single digits & the grand finale.

By now, everybody must be so sick and tired of hearing about Finale, and about how amazing that place and the final race of the season was, with all the epic photo's with the shimmering blue sea in the background, well, yes, it was pretty freaking amazing. In fact, in all of my years of racing in really cool places, this little sea- side town on the Italian riviera, has managed to jump to the top of my favorites list, it has found a special place in my heart and I'll definitely be back for more next year. It was our first time over there this year, never being able to wait out 3 more weeks after the end of the season to go to this race, I mean at that stage of the season and year, it's just another bloody bike race isn't it? Jon Cancellier has always been the one singing love songs about Finale, about the amazing tracks and the amazing place that it is and he's always tried to get us out there, so when it became the final race of the enduro world series, we had no more excuses. Finale it was. Now, I can fully understand Jon's love relationship with this little town. The place, the people, the food, the sea, the amazing colors (pantone's that just don't exist in the new world), the old people that are an integral part of the community, the cobblestone's and church processions, the old walled medieval city that you ride your carbon bike through whilst window shopping the most exquisite leather boots & hand bags on route to the special stages - absolutely everything about this place is awesome. This is the kind of place that English people relocate to and write books about.

Anyhow, back to the racing. We all knew we were in for a big weekend, being known as one of the toughest enduro races on the Superenduro circuit, as far as technical tracks go, but also as far as the liaison stages go. Big days, pedaling everything on the bike. The stages were released two days prior to the race, so we had some time to find & check out the different special stages, which is not so simple to find your way around tiny little medieval villages and roads. Most of us were able to get about 2 or 3 runs down each track before racing, which was great as the tracks were pretty full on. They were mentally & physically pretty draining. I'd say the most technical and demanding of all the races we've had this season, so it was great to practice the very precise tech sections before having to race them - especially when you're all jelly legged from pedaling the liaisons & all the pedally bits in the stages! (Hat's off to Tracy Moseley who pedaled the entire loop, both days & didn't do one shuttle run during practice and still managed to win - you bloody legend! That my friends, is "the spirit of enduro").

We had 4 special stages on Saturday with 45km of liaison stages & 2 special stages on Sunday with about 30km of liaison stages, so we had to be prepared for a big day out on the bikes. Luckily the cloud cover on both days made it just bareable to pedal up & around the mountains in full face helmets & back plates without shriveling up from dehydration. Of course we had to do the most technical stage twice, which also happened to have a nasty, rocky, uphill section in it right before the scary descent - perfect when you're seeing little white spots. Our day was cut a bit shorter after stage 3 as they cancelled the last stage due to a big accident earlier in the day. I was looking forward to that stage, as it was a flat out, fast, loose downhill stage, but I was pretty happy to head back to Finale and eat some gelato. Well, the gelato had to wait, due to Sven & the media crew racing down stage 4 after hearing the news that it was cancelled with Sven charging ahead only to stop dead on one of the many rocks (due to the heavy camera bag apparantly), flying over the bars & smacking himself silly and sampling some of the very rocky terrain with his hands & elbows. So it was off to the Italian hospital to check out his head and to get some stitches in his elbow. Too many team Dark Cloud members around this weekend... Thanks to everyone for looking after him - cheers!

Happy that he was OK, we sampled some more of the delicious red wine - which is perfect post concussion medicine and ate some more delicious ligurian pesto pasta made in heaven, I swear, followed by the gelato I never got to eat earlier and the most decadent cappuccino's that we're not supposed to drink after 11am in the morning - for no apparent reason, you just don't, but we ignored that rule and consumed as many proper cappuccino's as possible. The racing on Sunday was great, the whole weekend was amazing, the vibe was good. Everyone was of course racing as usual, but there was more of a relaxed atmosphere amongst all the competitors. We all wanted to do our best, but as far as racing, things were pretty set for the overall, a few points here and there, with the general feeling of everyone just wanting to enjoy & savor this last weekend of fun on our bikes. I did come to this last race with a mini goal, besides savoring this last race - I wanted to become a single digit. I was sitting in 10th place for the overall series results, which I was content with, but I really, really wanted to become a single digit, so that was my final goal in Finale, which I managed to achieve, while having an absolute blast. I ended up in 8th place for the weekend (with a massive crash near the finish line of the last stage of the season), and that managed to put me into 9th position for the series overall. Happy girl. (It must have been my spiffy new sombrio outfit that Aaron sent over to me for the last race - thank you Aaron!).

Sven & I were asked to design the first ever enduro world series trophy this year, with Simon Muir creating and making all our ideas come to life. This was such a huge honor & such a huge responsibility, but in the end they turned out beautiful and we couldn't have imagined anything better to present to these talented, amazing bike riders to remember their & this special year.

Below is a little description behind the meaning of the trophy:

"Close-up on the trophy, designed by Anka Martin and Sven Martin and built by Woodguards' Simon Muir: eight tiny compartments each contain a relic from one of the race destinations - soil from Punta Ala, alpine rock from Val d’Allos, a bottle of Genepe from Les 2 Alpes, bark and aspen leaves from Winter Park, old man’s beard moss from Whistler, white organic linen from Val d’Isere, to symbolize the white-out conditions, and fresh chestnuts and sand from the beach of Finale Ligure. (A final compartment remains as an empty invitation for the champions to add a personal memento from their year of racing. Wonder what that will be?)."

Of course the weekend and the season couldn't just wrap up, it had to end with a bang, or more like a massive thunder & lightning storm with torrential rain flooding the pits, cutting out the electricity and leaving everyone soaking wet and shivering. Perfect. The thunder cracked so loud in these little narrow cobblestone streets and the lightning lit up all the nooks & crannies with shutters slamming, bells's chiming, rain pelting and pantone colors popping against the black skies. Nothing could dull the vibe & excitement that was present, this was the grand finale. SRAM organized a big party for Jerome, with champagne & a big cake to celebrate his victory - which we happily celebrated with him & everyone else who shared his excitement, until the wee hours of the morning. What a fitting place to end the season which started on the beaches of Punta Ala, Italy, then stretched into the big, scary, snow capped glacier filled mountains and now back to the beaches of Finale Ligure, Italy, where bike checks are done on the beach and the pits struggle to keep the sand out of the seals. O, and where parking tickets apparently don't mean much & tow trucks don't exist - or as Italian, Simon Cittati from SRAM puts it: "It is merely an invitation to pay". We were invited to pay quite a few times over the course of the week...

The season was over, we made it, sort of, we're going home, we had fun, we made new friends, good friends, we bonded - again, I rode well, I am happy, I'm content, I am relieved, our van survived, I LOVE my bike, I love my new big - well sort of big wheels, I loved our new adventures. Now it's time to chill, time to reflect, time to reconnect & to start making plans & plotting adventures for next year. Ciao!

Thank you to everyone that supported me this season: Will, Rob & Mary-Anne from Juliana Bicycles, Jon Cancellier (for the sickest bike ever & keeping it in tip top shape all year), Keeton, Marty, Todd, Dani, Simon, Evan, Dawson & the whole SRAM family, Aaron from Sombrio clothing, Fred & Fabien from URGE helmets, Tyler from SDG, Michael from Schwalbe, Stikman at Troy Lee Design, Jo Jo from G-Form protection, Blick & Dani at Oakley, Kevin at Camelbak, Andy at Crankbrothers, and so many others for various things & of course to Sven for all his support along the way & all the pretty sic shots he got of me ;) A huge shout out to everyone involved with the EWS - you guys killed it and made it happen. Bikes are rad. You guys rock!

diary of my Trans Provence week

The Trans Provence is always the highlight of my season. It is a week filled with amazing, unknown, wild & crazy trails, where we trek up and over many big, vast mountain ranges, starting near Sisteron, making our way all the way to the beach in Menton. I love this point to point style adventure, where you are actually moving, pedaling & pushing yourself across mountain ranges and valley's and that sense of satisfaction that you feel when you get your first glimpse of the sea shimmering in the distance. It's pretty exciting stuff & that is what keeps me coming back every year for more adventures. Last year we had some bad luck with Sven getting heli vacced off on the last day and then Jon Cancellier getting carried out 200 meters from the finish line with torn ankle ligaments - not ideal. Mix in there some crazy rain, thunder, flash floods & hail storms on exposed mountain tops with not a tree in sight, then you start understanding how a small group of riders started calling ourselves Team Dark Cloud. Not satisfied with unfinished business, Team Dark Cloud had to come back this year to make sure that everyone finishes up, get's to plonk into the med, look at Smail's speedo du jour & to give a puff on the old cigar.

Base camp Day 0: Clamensane

So here we are, Trans Provence 2013 Day 1: Clamensane - Digne

The day started off sunny & cheery, only to turn to shit as soon as we got to the top of the mountain of stage 1. This was dejavu - exactly like last year and how we came up with Team Dark Cloud to begin with. We had to laugh & just get on with it - was this to set the precedent of the week to follow? I set of on my first special stage on day 1 in a hail storm - this was going to be a long, tough week, and Team Dark Cloud already lived up to it's name. This day was the biggest day yet - we fought, slogged & dragged our bikes through clay & mud the entire day. I was knackered.

Day 2: Digne - Colmars

The sun was shining as we set off under blue skies on day 2. We had a big old hike a bike to tackle first thing in the morning - just what we needed to loosen up our sore, aching bodies & awaken blisters from the day before. It was going to be a good day as the sunny skies lifted everyone's spirits and filled it with banter, laughter and lots of war stories.

Day 3: Col de Champs - Guillaumes

This is a morning of big views & big mountains, as we get dropped off on top of the Col De Champs - it is a sight that will take your breath away and the gateway to the Maritime Alps - a sign that we're heading in the right direction. The first special stage of the morning was a write off for myself and many others too - starting off with getting lost, falling into a hole & then slipping & getting stuck in my bike on the wooden bridge right at the finish while the clock ticks away. To end it off I gave the bridge a good punch with my knuckles as I slammed into it - ouch. All of this before a proper coffee.

Day 4: Guillaumes - St Sauveur sur Tinee

Once day 3 rolls around, your body has sort of got used to the shock of everything and you actually start to feel good and get into the swing of things. We had surprise today, we got to ride a chair lift for two of the stages in the Roubion bike park. It was fun to change it up, but these were my worst two stages of the day - way too groomed and perfect I reckon, I didn't know how to ride normal stuff! It was a good way to mix it up with all the other riders and hang out a bit. At this stage, we had no idea what Ash had in mind for us for the last stage of the day. I have no words to describe this last stage. It was wild, very sparsely marked, super exposed, almost 30minutes long and at the end of the day when you're mentally & physically already a write off. Most of us got lost somewhere along the way, crashed a few times, almost died a few times, but we all lived to share the stories at a local pub on the side of the road. It was awesome. Thanks Ash for keeping it real.

Day 5:   Valdeblore - Sospel

So day 4 was supposed to be our easy day, to rest up for the biggest day of the week, but it sure didn't feel easy to any of us and day 5 was looming ahead of us. It was a long slog heading out in the moon glow from the camp site and silently pedaling on through the morning fog. The fog never lifted and just got thicker as we made our way up into the mountains, creating quite a sullen atmosphere, as you didn't hear much laughter or chatter this morning. It took us about 3 hours before we reached the start of the first special stage that morning and we still had a long way to go. My goal was to hold back and get through these next 2 days without doing anything silly - I was in the lead and I wanted to keep it that way. All I had to do, was not crash, flat or have a mechanical - easy huh? Holding back is not easy when you're loving the tracks and you just want to pinn it, but this is what had to be done. After the first 2 special stages, we had a bitch of a road climb to get to the 3rd stage - 20km on the road with super tacky tires & 6" trail bikes are not that enjoyable. We got on with it, as that's what you do in this race, but we all cheered up when we were welcomed by local hero Nico Vouilloz at the start of the 3rd stage. How sick is that. I think we all tried to pinn it even harder after seeing Nico, but unfortunately Olly our South African friend was a bit too inspired and pinned it into some rocks, smashing his face and dislocating his shoulder pretty badly. Our day was about to get a whole lot longer & Olly just inducted himself into the Team Dark Cloud crew. He got heli vacced out of there, but Team Dark Cloud had another stage to finish up for the day. Not the nicest thing to have to do after seeing your friend off in a heli, but we grabbed a headlamp from one of the shuttle vehicles, turned up the volume to some Irie reggae tunes, mellowed out and smashed out the final run of the day - which happened to be my fastest run of the day after we all decided to go steady - oops. Having too much fun.

Day 6: Sospel - Menton - The final countdown!

Yes, the last day has arrived and we're all jonesing to get our tired assess into the Med, but we have to get there first. It was an amazing day exploring a whole new Sospel valley, even making a quick jaunt into Italy for a quick cappuccino after one special stage. The stages were very physical today, with uphill running, boulder clambering, challenging navigation and some long ass sprints, or maybe we're all just tired from the whole week, but it was no rest day today, we had to work hard to dive into that sea in Menton. On my last stage, I kept messing up, doubting myself that I was lost and that I was throwing the whole week away - even turning back at one point to double check a sign - amazing how my mind was playing tricks on me. Anyhow, I got down, I made it, I kept my lead and I took the win. I was very, very happy, as this event is a very special event to me. This is what riding mountain bikes is all about. It is the adventure, the camaraderie and all the experiences that makes this event so special. It is wild, raw, dangerous & everything that I love about racing little bikes as fast as you can down crazy technical blind tracks. Ash, thank you - you nailed it man. This is and will always be what everyone keeps harping on about these days - "the spirit of enduro", or as I prefer to refer to it, riding our bikes in sick places.

Cheers to Team Dark Cloud and every single person that completed the week - you guys & girls are awesome (especially the girls, as this is not an easy week). Heal up to all the injured riders too.

Our crew grew stronger this year, we were planning on being a bit more cautious this year, to make sure we all got to the damn beach, but when you clock into that balise, it is not in any of our gene's to hold back. We all freaking pinned it and we all lived to tell the tales. We took care of Ollie, we encouraged Todd, we rode for Michael Bonney. This week was way more than a bloody bike race, it was filled with many emotions, reasons, passions, decisions and friendships and that is what makes this week a standout week. Times are forgotten (well maybe not the 1sec that separated Nico & Jerome after a week of racing!), but these memories we create on our bikes will be shared & remembered for many more years to come.

One more TDC shout out - we didn't do too shabby either taking the win in a few classes & the fastest TDC awards goes to Jerome Clementz, who had to go and loose by 1 sec, but killed all of us!

Anka Martin 1st Pro Women's (32nd overall)

Sven Martin 1st Masters (also 2nd Am & 15th overall)

Chris Ball 1st Amateur (9th overall)

Cheers Team Dark Cloud - until we meet again in February to explore Chile!

Peace out,

Anka x

time to reflect.

Where have the weeks gone to? They have been flying by in my world with so many things happening all the time, that you just keep moving on from one thing to the next, with no time to stop and think about the amazing thing that you did yesterday, or the day before yesterday, or last week, you just pack your bags, catch the next shuttle, drop off the next rental car and fly to the next destination, unpack, deal with jet lag and carry on. To me this is my way of trying to live a normal life, to just pick up and carry on, looking ahead at the next event, venue, country, language and or food and putting the past whatever it was behind and moving right along to the next thing.

So, I'm going to keep this update short & sweet, because it's way past due and it's time for me to look ahead and move on.

I'll start back in Canada at the crankworx festival in Whistler.

1) Enduro World Series round #5 - enduro race of epic proportions. One solid, big day of adventuring on our bikes, mostly outside of the bike park on some sick, scary, pretty awkward, tecky new trails - it was incredibly awesome & I ended up 9th overall. The organizers definitely stepped up their game and put on one hell of an enduro race.

2) All day Sombrio photo shoot the day after the all day enduro race - I wasn't tired at all! It was such a fun day though & I got to see some new bits of Whistler. Any day spent with Lindsey Voreis & Aaron is bound to be a fun, entertaining day!

3) Escape the madness that is Whistler village - YOGA, YOGA, YOGA! yessss please.

4) An all day filming day on top of the world in the rain for the new SRAM Pike ad - and no, I was not going downhill all day, I was actually climbing uphill a hell of a lot - I was AIR. Pretty exciting stuff and a first for me to do some filming work. Quite excited & nervous to see the final product.

5) Free ladies XC & DH riding clinics offered by SRAM and a part of Rebecca Rusch's Gold Rusch tour. Unbelievable turnout from all the ladies and we loved helping them get more confident on their bikes. Although a pump track session in the rain was a bit sketchy.

6) Headed up to 100 mile house in the middle of Canada somewhere for Rob & Shanna Parkin's wedding by the lake. It was such an awesome wedding, but we were zooming back to Vancouver at first light as we had a 6 hour drive to tackle to catch our next plane back to Europe for the next race.

Arrive in Lyon, France - bonjour good coffee & croissants  - and cheap food!

1) Met up with Jon Cancellier in Lyon, loaded up our trusty old van who waited in parking lot 5 patiently for the past 5 weeks & headed straight to La Thuile, Italy to meet with Enrico and his crew for some filming.

2) Up early for an all day filming affair with Sven & myself featured as the couple who like to adventure on our bikes. They are making this to promote & showcase this relatively unknown riding area & also because it will be the Enduro Des Nations venue for 2014.

3) Up even earlier and heading over to Val D'Isere, France for the 6th round of the Enduro World Series.

4) Pretty knackered from jet lag - I opt to nap whenever I could.

5) Up even earlier than before - like 7 am early and on the lift for Saturday race day. Massive over the bars to wake up to. Sunshine & dust to begin with. Massive hike-a-bikes to the top of the start, then turning into massive storms, fog and no visibility with most of the girls getting lost somewhere on course, it made for a vary exciting, very varied day of racing.

6) Yep, you guessed it, on the lift at 7am again, this time the surrounding mountains were covered in snow. Yes, snow. No practice, straight into racing, holy shit, locked out shock - dammit, sick mud, long tracks, freezing cold, awesome. Super physical stages, so much pedaling, so much concentration, so cold, so happy to survive & end up in 7th overall.

7) Another early morning rise, this time to eat amazing French pastries and copious amounts of cafe creme's at the most amazing bakery in the morning sun. Bliss, but not for long. Rush, rush, rush, pack, pack, squeeze and Sven, Jon & myself are on the road again, back to Lyon airport so they can catch the next plane to South Africa and the World Championships.

8) Thank F#@K I'm not going anywhere. After dropping them off, I had a leisurely 2 hour drive into the "a la campagne" - the quiet French countryside back to the little village with 60 people where my parents & my sister lives. Where the pace is a tad slower, the streets are quiet, the food is fresh & where I can go to find some peace & quiet and just sit down to reflect and think about all the amazing happenings of the last few weeks. I can think about all the high's and all the low's that go hand in hand with racing & traveling. All the should have's, could have's and would have's. All the fun times, the nervous times, the scary times and the o my God I almost died times. I can think about all the money I spent on coffee, pastries & food in Whistler - but I choose to eliminate those thoughts & marvel in all the good memories with good old friends & bikes.

Time for some mellow country road rides, yoga, yard chores, drinking red wine with dad and cooking with mum. Happy girl.

Thank you Sven for the AMAZING shots!

Peace out, Anka

Canadia part one: float planes, bear spray & overpriced groceries.

We made it to Canada hey! So good to be back here. We got here a week before the Crankworx craziness sets in, and it has been such a treat to experience Whistler that is a bit more quiet than during the actual festival. Except this week, they had a massive Wanderlust yoga festival in the village and everyone was walking around with a yoga mat and neon colored hot pants.. don't get me wrong, I love yoga, and I teach yoga, but this seemed a bit showy for my liking, but you know - don't judge, that is very un- yoga like of me, but it did make for some great people watching. I'm just not a fan of practicing yoga with loads of people watching you and taking holiday snaps while you're down dogging or in some other vulnerable type position.

This will be my 10th year coming to Crankworx festival - o my word, where has the time gone to? So, needless to say, you become a bit blase about everything up here and you do take it for granted. This was the first year however that I didn't throw my bags into a corner of the hotel room and rush up to the park to get as many laps in as possible - what the hell was wrong with me? All I wanted to do, was get out on my trail bike for a spin through Lost Lake and take in the beauty of this place, and stunning it is. Am I just getting older? Have I just been here too many times? What gives? Not sure why, but all I wanted to do was explore all the fun, never ending trails around the bike park. They are steep, technical, fast and o so much fun. I find them way more technical than the park trails and you get to jump into one of the many lakes on your way home.

Anyhow, last year I did my first trip to the Chilcotin mountains and I desperately wanted to go back and share that wonderful backcountry experience with Sven & some good friends, so we planned a spontaneous float trip out there. It is a 3 hour (bumpy as) drive from Whistler to get to the Tyax lodge where we stayed over for the night and caught the float plane in the morning for a 9am drop off at Warner Lake. Once dropped off, we were equipped with our map, bear spray & bear bells and singingly made our way up & down the singletrack (as to not scare the grizzly bears) towards Windy Pass, then Lickey Trail and then down the most amazing singletrack trail back to the Tyax lodge, 7 hours & 41km later we jumped into the lake, drank beers, ate fries & burgers and jumped back into the rental car (beast of a truck) to head back down the bumpy gravel road (that ruined all our bikes) to Whistler. A must do experience and definitely my highlight while out here in Whistler.

O, and on a side note: how do people that live here afford to buy groceries? It is mind blowingly expensive!

Next up is the 5th round of the Enduro World Series this coming Sunday - it's going to be a killer, one big day out on the bikes - they're going to kill us, I cannot wait & I'll update you once we've conquered Sunday.

Peace out, Anka xxx

Team dark cloud adventures continues on in Colorado Springs.

After round #4 of the EWS, Chris, Pangus & myself loaded up the rental car with way too many bikes and headed to Colorado Springs to go and visit & ride with Jon Cancellier in his hometown & to check out the SRAM offices. We looked like the grizwalds on vacation with 3 massive bike bags strapped to the roof with us squashed in-between bikes & wheels navigating through massive hail & thunderstorms listening to country music & mariachi bands, we made our way to the Springs for 3 days of adventures.

First stop: Chipotle for burrito's! YUM

Next up: SRAM office tour. Pretty awesome to see where it all happens & great to catch up with everyone.

Still struggling to breathe at this altitude, and with no off day after racing we made our way to the local lunch loop ride behind the SRAM offices in Ute Park for some fun turns and little techy pinch climbs.

Next on the itinerary was a 40 min shuttle drive up the frontside of the range, followed by a hour and half pedal further up to the top, with even less oxygen, followed by an amazing descent down Captain Jack's for about 1hour and 20 min's - heavenly! We did have some dark cloud moments though, with Chris loosing his helmet somewhere along the shuttle drive & also a massive wasp getting in under my sunglasses and stinging the bejesus out of my eye, so I had to make my way down the trail with one eyed vision. Team Dark Cloud antics has begun...

The following day we had a CO classic to conquer, the Monarch Trail. Tracy & James joined us for this xc epic and I was not going to miss this for anything - swollen eye or not. I looked like a cyclops, but after some drugs, my eye could open a wee bit and I was able to see the trail and enjoy the scenery. What a stunning day we had out there with forever views and little cowboy one horse towns. Of course something was bound to happen - this time it was Jon who took a massive digger into the most hostile rockgarden on the trail, walking away from it pretty shook up with a massively swollen hand and some grazes - he was a lucky guy today.

It was time to wrap it up in the Springs and head up to Whistler Canada next for some more adventures & the 5th round of the Enduro World Series. Thank you Jon for an amazing trip!

Peace out, Anka xxx

Burrito's, burgers, bike parks & wooden hucks - Mmerica - f*#k yeah!

yep, you've guessed it, I've been stateside at the colorado freeride festival for the 4th round of the enduro world series. We just wrapped up this race yesterday, after 3 days of racing in some very high altitude mountains where the air is so thin, you struggle to tie your shoe laces without getting short of breath, never mind racing some super pedaly bike park tracks. A lot of people came out here pretty early on to acclimatize, but I thought I'd leave it to the last minute & frankly, I don't really like the thought of having to get to races 10 days before it starts, so I'd have to make do and deal with the nice, crisp, thin colorado air. Strange, because the mountains around here look more like rolling hills compared to the Alps, but you just can't breathe. We had daily thunderstorms rolling through, which made for some nice hero dirt tracks, but also made our days pretty long due to waiting out the storms to go and practice the next days stages.

Some of the tracks were awesome, most of them were fun tracks to go and ride with your mates and have a laugh, but for the most part I thought there were way too many flat pedaly stages for a balanced enduro race, and way too many wooden bike park obstacles. There were some great technical tracks, but I just couldn't make up enough time on those bits to compete with the local xc girls on the pedaly bits. The race being held in a bike park, also meant that there was a huge local knowledge advantage, and for a lot of the tracks, if you knew them, you could really gain loads of time on them, knowing exactly where your braking points, gear changes and such would occur, and not having to tire yourself out having to practice them everyday. Anyhow, the race went down well, lots of fun bike riding was had, the Frenchies held their ground (as usual), some of the racers were mad that the one super xc stage got cancelled (definitely not me, as it was a lame uphill stage anyways). I ended up in 10th place overall, which I'm happy with, but it was a tad frustrating as I had Anne Caro seeded to start behind me (due to an injury she gained earlier in the season), so I had to pull over for her to get by on every run, which cost me a few seconds every time I pulled over and that added up over the course of the weekend. My fault for not being fast enough, but man, she is a hard one to stay in front of. She must have moved up a few places now in the overall ranking, so that will become someone else's problem at the next round, phew! I did have a ton of fun jumping & hucking myself again, but I do look forward to getting back to Europe for some steep, raw, exposed natural mountain tracks without slippery, wet wooden stunts, and without loads of pre-riding.

One of the highlights of my CO trip was catching up with some good old friends Linda & Stu from way back when & meeting their 5 year old son (he was just a wee baby the last time). Pretty special people, it brought back so many great memories and funny bike stories. Super thankful that bikes have been  able to create such great experiences, friendships and strong bonds between people that will last forever.

Bloody well done to Jerome & Tracy for total stage domination - you guys are amazing! I'm pretty sure  it was all the delicious meals we created & all the red wine and good laughs we had that helped Tracy to take the win ;) What a great few days rooming, riding & racing with Tracy & James.

I'm really looking forward to the next round in Whistler in a few days time - hoping I can find all the stages this year and not get myself lost again, that would be a good start and I'm just excited to catch up with some old friends, to go riding new trails, swimming in the lake, reading a book & having a few beers.

For now, the rental is completely overloaded with bikes and it's off to Colorado Springs to check out the SRAM offices and to go adventuring in the mountains with Jon Cancellier, Pang & Chris Ball - pretty excited about this!

Peace out, Anka xxx

MegAvalancheeee - ALARMAAAAAAA!!!!!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=01YULr02Kn8] It's been a few days now since I finished racing the Mega and I'm finally starting to loosen up and feel less sore & tired from that crazy race I got sucked into racing again last weekend. It's one of those addictive races that you just cannot say no to. After finishing in 3rd place last year behind Anne & Tracy, I swore I was done. It was the biggest battle & the hardest hour of racing ever, and I had had my mega quota and achieved what I wanted to achieve with this gamble of a race. Anyhow, another year later, another fun day of practice and boom - Mega number 6 in the books. I couldn't help myself.

Qualies:

The qualie track was pretty fun, it started up at the same start, even though there was so much snow, it just meant some more rut, snow scooting. The track also had a river flowing down the whole top part of the track, so mud galore and visibility issues right out of the start gate made for some interesting line choices & passes. My plan was to try and slot in behind Anne Caro and try to stick as close to her as possible to the finish. Well turns out Anne never practiced the top rocky, snow sections and managed to get us both lost. We had to get off and run back up to the right lines to carry on, and by that stage a handful of girls had passed us. It turned into a chase the leader game then, trying to make sketchy inside line passes, turning doubles into triples & hucking off weird, unpracticed obstacles to try and get by and just generally some sketchy riding to try and gain a few places. The bottom part of this track is a one line, bike park type track and pretty impossible to pass, so you keep trying, but in the end, you just roll down to the finish in the order that you entered that bottom section into and be happy with that. I ended up 6th. Lesson learned: Don't follow the leader. Be confident with your own lines.

Race day:

The girls don't get much time to recover or think about the main race, as we finish qualies pretty late, wash bikes, eat, sleep & get in line for the gondola to the top of the world at 6am that next morning. I prefer this, as we have no time to think about what we're getting ourselves into and what the glacier may be like this morning. The lift ride to the top is spectacular, watching the sunlight hit the massive snowy mountain peaks all around us. There is so much tension in those gondolas on race morning, but somehow seeing the sun rise, makes it all better, brings a smile to my face and reminds me of how lucky we are to be doing what we do.

We get up to the top about 2 and a half hours before we race, so there is a lot of waiting around, nervous banter, ice kicking and speculating how much softer it could get within 20 minutes or so. It is terrifying from up there. The ice was frozen solid, and it just dropped away right out of the start gate into the steepest, slipperiest glacier ever with a massive right hander at the bottom...The race was delayed by 20min's to hopefully get a bit softer, so that was great news. I started towards the left side, and the plan was to get out fast, cut to the right and avoid the pile up off everyone starting on the right side and slipping to the left off the off camber startline. Well, I started fast, pedalled a lot and picked up so much speed, so quickly, I didn't know what to do with it. I couldn't brake, I couldn't dare put my foot down, and I kept picking up speed as the right hander was approaching faster than I could deal with. I was out front again with Anne and two other girls, with most of the other girls creeping down the glacier - smart choice. Anyhow, I ended up having a massive crash and cartwheeled my way into the safety nets. As thankful as I was for those nets from stopping me from sliding down the mountain, my frustration & disbelief kicked in when I realized that my bike was so tangled up in the netting, that I couldn't get it loose. Sven was up at the top and he timed this whole ordeal - almost 3 minutes later I got my bike free and managed to get going on the glacier again.

Check out some pretty spectacular glacier crashing footage that John & Rob Parkin got with their freaking cool helicopter camera - thanks for that guys!

http://dirt.mpora.com/news/dirttv-megavalanche-2013.html

I was gutted. I almost gave up. I was angry. Why did I pedal so hard out of the start gate? I thought everyone would. I didn't need to. Why did I get tangled up? I guess it saved my life, but the other girls didn't get tangled. Urgh! Racing = Frustrating. It's happened now, what are you going to do? I decided to carry on sliding down the glacier, head first on my back clasping my bike on my chest at one stage (not by choice), and decided to just finish and enjoy the whole experience as I thought I was pretty much last after my start ordeal. I started picking my way back past loads of girls (I managed to ride over Hannah Barnes' foot - sorry Hannah!), slowly getting back into a good rhythm and enjoying myself. I pushed hard, rode the downhills fast, solid on the uphills and just felt great on my bike. Once I crossed the finish line, I realized I managed to finish in 7th place - not too shabby. I couldn't believe it, I was happy to at least make the top 10, but at the same time, it was bittersweet as I started thinking about all the what if scenarios. That's racing though & everyone's got to get their turn. Well done to all the girls who race this scary race. Better luck next time.

Sven sadly decided to skip the main race after qualifying really well, due to his arm being really swollen and sore after a few crashes the day before. The men raced an amazing race. Jerome is an animal. We cheered hard & ran alongside our mates to cheer them on up the hills. It was awesome. Well done to all the brave boys!

Will I be back? I swore never, but never is a long time...

Now it's time to rest up and recover from the past 3 weeks of adrenaline overdose and racing and get ready for the next month of racing and adventuring in Colorado & Canada.

Peace out, Anka xxx

Round 3 & other bike shenanigans at Les2Alps.

Round three of the Enduro World Series was held in the bizarre ski town/resort of Les 2 Alps, France. A visually spectacular place when you look at the mountains and surrounding scenery, but quite a strange 80's style architecture clad ski town with a million kids roaming about that get shipped out here to ski and snowboard camp for a summer filled glacier action.

The tracks here are very downhill bike oriented as it's situated in-between two really steep valleys, so I've never been a huge fan of this mountain for trail bike riding, because of all the brake bumps except for their two amazing tracks that they use for the Mountain of Hell race every year. Due to loads of snow, most of the upper, good trails were still closed to us for this race, so they had to make use of the two very steep slopes on either side of the valley. Nothing was marked out until Friday (I love that), then we had all day Saturday to practice and figure out the 4 different race tracks - which turned into a pretty epic day of riding bikes as most of us did all the tracks twice which ended up taking all day, resulting in a pretty battered body on Sunday morning for race day.

Stage one:

Long, pedally, fast, dusty, raw, brand new, steep pinches, many traverses, more pedaling, fresh grassy off camber, heater buses, fire road, bike park berms, a mother F*&$@r of a tar road & gravel climb that never ended, followed by more uphill traversing and finally a fast as all hell, straightline downhill down to the next villiage. Did I mention all the climbing? It was brutal. Noodle legs, arm pump, passing, shouting, frustration & elation. The amount of emotions that happen within those 15 or whatever the stage time was, is pretty unreal. This shit is so mental and if you know how to deal with that, then you'll do well at these races. I ended up in 9th place, felt surprisingly good on the climb, then got stuck trying to pass 3 girls on the narrow single-track descent. Frustrating. That's racing.

Stage Two:

This was a strange one. Flat out fire road sprint into a gnarly rock garden section and back onto another long ass fire road sprint, spin out & tuck section around to the front side of the mountain and then into some super narrow singletrack trails to the finish line. It seemed so much more pedaly during the race, but it was good, just couldn't get into this stage, it felt a bit disjointed to me. 9th place on this stage.

Stage Three:

After a long break we headed up for race number three. The best description would be awkward. Everything about this track was just awkward. Fine to ride, but a bit strange to race. It would definitely have been beneficial to be able to do nose wheelies on this track. I fumbled out of the start gate, all the way to the finish line. Just making every mistake in the book. O well, I had to settle with an 11th place here. On to the next one, and my favourite, number 4.

Stage Four:

This was my favourite track from the start. It was full pinned high speed down the mountain, off camber, grassy knolls, scary fast blind rises, brake bumps galore and then into this narrow singletrack section that wound all the way down to the valley floor. It was a proper trail. Steep & tricky and I loved it. I guess it helps when you enjoy a track as I got a 7th place on that stage behind a few World Champs - so that made my day & I was a happy girl.

These days the level is so high, that when you nail one or two stages and are happy with them, then you've managed to do well and you should be stoked. There is no such thing as a perfect run, they just don't happen, there are way too many variables involved for that to be possible. Tracy managed to take the win again which was so exciting & Jerome took the men's win. I couldn't be happier for these guys as they are both truly amazing bike riders and genuinely  passionate about riding their bikes and not just racing them. I managed to finish up in 9th place at the end of the day. Pretty happy with a top 10 these days, as the level out here is truly remarkable.

Cheers to another great weekend of racing & to everyone that managed to pull this off. It was different, not good or bad, just different which was great and it was hard, and that is how it should be and will hopefully remain to be. Next up - MegAvalanche & glaciers - ALARMA!!!!!!!!!

I'm back in rural France at my sisters house now, knackered, battered & bruised after the Mega, but excited to see my dad, celebrate my sister's 40th birthday & to catch up with internet, life, laundry & loads of amazing vegetarian cooking from me mum (much needed after raclette & tartiflette overdose). Keep posted for some Mega updates coming soon!

peace out, Anka xxx

Out & about in-between races.

Our European migrations every year does involve a shit load of work, mostly at races & other events, with loads of driving, late night editing, lots of internet cafe time, laundry sessions, packing & re-packing, washing & sorting bikes & gear, getting the trusty (rusty) old van fixed and so on, but we do try to do something fun in-between the long drives from one country to the next and from event to event. These little side trips are usually the one's that we end up enjoying the most and that we end up sharing with our good friends. None of us really have much time at the races & events to actually catch up properly and hang out, everyone is so busy with their own thing, but when we do these little mini trips in-between, that is when we actually get to spend some quality time with our mates on the road & we get to play and ride bikes.

I got to explore the Valley of the Sun in Italy while the DH World Cup action was going on a few weeks ago (pics above).

We got to go to one of our favourite places to ride, swim, eat way too much gelato & drink loads of red wine & lemoncello - Lake Garda in Italy. We had a big old crew this year which is always fun to do one of our all time favourite rides from Malcesine back to the lake. We also got to catch up with our good friends from California, Megan & Andy that just happened to be in Italy for work at the same time. Perfect!

A big shuttling day from Col De Champs before the Val D Allos enduro race was pretty epic.

Another big shuttling day after the Val D Allos race was another pretty amazing day of riding before heading out of this beautiful valley.

After Val D Allos we made our way to the hidden gem of Moustiers St Marie tucked away in the Gorges Du Verdon for some swimming & kayaking adventures with Jon C & Christine and Tracy & James.

There are a few (lots) places that I've always wanted to go to, that we just never end up getting to, so hopefully we'll be able to go on a few more mini trips this summer and experience some new countries, places, trails & cultures. Isn't that the whole reason we got into riding bikes in the first place?

Anyhow, I'll keep you updated here on our mini adventures in-between all the important stuff.

peace out, Anka xxx

Riding bikes, van life & shit.

We just wrapped up the second round of the Enduro World Series race in Val D Allos, France this past weekend & what a great weekend of riding and racing it was. The setting was spectacular, surrounded by majestic mountains, pretty much in the middle of nowhere, in a tiny little ski town and only two hours from bustling Nice. With the French format not allowing any practice before the race, we had plenty of time to explore some of the other tracks and trails in the area, which was good fun to go and ride bikes with your mates and not even bother to give the race a thought until race day, which I love.

We stayed in our van and created a nice pikey site with fellow van-ier (and photographer), Victor Lucas who took brewing up the morning coffee to a whole other level using his big track pump to get the frothy crema on the top of the brew, a sure way to get your morning started off on a good note.

The racing was absolutely amazing. The tracks were really fun, scenic, exposed, fast, sketchy, unpredictable, with shale rock, loamy dirt, dry loose bike park dirt, roots, rocks, cliffs, switchbacks, I mean, it had absolutely all the elements that a good trail needs to have to call it epic. They were super fun to ride, but to race, they were hard. Hard in a good way, as it should be. It tested your everything. On Saturday the tracks were a bit more DH oriented, but still quite pedaly if you wanted to do well, and on Sunday, they were still technical and tricky, but the pedaling sections were just too long for me to make use of my downhill skills to get a good result. I just didn't have the legs to stand up and sprint on all the traversing and uphill sections, but I still had a blast and loved the tracks. Proper enduro riding. Raw, unpredictable & hard. I just need to find my legs now :) We managed to descend 10 000 meters over the two days of racing, so I'd say you definitely get your money's worth at these events. Don't even get me started on the food station and how incredibly delicious it was. I have Haribo sweets stocked up for the rest of the summer!

I was happy with a 6th & a 7th place on two of the race runs, then a bit of bad luck on one of the runs cost me a lot of time, but it was the long pedaly one's on Sunday that killed me and put me into 11th place for the overall results.. All in all a magnificent weekend of racing. Hats off to all the girls that raced - 30 of us, which is pretty amazing to see a start list with so many girls ready to race. The level of the racing for the men & women was really high, everyone killed it & I look forward to this coming weekend to see how Les Deux Alpes will format their racing for the weekend, and hopefully I can have a good weekend and get into the top 10...but there are plenty of trails to go exploring this week and adventures to be had before the race, so I'll worry about that later.

One of my highlights this weekend was meeting up with my good old friend Sabrina Jonnier & catching up with her about life in general and just seeing her glow in the sunshine with her baby belly. I cannot wait to meet Stella soon!

Cheers to everyone for all their support & to Sven for the stunning photographs. It was such a treat to race and ride with all my new Sombrio kit - I LOVE all my new goodies, and they look good! THANK YOU!!!!!

Peace out, Anka xxx

Bawbags, burns & bothies in Ballater.

Ballater

Ballater is a burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on the River Dee, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 213 m in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hikers and known for its spring water, once said to cure scrofula.

Man, Scotland is RAD.

I've just returned from one amazing week in Scotland. The sun was shining the entire week, there were no midgies in sight, the trails were mint, the whiskey tasting was endless and the crew was the best. We were out in Ballater with the Santa Cruz Bicycles boys & girls for the new Solo bike & Women's specific Juliana bike launch & we had such a fun week of everything. I finally got to meet & ride with Andy McKenna & his lovely wife Aneela - been wanting to meet these guys that run the www.go-where.co.uk Scottish guided company for so long now - always drooling over their instagram pics, so this was perfect. I got to experience a little bit of their daily instagram-ed lives & I'll never forget Aneela's amazing laugh! We just had a blast riding with the girls, ripping up the heather clad Scottish hills - cheers Mary -Anne, Aneela & Zea!

I also learnt a whole bunch of new Scottish words, don't think they're all good one's, but here are a few - thanks to Aneela: Bawbags, Burns, Fannybawbags, Fannybaws, bothies, Royal Deeside tweed, man, the list goes on and on...and I had a lesson in Whiskey making, smelling, sniffing, tasting & finally drinking. Turns out I'm not too keen on heavy peat flavored whiskey, made my tongue go all numb & tingly.

As for the first WC of the season - it was insane! Such a great venue, i have forgotten how good this venue was and how amazing all the Scottish fans are. I was bummed that the porridge cart wasn't there, but I did sample some delicious Haggis & tatties (the veggie version) and it was YUM. Our Juliana Bicycles booth got a lot of attention & the gals (and guys) loved the bikes! I got to catch up with some members of Team Dark Cloud, reminiscing about the trials & tribulations of the Trans Provence & I cannot wait to ride with this crew once again in September - Team Dark Cloud strikes again! Great to see & catch up with all the Ball's, and got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants ever - The Ben Nevis Inn.

The trails were sick, the scenery mind blowing, the riding crew - super fun. Cheers to everyone who made this week super special. Visiting new places are the best, riding new tracks are insane, making new friends - priceless (no, this is not a visa add). Now I'm back in Italy, in the Valley of the sun for some more world cup action & trail exploration this weekend.

Thank you to Sven for the stunning shots!

Peace out.

Anka

x