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XC NEWS & VIEWS

New Trek XC bike coming sooner than later?

February 3, 2026|News|

I bought a Santa Cruz Blur last year about this time. I didn’t particularly want to, I really wanted a Specialized Epic 8. I want that downtube storage!!! I don’t care it adds weight, it’s so useful it’s shocking it’s not on all bikes. Of any kind. My only complete bike I’ve bought in 35 years is my 2016 Trek Top Fuel 9.8. That was the first. I had only ridden TWO custom steel hardtails all 25 years previous. I hate change, what can I say. And since [...]

Tom Pidcock a no show at XC races this year?

February 2, 2026|News|

I’d be very, very surprised if Mr. Pidcock showed up for his usual ass-whooping at World Cup races this year. I never know what to think when he does that. Shows up seemingly on a whim, often not even riding his mountain bike before practice, and wins, and easily it seems. On one hand, I say “may the best man win” in any race. 99% of the other racers are full time XC professionals, train accordingly, and seem to not be able to keep up with Pidcock as [...]

Going to try to do my first live podcast this weekend!

January 30, 2026|News|

After, oh what, 3, 4 years now? I think I might actually get this project moving along in 2026. So while I actually enjoyed doing audio only podcasts, I did 30 or more of them in a row, I wanted to move to a youtube channel format, as I have things I’d like to show, not just talk about. Seems logical. I’m going to go ahead and make my first one. Will it suck? Oh yeah, I’m sure it will. But if I keep going hopefully I’ll find [...]

SCOTT Mediterranean Epic MTB 2026 – free to watch!

January 29, 2026|News|

I love watching XC races online. And for the first time ever, I did not subscribe to anything to do just that in 2025. I just waited an extra day or two to watch all the World Cups and other races on various platforms. I am just flat out tired of paying for stuff I don’t need. Does anyone remember when most everyone paid for regular cable tv? $100+ a month for a bunch of channels you didn’t want, but it was either that, or the 10 you [...]

Cape Epic change, for the better?

January 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!

January 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!

January 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!

December 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?

August 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!

August 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

July 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

July 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

July 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?

July 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?

July 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

July 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. [...]