Australian Mountain Bike 148

Crankworx Rotorua is the new kid on the block, and is possibly the biggest event in the southern hemisphere, bar a World Cup, in recent history. As an Aussie it is a 50/50 draw of events you understand and others you only have a very rough idea of the concept of. Speed and Style, I think I saw that on the internet once. The week long event took place at the iconic site of the 2006 World Champs (the one where Sam Hill took home rainbow stripes) now the home of Rotorua’s Skyline, sister of the Queenstown Skyline park. The event used none of the MTB park trails available though, instead creating all new ones especially for Crankworx. Some of the bigger features like the Slopestyle course were clearly visible…

I love a sunburnt country… I love riding in the heat of an Australian summer, planning rides that won’t be interrupted by rain, and almost never needing to pack a jacket. But change is good, and while I often yearn to visit new trails in foreign lands, it’s easy to forget that we actually don’t have to travel very far. New Zealand is just a short flight away, and has some vastly different terrain and riding experiences ready and waiting. Through the start of the year, my Facebook feed was flooded with friends who were on holiday, riding their bikes, and just having a ball enjoying themselves. From Rotorua, to Wellington, to Queenstown, Wanaka and Nelson, photos, videos and stories rushed at me in bite sized pieces. Alpine environments, lush…

In the middle of May, Australia’s latest and greatest World Trail creation provided the template for the 2015 Australian Cross-Country Marathon (XCM) MTB Championships. The trail system in Derby, Tasmania, has received accolades since opening in early February, and there’s plenty more to come. But the 30km of artisan singletrack that is already in place was more than enough for lap based marathon racing on the 16th and 17th of May. Derby is a small town, with a long history of mining and forestry. But with mining having finished long ago, and forestry declining, mountain biking is set to become the next resource boom for this part of north-east Tasmania. The National XCM Championships have been a unique event since 2011. Until that point, the race was attached to a…

Last time Scot Nicol was in Australia, he was a twenty-something-year old backpacker who was touring around on a Motobecane road bike. A year after his visit Down Under, Scot founded Ibis Cycles in 1981. For those who don’t know, Scot was one of the early pioneers of mountain biking back in the ‘Klunker’ days. With a wiry beard, a pair of Levi’s and his signature lace-free Chuck Taylors, Scot rode alongside the likes of Charlie Kelly and Gary Fisher at the Repack races in Northern California. Here he spent most of his time drifting sideways at full tilt down Mount Tam on handmade steel and titanium Ibis frames. Fast-forward to 2015, and a lot has changed for Ibis. After a brief change of ownership in the early noughties, Scot…

The first 2Oceans MTB Race in south-west Westeran Australia ran from 8-10 May, and attracted local and interstate riders to the gorgeous Southern Forests for three days of riding the trails and tasting the fine fare in the nation’s west. Each day had about 45km of racing, with the event centre based at Fonty’s Pool outside Manjimup. Day one took riders to Quinninup, and Daniel Helm and Sarah McLachlan took line honours for the men’s and women’s racing. Day two had riders exploring the singletrack of nearby Bridgetown, with Matt Dec sneaking ahead of Peter Butt for the men’s win, and McLachlan snaring the women’s stage win again. Day three visited the brilliant Pemberton MTB Park, and the men’s race was still very close – but it was Peter Butt…

Hidden Vale Adventure Park hosted the Kona Hidden Vale 24hr earlier this year, but the park is hosting much more in the coming months. There’s plenty of singletrack on the property about an hour west of Brisbane. The Giant 3Plus3 will run from July 11th-12th. It’s not an overnight adventure, but a fun way to celebrate Christmas in July, with a 3hr race on each day, on different courses. There’s lots of singletrack, plenty of down time, and not too much climbing. With a focus on kids racing it’s a great weekend for the whole family. In September, the Maverick Marathon Series will visit Hidden Vale for the Flight Centre Epic – a testing marathon that has distance options from 4.2km up to 87km, and races for trail runners too.…