The guys over on our sister site Dirt have set up an awesome World Enduro Series Fantasy League powered by Avid – and there’s some ace prizes to boot.

Whats even better is that it’s completely free to play and there are some amazing prizes up for grabs. It really is quite impossible to think of a reason not to get involved with this!

Here’s what you can win:

Overall Winners

1st place: Full Bike Tune by SRAM at one of the races of the Enduro World Series 2014 or at our factory in Schweinfurt, Germany. This includes a fork, group set, brakes, handlebar and pedals. Winner has to pay for and arrange own travel.

2nd place: Rockshox PIKE fork

3rd place: SRAM XO Trail brakes

Come 2nd overall and get a set of Pikes – wow!

Round Winners

1st place: SRAM XO Trail brakes

2nd place: SRAM Duffle bag

3rd place: SRAM swag pack with socks, trucker hats and lots of nice goodies

These XO trail brakes are great performers and you can win them by nailing each round

Check out our world enduro series coverage and see if you can piece together who is going to take the top prize in the most exciting new event in moutain biking. The 65km course going all around Punta Ala is really going to push the world’s best riders and their top grade machines to the absolute limit.

What wheel size is going to give the edge? Will the downhillers prevail over the enduro specialists? Will the weeks of shuttling the timed sections really be the key to winning? All of these will be answered on Sunday and our editor James Mcknight is out their reporting from the front line.

So get involved and hit up www.dirtendurofantasyleague.com and start selecting your team. Easy!

1 million big ones to pick your dream team!

For now though, take a look at this super slow-mo from last season and marvel at the skill of the world’s top cross country racers:

Could you ride at their speed over such technical terrain with your seat that high? Didn’t think so.

Watch the cross-country racing from the opening round of the UCI XCO World Cup at Albstadt LIVE on RedBullBike from 11.18 CET on May 19.

The UBYK Oxford store offers bikes and components from high end brands such as Lapierre, Ibis, Yeti and Santa Cruz as well as a level of service above that of many ‘normal’ bike shops with expert riders, coaches and mechanics making up the staff and their experience and service coming into use with every customer query. If you’re serious about mountain bikes then UBYK is a great go-to for sales, service and repairs.

The UBYK Oxford store. Get down there for high end treats and superb service.

The Reverb prize is a generous offering and it would make for a fantastic upgrade to a trail bike. If you haven’t already got one, then get entered!

If you need a little more convincing (which you probably don’t), then here’s RockShox’s description of the Reverb:

When you’re ripping through rolling terrain, cranking the pedals one minute and getting off the back of the bike the next, no seat height is “just right.” The all-new Reverb gives you infinite seat-height adjustment and control of your return speed in a hydraulically actuated remote package. A custom sealing system means the plush and consistent feel of this seat post won’t degrade, no matter how much the weather does.

So there you have it, in our experience the Reverb is the smoothest operating and most advanced dropper post on the market and therefore the most desirable, making this one of the best prize draws we’ve had on Bike Magic.

Simply answer the easy multiple choice question to be in for a chance to win this great prize thanks to UBYK:

Closing date for this competition is Thursday 23rd May so get yourself entered to be in with a chance of winning the Reverb! Good luck.

TERMS & CONDITIONS: By entering you are agreeing to receive details of future offers and promotions from Factory Media and related third parties. This competition will close on May 23rd, 2013.

PERSONAL STATEMENT: By entering I also confirm I have read and accept the terms & conditions of the prize draw, competition rules and privacy policy.

Read our quick-fire questions with Hannah here.

Filmed by Liam Murphy (@liammurphyfilms).

“Strive for the podium — a clear statement of intent for the 2013 season from the newly formed Canyon Factory Enduro Team as it embarks upon its first season. Fabien Barel, Joe Barnes, Ines Thoma, Marco Bühler and Eugen Maxi Dickerhoff are sure to cause a stir on the enduro scene. Their bike: The enduro bike Strive Race. Their mission: Podium places!”

www.canyon.com

Having brokered a deal to produce my first book, The Mountain Bike Skills Manual, in the autumn of 09, I set about gathering images to go in said book. All was going well and I planned on getting the riding shots done the following summer when the backdrops in the UK would be more inspiring.

Snapper Frazer Waller joins me after a successful shoot for a rare appearance on the other side of the lens.

A call from the publisher came in and an excited voice told me that the US had bought the language rights, “Woo-hoo!” I screamed down the phone. Charlotte then paused and continued, “The only thing is…well they have requested an earlier release date.” Bum!

Not wanting to let down the might of the US mountain bike fraternity and miss such a golden opportunity I boldly, and perhaps slightly foolishly, said, “No worries, pretty sure we can make that happen.” Left with nothing but winter and maybe a bit of spring to pull everything together I conjured up a plan to head somewhere sunny to gather riding shots for the skills sequences.

Spain was an obvious choice and a good friend put me onto La Fenasosa Bike Park as a potential good venue. The maps came out, the van was packed and I hit the road south with snapper Frazer onboard HMS VW T5. As we rolled through countless downpours in the north of France the trusty and allegedly bomb proof T5 decided to have a storm of its own. Upon inspection via Exposure Joystick and dirty knees I found a water leak. Bummer part deux.

An overnight stop in the van followed by map inspection the next morning led into Le Mans. We hit the strip of car dealers knowing that even if we couldn’t find a VW dealer, somewhere in Le Mans would be able to assist. Luck behold, a commercial service centre and some rough translations got us booked in, inspected, fixed and motoring once more.

The kilometres rolled by as we passed more stormy weather over the Pyrenees and into Spain and the long haul down over the deserts and into Valencia seemed to take forever; the most boring sections of road I have ever driven.

Another over night stop in the mighty ‘dub’ and up early to scale a hill and check out the terrain: great trails, great light, but freezing cold. We snapped away. This was a long haul to ride turns and do wheelies and hops but it was worth it. The next day we drove around and found a few more spots before rocking up at a closed La Fenasosa Bike Park. A Spanish speaking friend back in the UK tracked down the owners and they kindly drove out and let us in to spend the night, the following day we were given a guided tour of the site and left to ride and shoot to our hearts’content.

With all shots bagged and just before the rain of the plains in Spain caught up with us from we hit the road, back up through FA land and over the mountains, 8 hours in and sleep deprived we started the toughest game of I-spy known to man. The rules were simple: you had to call the most obvious thing possible, bear in mind it’s pitch black and raining on the Auto Route how hard could it be? (VERY.) Time passed and multiple rounds of I-spy led onto the creation of other road trip games like virtual connect 4 and virtual battleships. We desperately needed rest but our ferry was waiting so we fueled the van and sunk another tasty (not) roadside coffee.

All the rushing about and hard work paid off in the end as the book was finished on deadline. Plus we managed to get some great shots in Scotland after all!

Luckily the remainder of the journey went to plan and night time driving paid off, clear roads and a hassle free lap of the M25 (who’d have thought it?!) linked us to the M1 and onwards North. Back at base Frazer got to work tweaking images while I made us gallons of tea and we hit the deadline. The Mountain Bike Skills Manual made it onto the shelves on time but what a journey it had been en-route to its publication.

Clive Forth. MTBSkills, Transition Bikes.

www.mtbskills.co.uk

Follow Clive on twitter – twitter.com/cliveforth

Some years back I started racing in mass-start downhill events and enduros, having spent a few seasons cutting to and from the continent I finally got a break and a chance to go on the road full time. I purchased the obligatory VW van and went about doing my own conversion. With the van tailored to my specific requirements of ‘travel fast and light’, I hit the road off on my Euro tour.

Spare tyres to keep me rolling and a van stacked full of goods ready for another Euro road trip.

The race calendar was a pretty hectic one and I would visit Andorra, Spain, France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. Along the way in between events I was researching potential spots to lay down some roots and settle in the years to come and I also wanted to take in as many riding spots as possible en route to the next event.

The season started early with a Maxi Avalanche at Vallnord Bike Park in Andorra; a snow start was evidence that winter was only just over our shoulder. A trip along the warmer south coast of France and stop off to ride the well know spots linked me to the Southern Alps, I rode some cool spots and it was not long before I was due at another race.

Fruits of a labour (the hours of driving). There are so many bike parks and random hills with lifts to ride all across the Alps that it’s a lifetime’s work to get to them all. I’m trying my best though!

After a couple of events I stopped by to catch up with old Friends Sam and Lyndsey from Bike Village near Les Arcs. I spent some time riding with the guides and Sam himself discovering the delights of that area before hitting the road to yet another comp. My season continued in a similar vein as I worked my way from the South West of the Alps right the way over, along, up and over again (and along a bit more) before cutting back up and over the far end of the Alps on the Italian/Slovenian border.

Once I arrived at the far end I made my return ticking off bike parks and famous riding spots as I passed through, endless days of surfing lifts and riding the finest Alpine single track followed until, eventually, the rain and snow came. With summer well and truly over I headed back to the UK and parked the van up: it wasn’t an endless summer but it sure felt like it, both bikes and myself battered but all the better for the huge kilometers covered, I knuckled down and did some more riding in less favorable conditions.

I’m still rocking a fine selection of cassette tapes…essential for the ridiculous number of miles I clock in my van every year.

The following spring I was truly suffering from post Alpine depression so the logical but slightly reckless decision was made to get back on the road and take in lap 2. With so much ground to cover and a never ending list of events to choose from I’d be mad not to, right?

I found myself back at Bike Village for a stint, friends came and went joining me for various events and photo shoots as I took in another lap of the Alps, ticking off the resorts and roads I missed first time round. I realised the magnitude of my travels one day in Interlaken when I looked in a shop window at a large scale map of the entire Alps, holy crap! I’d navigated the length and breadth of the range twice and there were still so many areas in between my route I’d not visited. Panic set in. How many trails? How can I possibly ride them all?

I’d navigated the length and breadth of the range twice and there were still so many areas in between my route I’d not visited.

Try as we might, the reality is we will never ride them all but I’ll be damned if I don’t give it a go. My quest continues some 8 years later, countless kilometers have been clocked up and I’m still finding the most amazing trails, there are classics in between the classics, its easy to get stuck in the bike park but I encourage you to get out there, grab a map, talk to some locals and go adventure.

I’ll be back here at Bike Magic tomorrow with another tale of carnage.

Clive Forth. MTBSkills, Transition Bikes.

www.mtbskills.co.uk 

Follow Clive on twitter – twitter.com/cliveforth

Words: Clive Forth
Photos: Frazer Waller

Back in the spring of 1995 I got a call from Volvo – our main sponsor on the Cannondale team – they had just made arrangements with the organiser of the Hungarian National Downhill series for us to go and compete in the inaugural Pepsi Max sponsored events, it was a real last minute thing and prep time was minimal.

A blast from the past, this brings back many fond memories of road trip action.

What seemed like a few hours later the bike was prepped then stripped and stuffed in the bike bag along with as many spares as possible. Our BA flight linked us into the capital Budapest and a friendly chap who spoke no English met teammate Stephan Gleed and myself at the airport then drove us to the Stadium Hotel next to the dilapidated Olympic stadium

Eager and excitable Gleed and I got the bikes out and hit the city for some street riding, a tourist style trials lap of Budapest later and back for a night’s rest before our log haul in a Lada the next day up to the Czech border. The drive sucked, a guy who we struggled to communicate with and all of us in an underpowered clapped-out nail of a car crept us through the country on minor roads to our final destination, we just hoped the race was a cut above the car journey.

Another fine eastern block hotel complete with 3 star crumbling concrete awaited us after the eyeball-rattling journey was complete. With time to kill, Gleed and I found huge entertainment, no wait a minute, that thing about what goes down on the road stays on the road… Yes, well all I’ll say is that we were young and less responsible (marginally so) than we are today. And anyway, the call from the lobby put pay to us chucking stuff from the balcony on the 14th floor…

So the following morning we hit the first uplift: a dirty old army truck crammed with riders and bikes hit the streets through town and built speed to a max somewhere around 15mph. Moments later we were stopped by the Police, words and money exchanged before we carried merrily on our way, leaving behind the town, diesel fumes and various viscous liquids. The uplift route had obviously not been used since the harvesting equipment went in some years previously; we dodged and ducked under branches as the truck slipped and span its way up through the forest. Where we are going you don’t need roads Marty!

The course was amazing, a good mix of fast and technical, slow and steep, the icing on the cake was still to come as we discovered the track ran into the back of a sizable theater through the fire exit, it then proceeded to pass over marble floors and descend down marble stair cases before popping out the main entrance and finishing in the town square.

Racing went well and the locals were appreciative of us joining them, Gleed took the number one slot and I took a pleasing 3rd having wrecked my front suspension in practice. We celebrated with pizza and beer before returning to the hotel. The next day was a repeat process of our journey as our driver took us back to the Stadium Hotel.

My XC bike has more travel than my 90s DH rig, I’ve been euro road tripping since the mid 90s and still love life on the road.

Back in Budapest we decided to go out and celebrate once more. Gleed arranged the cab into town and I was to deal with arrangements for our safe return. One dodgy and expensive Trabant ride later we arrived deep in the city, to be honest I can’t remember where or what we ate but I do recall some dodgy bar with the Hungarian equivalent to Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee giving a show.

As we staggered out the place a guy asked us if we needed a cab, “sure thing” I replied, he led us up the street to a BMW M3 and bleeped the alarm, “no way” cried Gleed.

A cab ride like no other ensued, the guy had it pinned the whole way, flat out on wet cobbles, running red lights and taking all manner of crazy lines between the trams and traffic. As for the bill, well it was less than half the friendly man in his pea green Trabant charged Gleed, result!

Before we knew it BA brought us back to the UK and we eagerly awaited round two of The Pepsi Max Hungarian National Series.

Join me tomorrow and all this week for more tales from the trails.

Clive Forth. MTBSkills, Transition Bikes.

www.mtbskills.co.uk

Follow Clive on twitter – twitter.com/cliveforth

Day 2 catch up - 27 April 2013 

After a neutralised first stage, day two would see the first proper racing stage. Before that we were treated to an amazing steak meal courtesy of Karan Beef who had provided 1,400 steaks to the racers and supporters. There was a great atmosphere in the dinner tent and we were shown an amazing selection of shots from the race photographer. The helicopter shots of a single rider on a seemingly endless track gave a sense of scale to the enormous landscape we were covering.

Ben Thomas and Tim Dunford gearing up for a day of singletrack and battles.

Today though was a mere 92km with around 1000m of climbing from Frankfort to Reitz. After yesterday’s relaxed 8am start, today started at 7, which meant a 5.15 alarm. And to think I call this a holiday! The frosted grass outside the campervan suggested it might not yet be that warm, which it wasn’t, and we were well wrapped up before the start. With no racing on the first day we weren’t gridded so there was more of a bun fight to be near the front, despite the commentator’s assurances that the start behind the Massey Ferguson tractor was neutralised for the first couple of kilometres. Formula One may have a lead super car but the lead tractor maintained an impressive pace through downtown Frankfort. As he pulled over the pack sped off and we tried to maintain our position near the front.

The start was mainly on double track along the banks of a river. Maybe we’re more used to it but the occasional muddy puddle caused the group to slam on the brakes before tentatively creeping through. It’s only mud! As we turned off the double track onto a lumpy, grassy singletrack climb the front of the race was still in sight with Ben around 10 places in front of me. Around five places in front of me an Avis rider slowed, letting a gap grow to the riders in front. There was only one line and no way past. Frustratingly I had to wait for the trail to widen to get past. The gap to the front group was only around 30 seconds so we set off in pursuit. Cresting the top of a rocky escarpment the lead group was nearing the bottom of the short, rocky descent. We flew down when half way down I smacked my rear tyre on a large and fairly hard rock. In the battle of rock versus tyre the rock won… We quickly re-inflated with a gas canister but the riders we’d just worked so hard to get past caught back up. Fortunately a quick change meant we soon re-joined them but the lead group were now out of sight.

The route was now mainly on flat unsealed roads and I was keen to get the group working. After a little gentle persuasion we were swapping turns roadie style and making good progress. After a while a couple of Avis riders caught us. These guys were super strong and we gladly accepted a tow for a while. We could now see a group in front of us and were slowly clawing our way up to them. Just as we were making contact one of the Avis riders clipped the wheel in front and went down. I was just behind and managed to escape a nasty slide on gravel by hopping over his rear wheel. With the two strongest riders now delayed our group momentarily lost momentum before Ben and I decided it was now or never and put in a big dig to get across which we did after a few minutes of flat out fire road bashing.

After a quick breather we reached the day’s final feed zone at around the 70km mark. No time for pancakes today although I did see Ben steal a sneaky pastry twist. It’s been noted! We then hit some great dusty singletrack, which twisted and turned through enormous fields of tall grass. The going was fairly bumpy and I wasn’t loving my rock hard rear tyre at all. Still, better too hard than no air at all. We turned back onto unsealed road for the final time. I was starting to feel the pace now and hung on to the back of the group. I wasn’t the only one suffering though as we hit a small drag the group splintered with just the two Avis riders in front. After a herculean effort I dragged myself up to them.

Fifteen kilometres from the end we hit the Red Bull timed enduro section where there are daily prizes for the fastest riders over a short, technical section. There would be no prizes for us today, the Avis riders may have been super strong but they weren’t the best downhill, though running a fully rigid bike couldn’t have helped. You’d think 900 kilometres off-road would be enough of a challenge without making it any harder. The final kilometres were on superb flat singletrack and we ripped along with the (now visible) tented race village giving us a massive boost. Just outside the village we passed a centre where neglected wolves are cared for. They seemed quite excitable and I was glad there was a sturdy fence between them and me!

Eighth on the day. Not too shabby at all.

The 92 kilometres had taken us three hours, 16 of which was good enough for eighth overall and sixth in our category; a fantastic first day. More importantly we were allowed cake based on the Ben Thomas “only top ten get cake” rule! First were the Fed Group-Itec team of Brandon Stewart and Neil Macdonald who led home a group of five within 17 seconds of each other, around five minutes in front of us. With our racing finished by 10.30 we had plenty of time to chill in the afternoon with the only chores being to refill the water in the camper and empty the chemical toilet. Ah, the joys of camping! Tomorrow’s stage is a monster 132 kilometres so there will be a fair amount of eating involved as well. Check our report tomorrow to see how we get on!