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Cape Epic change, for the better?
John Vandenberg2026-01-23T14:42:25-06:00January 23, 2026|News|
In case you haven’t heard, the coolest XC type race in March is always the Cape Epic stage race. If you are reading this, then you certainly know all about this great event. I know I look forward to watching it every single year for free on youtube. Hours upon hours of the pro racers zipping through rough dirt trails in South Africa. Of the 7 stages, most are hours and hours long. Women and men have always ridden the same courses, along with the thousands of amateur [...]
Oh now. Bar Ends again? You bet!
John Vandenberg2026-01-22T13:47:46-06:00January 22, 2026|News|
Just when you think the last new bar ends I’d ever buy are the old Ergon GS series, going back 10+ years now, Ergon does it again. When looking at a thread on mtbr.com about “which bar ends” are these, I did some quick research at Ergon.com and see not one, but two potential new grips with bar endability. If that’s a term. One has the new style regular grip with the palm wing, softer rubber and all, and a real stub of a bar end. I actually [...]
No more drop bars on MTB! Stop the outrage!
John Vandenberg2026-01-21T16:21:50-06:00January 21, 2026|News|
Life Time Grand Prix has done it again. Adding more rules and regulations to what started as a organization of the "loose" gravel scene. However, I think there is more than meets the eye here. First, it is of the utmost importance that we see who actually wanted this rule change. The riders! And the professionals at that. The very racers who started it, well, at least some of them, are the ones who thought it was worth a ban on drop bars for the two races that [...]
Full launch coming january 2026! Finally!
John Vandenberg2026-01-05T18:23:30-06:00December 27, 2024|News|
After literally years and years, a new source for XC mountain biking and racing will finally launch. This project has been a mess, as I couldn't decide how I wanted to present and discuss my favorite sport and hobby. 2026 will mark year 35 since I first bought a mountain bike and pinned on a number. Having had a great BMX racing childhood, within a few months of buying a mountain bike, I decided I must try a race. Racing and riding to me are one in the [...]
$6,400 Wheels?
John Vandenberg2024-08-27T13:15:32-05:00August 27, 2024|News|
Hey, if someone wants to buy bicycle wheels that cost, with a typical sales tax, $7,000? I say go right ahead. Capitalism at it’s finest. But what is hard for me to comprehend, is they are proud of their 1060g weight for the set. And hold everything, these are “climbing” wheels for road bikes. Does that weight seem a touch unremarkable to you too? I mean if you go to the Berd website and build up a set of their gravel wheels, Sparrow, they claim 1065 for the [...]
Well, PFP pulled it off!
John Vandenberg2024-08-01T11:23:48-05:00August 1, 2024|News|
I chose the photo because no only was PFP the winner, granted it’s from the World Championships, but the other two ladies were supposed to be the best and most likely to compete for the Gold medal. We now know that didn’t happen, as Loana crashed so hard she actually lay unconscious for a few minutes while they loaded her on a stretcher. It was very, very scary watching her immobile. It was such a relief to see her walking around all bandaged up, but otherwise okay. And [...]
Neff officially out
John Vandenberg2024-07-15T11:24:19-05:00July 15, 2024|News|
Is this the beginning of the end of a great career? I hope not. But if anyone might move on I can see Jolanda doing just that. She had a great run, winning every title, some more than once. So hats off to her. But maybe she can have one last run at glory next year. I must admit, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a breathing disorder that requires learning to breathe again? It’s an odd one for sure. She has stated she originally thought it [...]
The longest gap between World Cups in, forever
John Vandenberg2024-07-10T11:57:43-05:00July 10, 2024|News|
Wow, what a weird season this is. The last world cup, at least in the traditional European location, has ended. And when is the next one? Guesses? September 27-29. That’s a single week shy of THREE MONTHS! WTH? Is that really the best they could do? The world champs is the last week of August, and there are the usual national champs, but most of those are actually happening this weekend. How weird it will be for all those who didn’t make the Olympics (which is most). Do [...]
Les Gets, meh
John Vandenberg2024-07-08T12:46:40-05:00July 8, 2024|News|
Maybe it’s because I remember waiting in line to talk to Kate Courtney and get the whole Scott team autograph a poster, at the 2019 Snowshoe, WV World Cup. Maybe it’s because I just like to root for the USA riders, but either way, it is nice to see Courtney pushing hard at these races. It’s also nice that she’s not blowing half of them off for “altitude training” as it seems everyone else is. Now granted, she is not on the Olympic team, and will likely not [...]
MTB on an indoor trainer, maybe?
John Vandenberg2024-07-05T12:40:29-05:00July 5, 2024|News|
One thing that really irks me about indoor training is that I have to ride a physical mountain bike, on a screen with a virtual mountain bike, but on a virtual road surrounded by 99.9% virtual roadies. Many of us mountain bikers don’t own a road bike, don’t ride one, and have no reason to pretend we do. Zwift is the giant in the room, and they offer a few mountain bike avatars, which is cool, and years ago added one single XC type trail that required steering [...]
Have we reached peak XC tire?
John Vandenberg2024-07-03T11:29:55-05:00July 3, 2024|News|
WTB announced a true world cup level XC race tire. Which is kind of odd, as WTB has been a prominent tire maker forever, literally. They used to have several great XC tires, in fact, I still have a few 26” tires that I kept around for some reason. But you certainly haven’t seen them sponsoring any top XC racers in what seems like decades. So why now? I guess XC has crept back into popularity again? With Yeti coming back, which is all that’s coming to mind [...]
Sram releases GX replacement
John Vandenberg2024-07-02T16:22:23-05:00July 2, 2024|News|
I normally would think coming out with cheaper products could only be a good thing. Except in this case.So we already have three levels of Transmission wireless groups. They kind of stuck with the tried and true, GX at the lowest end, then XO for the mid, and XX and XXSL (why on earth not just keep it XX1?) on the high end. Great. They of course dropped carbon cranks from XO this time, leaving them only to the XX and XXSL. Which actually, makes sense I guess. [...]
30 years ago – World Champs Review
John Vandenberg2024-06-28T11:46:57-05:00June 28, 2024|News|
I’ve been feeling nostalgic lately. I’ve been checking out tons of BMX racing photos, articles and bikes from when I was a teenager. I was just as obsessed with early bmx bikes and racing as I am now with XC mtb. Go figure. So all this nostalgia about old bmx also morphed into nostalgia for old mtb xc racing and bikes. I have a 2nd gen Answer Manitou fork sitting on my desk. The first commercial model that were released after Doug Bradbury turned them over to Answer [...]
Tour de France for mountain bikers?
John Vandenberg2024-06-26T16:50:29-05:00June 26, 2024|News|
I know I always say I focus only on XC mtb, but I must admit I enjoy watching the TdF every July. Back when Lance was the star, each Tour was an exciting event for us US viewers. But the Tour has a decent history of mountain bikers tearing it up in France. Cadel Evans is probably the most successful former XC racer at the tour. He was one of the best in his years on the World Cup before moving full time to the road. Unlike modern [...]
Pidcock again? Chris Horner has a point…
John Vandenberg2024-06-24T11:53:20-05:00June 24, 2024|News|
For any of you who kind of follow road racing like I do, I occasionally watch ex-pro Chris Horner’s youtube channel where he makes daily posts and gives his opinions on races, and whatnot. Having been a pro for a very, very long time, through the “iffy” years of the sport, I tend to take what he says with a bit of salt as they say. But still, he makes good points. His recent video discusses why he doesn’t understand what the heck Top Pidcock is doing, and [...]
I hate man made XC racing tracks. There. I said it.
John Vandenberg2024-06-20T11:47:48-05:00June 20, 2024|News|
I don’t fully understand why they keep making XC mountain bike tracks so “difficult” for the world cup. The latest new course, Crans Montana in Switzerland has many man made giant rock features, wood bridges, even a dual skinny wood ledge thing that looks ridiculous. It’s going the same way as BMX tracks did. When I raced bmx, the tracks were built with all dirt, with jumps and berms you could pedal over if you wanted to, and starting hills that as a parent, you’d be fine letting [...]