enter. The Yak Attack as a non profit making event which aims to benefit Nepali athletes and the Annapurna region communities as a whole on a number of levels.

Since its conception in 2005, the guys at Extreme World Challenges have been working hard to devise a series of events that would appeal to a worldwide audience looking for a challenge that could test their physical condition in some of the world’s harshest and most exciting terrains.

For 2011 Extreme Challengs is planning an unsupported 6000km mountain bike crossing of Australia at its widest point, using as many desert trails as possible.

Starting from Byron Bay in Queensland and heading due west, the route will go through some of the most inhospitable deserts on earth, including the Simpson , Gibson and Victoria. It will also encompass a number of Austrlia’s most renown off road tracks including the infamous Gunbarrel Highway .  The approx 6000km traverse will eventually finish at Australia’s most westerly location, Steep Point, close to the tourist attraction of Monkey Mia.

Not doing things by half the challenge also aims to complete the trip without support, which will entail having to carry enough water and food for upto 4 days at a time and will mean having to extract water from wells and bore holes along the route. It is thought the entire journey could take up to 60 days.

Phew – exhausting just writing about it but for you mountain bikers there are plenty of challenges to meet – go get em.

59 teams coming from 26 countries including New Zealand, South Africa, France, Russia, Brazil and the United States are competing in the Adventure Racing World Championships in Portugal.

The XPD Portugal race began on the 8th November and will finish on the 13th. Prize giving will be the morning of Saturday, 14th November.

The total estimated distance for this extreme race is 910 kms and each team have approximately 127 hours to complete the race which consists of 5 stages and 21 sections.

Another year (2007), but the same race, this video from ScorpionArt will give you an understanding of the ultimate challenge that these athletes have given themselves.

It is compulsory that each team has at least one female member in their total of 4 or all-women teams are allowed too. Entrants have their own support teams, but those who don’t (and there are 12 teams that don’t) will have support provided by the organisers. The winning team will be ‘the Adventure Race World Champions 2009′.

There are 5 mountain bike shortcuts in this race which will allow any team in difficulty to easily reach the finish line. These shortcuts can cut off a total of 136 km and will, on many occasions, allow the slower teams to recover the pace and come forward.

Organized by APCA – the Portuguese Association of Adventure Racing – and supervised by the Portuguese Orienteering Federation, this competition will visit some of the most beautiful and little known ecological reserves in Portugal including the magnificent Schist Villages giving the competitors a vision of a bygone era. Many of these schist villages are uninhabited and in ruins, but some have been renovated and repopulated.

The first stage, which started in showery weather, sett off from the Escoril and finished in Cascais. It was a total of 60.3 kms  with a total elevation of 1,689 m and included trekking, roller (or the use of trikke’s if you preferred) and mountain biking through a region known as the western tip of Europe wit its stunning views – if you had the time to appreciate them!

By the end of the first day the teams had realised that they were in for a gruelling race. Already teams were making strategic decisions to cut out the first stage in the hopes of leapfrogging time.

Stage 2 was a total length of 171.8 kms, total ascent of 10,821 m, total descent of 9,604 m beginning at Castelo da Lousa and finishing at Hotel Serra da Estrela. This section had the competitors trekking, mountain biking, canyoning and abseiling through lost villages, forests and up and over big hills.

There had been a few misunderstandings at the end of the first stage, with people beginning the second stage a bit unsure of how the point system worked. It was also becoming apparent that the trick now would be to work out how much of the route not to do. Both the canyoning and abseiling were avoidable, for example, although bonus CP’s were available on the abseiling section. It is a risky tactic to miss a CP as it is the number of CP’s which decide the winners, with the bonuses and time only coming into play if teams are tied on CP’s.

After the canyoning it was a short trek to the next transition to prepare for the long mountain bike section through the night. Some teams were worried about the weather conditions for this as there had been a strong wind blowing all day and the biking route was along ridge tops for much of the way, but as it turned out fog and low cloud were as much of a problem as the wind. By the time teams were up on the ridge-line the visibility was only a few metres.

The teams were headed for Assistance Point two at Penhas da Saude where the leaders arrived around dawn yesterday, and from there on they resumed trekking across Portugal’s highest peaks, which already have a thin covering of fresh snow!

Nike/Beaver Creek and Orion Health, are leading the pack at the moment and have so far attempted the whole course.

The weather conditions in the early part of Monday night were harsh, with the dense fog lingering over the hills and the wind increasing in strength to gale force. The wind chill temperatures were around freezing and there was little shelter.

This is turning out to be one helluva race…

At 45km the full trekking stage across the mountains was longer than originally stated, and it was taking even the fastest teams more time to complete than they anticipated.

In any normal adventure race Nike/Beaver Creek and Team Orionhealth.com would be favourites and their battle so far in this race is no different. But it’s this race which is a bit different…

While they decided on their route Mike Kloser of Nike was heard to say, “I’m worried about the cut offs.” A strange thing to say, you might think, by an experienced adventure racer. However, it’s not strange at all and he’s right to be concerned as this race requires the fastest teams to make choices they are not used to or comfortable with, i.e. to miss checkpoints. Last year all the fastest teams at the start of the race tried to get all the CP’s … and they all missed a cut-off and were out of the running.

There is still a long time to the first cut off late tomorrow night, but for now all that can be said is that Nike and OrionHealth are the teams with most CP’s and moving the fastest … but nobody will know for some time yet if they are winning!

Stage 3, today, is 214.6 km long with a 3,441 m ascent and a 4,633 m descent through a deserted but beautiful and challenging landscape on mountain bikes, kayaks and rollers….

Good luck to all…

NEWS ALERT (7.30 p.m. Wednesday, 11th November):

The harshness of the mountains at the end of the 3rd day of the competition   have caused the first casualties in the Estoril Portugal XPD Race: 7 teams have reluctantly withdrawn – out of the 59 that started.

The title holders – New Zealand’s “Orion Health” – are still well placed in front, closely followed by the North-American “Nike/Beaver Creek”.

Some time ago, we did an article on the Borneo Eco-Challenge adventure race. This was in the early days when we were just discovering adventure racing as an extreme sport. The Borneo eco-challenge was obviously a popular event as we have subsequently received many requests for further information.

This event has not had a recent re-run. However,  ESPN STAR Sport Event Management and associates have come up with a new event:  the Perak Amanjaya Eco Race 2009.

This is rather a last minute alert, but the whole race is a little bit last-minute anyway, which is why this year it is invitation only. However, the organisers intend this to be an annual event so bookmark it now for next year…

The race is due to begin on the 2nd December, completing by the 6th December, 2009 and promises to be an adventure race classic. It will include such disciplines as Trail Running, Kayaking, Mountain Biking, In-line Skating, Abseiling, Canyoning, Rapelling and Swimming… and the state government of Parak, Malaysia, will be hosting the event.

Location, location, location. Don’t we hear that so often? Well, this event is definitely in a beautiful location. It begins in the Royal Belum State Park (rainforest) which is the largest continuous forest complex in Peninsular Malaysia and which crosses into Southern Thailand. It is estimated to be as old as 130 million years, making it older than the jungle of the Amazon or Congo – sorry, I can never resist a little history! Needless to say, some areas of this magnificent forest are being plundered by loggers… when will we ever learn?

This region receives about 2,200 cm of rain per annum – so expect it to be wet! It also has its fair share of big cats, venomous snakes, elephant, Sumatran rhino’s plus a whole host of other bird and wildlife.

Banding Island as seen from Tower House

The race starts at Banding Bridge which is the gateway to Royal Belum Rainforest. A quick run across the bridge and then an abseil down to the lake sets the event off to an exciting start. You then swim to a pontoon, get a kayak and paddle across to the lake shore where you will have to carry your kayak along a jungle trail to the next stretch of water where you will kayak back to the island, leave the kayak and run back to the bridge. An in-line skate across the bridge will bring the first day to a close.

Day 2 starts at the foot hill of Taiping Hill where there will be a trail run to a waterfall. After canyoning down the waterfall competitors will run to Taiping Lake Garden (the first public garden established during the British rule in Malaysia), and in-line skate under the Golden Raintrees. From here there will be a mountain bike ride to the Kampung river mouth for another kayak to Kuala Sepetang and final run on the boardwalk to finish at the jetty of Kuala Sepetang.

Day 3 will be a rest day but also a transfer from Taiping to Pasir Salak where the race will continue.

Pasir Salak is the place where modern Malaysia took shape. It is where the independence movement against the British began and where the first British  resident of Perak, James W.W. Birch, was murdered on 2nd November, 1875. The rebellion of 1875 in Pasir Salak sowed the seeds of nationalism, which manifested itself in the form of opposition to colonialism, and to the formation of a Malayan Union, which ignited the flame of independence.

Today Pasir Salak is an historical site whose purpose is to remind the younger generation of the events there and the fight against colonialism in Perak, and also to remember the struggle and the sacrifice of the warriors to uphold the dignity of the race and country.

So, after yet another history lesson from me, I shall continue with the matter at hand – the eco-challenge adventure race:

Day 4 kicks off with a mountain bike ride up to the beautiful Ulu Geruntum, which is the raft starting point. From here you white water raft down to Kampung Jahang…

run to the cave entrance to start the caving section…

and finish with a run to the finish line at Kampung Tengah.

Day 5, the final day, starts at Pasir Salak with a mountain bike ride to Teluk Batik, kayak to Teluk Segadas at Pangkor Island, rapel down the rock, run to Teluk Dalam beach, swim in the sea in front of Teluk Dalam and finally finish at the beach of Teluk Dalam.

For 2009 this event is open to teams of 2 persons only – male, female or co-ed; only 20 teams are invited and again, for this year, it is an ‘invitation only’ event. Teams are coming from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macao, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, USA and Finland.

For those of you who would like to enter but wonder what on earth your better half (!) is going to do whilst you’re battling your way through the jungle (if your better half isn’t battling through it with you) … remember that glancing reference I made above to the type of fauna to be found in the Royal Belum National Park?  Well, I then came across this little list – and please bear in mind it is not a final list, of what sort of flora and fauna can be seen and enjoyed in the Royal Belum Rainforest:

247 species of birds
100 species of mammals
170 species of butterflies
251 species of moths
51 species of land snails
36 species of aquatic and semi aquatic bugs
25 species of cicadas
24 species of amphibians
21 species of lizards
23 species of snakes
23 speices of freshwater fish
7 species of freshwater and land turtles
62 species of moss
64 species of ferns
46 species of palms
30 species of gingers
3000 species of flower plants
3 species of freshwater decapod
44 species of wild fruit trees

Apart from that there is the Taiping Lake Garden which, at 222 acres, is the biggest urban parkland in Malaysia, designed and built about 130 years ago in the remains of an old tin mine. It has beautifully laid out ponds, lakes, and reputably, the best zoological gardens in the whole region. And then there’s the spectacular beach of Teluk Dalam and the beautiful island of Pangkor. Just a few of things one might see and do out there. No-one could possibly be bored…

The Japanese national team have set up a BAGJUMP in Cardrona, New Zealand which is allowing valuable training for themselves, the German, Canadian, American and Kiwi snowboarders in the run-up to the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games in 2010.

“It’s a good opportunity to get the feeling on the take-off, get control in the air and being confident to land on my feet every time!“ Stefan Gimpl, pro-snowboarder.

This 15m x 15m multi-chambered airbag is giving riders the opportunity to practice new freestyle moves and double tricks. It is a revolutionary way to push the limits of extreme sports.

The BAGJUMP is the most cool invention ever and is not restricted to snowboarders. It can be used for  snowboard, ski, freeclimb, mountainbike, BMX, freefall, slackline, parcour, skateboard BigAir, SMX and pretty well anything else you can think of.

Imagine – instead of anticipating every bone in your body being smashed or at least bruised when trying to master a new trick – with the BAGJUMP you can practice ever more impossible tricks because you know that your landing will be on a soft absorbing cloud!

It allows jumps up to 50 meters (164ft) and off-center landings and it even has an adjustable landing softness. It looks such fun!

The material is strong and very resiliant – witness this video with BMXs using the BAGJUMP

“… being able to try new tricks for big air contests with the assurance of the BAGJUMP I’m more concentrated on my take off and airtime” Georg Engel, pro-biker

Thank you to Bagjump for the videos.

Because of the high-tech design, developed by pro-snowboarders and stuntmen, there is no way you can break through the bag onto the ground or bounce  off it like on a trampoline.

As well as being a training aid it is also a fun-device for all freestyle orientated athletes of ANY skill level and for this reason resorts, sports centres and campus’ around the world are beginning to invest in them.

Air bag training is the wave of the future for high level action sports athletes attempting to raise the standard in a controlled environment and national teams from around the world are lining up to get training on air bags in an effort to prepare for the Olympics.