Australian Mountain Bike issue 186

Australian Mountain Bike magazine is Australia's leading off road cycling publication, and features extensive and industry-leading mountain bike and product reviews. It tracks down the greatest trails to ride, offers columns dedicated to both the first time rider and pro racer, plus some of the best mountain bike imagery in the world. Exclusive and inclusive - covering the full spectrum of the sport, trust AMB to give you the best advice from the sport's best journalists.

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in this issue

IN THIS ISSUE

Pumped

We met up with Jindabyne local Tegan Molloy while on the Snowies Roadie, and had Sian A’Hern (above and left) join us from Canberra as well. Tegan gets so much out of living where she does, and explained that there is so much variety in the Snowy Mountains. “We’re pretty lucky around here. We have quite a large variety of trails from the gravity trails up at Thredbo to cross-country and enduro at Mill Creek and Tyrolean. Plus the little test track at East Jindy... it’s a fairly well-rounded trail network around here.” “It’s great to be able to go to Thredbo with the variety of riding in the area,” said Sian, “there’s everything there for the disciplines that I ride and race. Plus it’s a huge bonus that there is…

1 min

FAST TRACK

WELCOME TO THE GREEN SEASON

After a year unlike any other, most of you will probably feel like a coiled spring, ready to go and ride somewhere new, somewhere special and somewhere exciting this summer. Save for Victorians, we all could mostly ride as we otherwise would have for the past 8 months or so – just as long as you didn’t have any big trips planned to Tasmania, Western Australia, Alice Springs, or Victoria. It’s been a great year to rediscover how beneficial it is to have trails in our own backyards – figuratively, but literally for some! However with trails in our alpine areas having had lots of work late in the riding season and a good rest over winter, you can be sure that the conditions up high will be all time…

2 min

FAST TRACK

MCCONNELL TAKES ANOTHER BRONZE!

In a crazy year for everyone, it’s wild to think that it was still possible for a Mountain Bike World Championships to go ahead. With restrictions in place, Leogang in Austria hosted all the Mountain Bike World Championship events, from eMTB, to Team Relay, Downhill and Cross-Country. While Bec McConnell was set to ride the wave of success from 2019 into 2020, of course her season was not what anyone would expect – but she really delivered in the shortened World Cup and World Championships, riding in a medal position for the majority of the race, and finishing with a Bronze medal after a sprint with Italy’s Eva Lechner. If you saw the coverage, the course was intense, and the wild weather created some epic carnage. “Third at Worlds was crazy. Everyone…

15 min

FAST TRACK

ISUZU D-MAX X-TERRAIN

Earlier this year Isuzu released a long-awaited update to the D-MAX, their best-selling ute. Isuzu Australia have often thrown us the keys to a D-MAX or MUX for our longer trips away, and a 4WD ute has to be one of the most common sights at any Australian trail head. The new D-MAX is said to be one of the safest utes on the market, and I was lucky enough to demo the top spec D-MAX X-Terrain for a couple of weeks in spring. Sit in any traffic jam and it is clear that soft roaders, utes and big trucks like the Isuzu D-MAX X-Terrain are becoming the most popular style of car to get around in. With a boom in domestic travel, road trips and off-road exploring happening, vehicles like…

6 min

FAST TRACK

New Products

PARK TOOL PCS-10.2 STAND Working on your bike is a whole lot easier when it’s held in place and not upside down. A workstand is a bit of an investment, but will make just about any adjustment you do to your bike easier. The Park Tool PCS-10.2 stand is a folding workstand that is just as useful in the shed as it is in the campground or AirBnB carport. It’s height adjustable, and the clamping head swivels so you can get the right angle. $399.99 parktool.com THULE VELOSPACE XT BIKE RACK Towbar mounted racks are one of the easiest to fit and use, and the Thule Velospace XT is an all-in-one model that will carry just about any bike. With two and three (pictured) bike capacity models available, the rack has a 60kg total…

3 min

FAST TRACK

THE ANTI-VELOMINATI

Those of you who have been around long enough, or dabbled in different types of cycling, may be aware of ‘the rules’. These ‘rules’ are supposed to be adhered to by cyclists, but I am not sure why. Maybe it’s like the secret handshake into the MAMIL club? To be fair, the rules are mainly targeted at road cyclists (generally less fun than mountain bikers anyway), so if you’re into having less fun and staring at bitumen then go right ahead and live by the rules. For the rest of us, here is a little debunk of some of the rules: // Humps are for camels: no hydration packs. We live in Australia, the driest continent on earth. It’s either scorching hot, or pissing down with rain in monsoon season. Regardless, hydration is…

3 min