In August, off.road.cc’s Managing Editor, Liam Mercer, and long-time reviewer, Ty Rutherford, headed out to Iceland to ride the very first RiftMTB, despite not having any experience of racing cross-country or riding big distances.
Inspired by the Rift gravel race and the Swiss Epic, the RiftMTB’s organisers aimed to bring its winning race formula to mountain biking. Held in North Iceland, the RiftMTB took riders through only the best tracks and trails the area had to offer. Over five days, competitors rode over many mountains, through lava fields, and through hot springs.
Being complete newbies to marathon racing, the RiftMTB posed an incredible challenge, but how did Ty and Liam get on?
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⚫️ In this video
0:00 intro
0:20 Day 1
2:55 Day 2
7:49 Day 3
13:38 Day 4
18:07 Day 5
21:59 Final thoughts
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300 km, 5 days of racing, and plenty of iconic Icelandic landscapes. Tai and I are two riders who are experienced in enduro racing, but we very rarely ride more than 50 km. So, we headed out to the inaugural Rift MTB to see what multi-day stage racing was all about. Welcome to Akureri in Northern Iceland, where the very first Rift MTB is about to take place. As you can see, we are on the start line, but impressively, we’ve never done a multi-day stage race before, let alone a cross country event. So, keep watching to see how we got on. [Music] [Music] [Music] Day one done. Uh we were expecting it to be fairly chill and fairly chill it was but then we hit the first climb and like heart rate started going mental. Um but yeah, job done. Really happy with it so far. I don’t think we completely like exploded, but there’s still energy in the tank. Bit of drama. Uh 20 minutes in, first set of gravel and uh uh poor some poor fella had a bit of a tumble and did a collarbone. So, we lost a good 15 or 20 minutes helping this fellow get out to the road and make sure he had some help. So, uh yeah, put us on the back foot straight away. Yeah. Um and then straight into like a solid climb up to the top of the ski resort. So, we’re trying to push on a little bit but not blow ourselves up. Um but yeah, we always knew the climbing would be our slower bit and as soon as we got to the bike park and started ripping some bike park BMS, I think we all kind of came alive a little bit. Oh, totally. Yeah. Game. Uh had a great time pinging through all the BMS and riding some technical trails. Uh only to then find a feed station which was like absolute glory. Um tons of chocolate. Little bit more climbing and then yeah final descends down back down into Akiri were amazing. Big rock slabs up on the top almost like alpine descents then down into the trees and we’re just going through little single track lots of rock rolls, bit of northshore, some roots like really fun technical exy and then just got to head down for the last bit along the bay to get back to the finish. So it’s day one done. Yeah, we’re feeling good. 40k done and about 1100 meters of climbing. So, good intro into the race. Definitely a warm up. Yeah, we’re ready for tomorrow. Can’t wait. Get a good feed and good night’s sleep and hit hit the hills tomorrow. See you in the morning. Indeed. All right, welcome to day two. Um, we’re feeling pretty fresh. Yesterday was surprisingly easy going. Not to say like the climbs and stuff weren’t rough. Um, but we knocked out about 40k, 1,100 m climbing thereabouts. And yeah, we’re still feeling rather fresh this morning, which puts us in real goodstead for the rest of the week. Today, we have another 40k knockout and another 1,100 m to do. Um, but we’re going basically in the same area, just riding different tracks, and it’s going to be pretty cool. Yeah. So, yeah, going to stick very much with the same strategy as we did yesterday. We know the gravel guys are going to be quick on the climbs, so we’re going to just pace ourselves nicely there and then, uh, let it loosen the descents and really uh, try and catch some time up. So, we’ll get some uh creative lines going and just try and keep things smooth. Uh and yeah, beautiful day here in Iceland for day two. Let’s get it done. Yeah, we’ve got a bit of a plan as well. So, there are two feed stations today, whereas yesterday there were one. And where the um distances and climbs fairly similar. We’re going to try to miss the first one, but that might not happen. We’ll see how it goes. But anyway, yeah, we got to stay cool and fresh cuz day three is the big one that we’re all a bit nervous about. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I’m suffering with my highest tire pressure. It’s ruining me. It’s the second time we’ve been at this speed station. We’ve done about 900 m of climbing, 20ishk in. So, right back up to the ski ski resort and a little bit higher again actually. Um, and then a new trail back down here. Such a fun trail. Kind of open, proper alpine at the top. Flowy BMS, really smooth, keep the speed, couple of like shark fins out of the corners. It’s fun to get a bit of air. Um, but yeah, did get rough in places. Quite lumpy. Uh, poor bikes. These things are having having to work hard, but uh they’re getting us round. We’re having a good time. The sun’s out. We’re just getting some sugar on board, and we got like another 20k to go. Most of the climbing’s done. So, now we’re just descending back into Akiri. I mean, look at this. Absolute day for it. So, yeah, we’ll be back down back down by the sea for lunch. Can’t wait. Let’s get it on. [Music] That’s day two done. Uh definitely a bit more strenuous than yesterday like with um having done 40 km yesterday definitely compounded a bit of difficulty today. Uh the hardest part was the fact that as soon as we got off this road, it was like 100 m worth of climbing in front of us. More than that, 800 m of climbing. That was all like dispatched within about an hour and a half. And yeah, after that it was just basically solid descent for a good while, about 3 4 km, back up a hill, back down the hill, and yeah, had a bit of drama as well, but we’ll let Ty say about that. Yeah. So yeah, descents awesome fun today up in the top of the bike park. We had some really fun flowy trails. Bit more natural, bit more lumpy than uh yesterday. Um but yeah, wicked fun. Um poor bikes got a real hammer in today, but they’ve held up really well. Um we were pushing hard to the end and just as we came out, there was like literally 1.6k to go. Liam’s behind me getting covered in sealant um uh to find out that uh had a massive nail through my tire. Hence why I’m still carrying a pump. So, we did a super quick speedy uh tire plug in the tire. Um pumped her up and just managed to get it across the line. So, uh yeah, had quite a lot of drama to finish the day, but uh yeah, happy to be done. Another 40k in the bag, another couple of beers down, and then tomorrow is the big day. So, uh chance to drink too many beers, make sure we get some good food, some good rest, and then yeah, tomorrow is the big one. So, uh yeah, tomorrow is the queen stage. So, we’re going to be hitting about 60 km, which is fine. But it’s about 2,000 m of climbing. Um, and yeah, that’s the one we’re nervous about. So, we’ve that’s kind of what we’ve been training for. Um, hopefully, but we will do it. Might be hard. It will be hard indeed. Especially after 2 days on tired legs. But yeah, it’s like 1:00 now. So, going to get some hot dogs down some of them and try whatever we can to recover. Men, see you in the morning. See you morning. All right. Day three. This is the hardest one. But after yesterday, we’re not feeling too bad, I don’t think. Like, we’re definitely feeling like we’ve done 80 kmters of riding, but we still got a lot enough gas in the tank to hopefully get this one done. Um, yesterday was quite successful. again had some drama, not gonna lie, but um yeah, we managed to smash out some good miles at a good pace, get ahead of a few teams, and at the moment, we’re sitting kind of the top end of the lower half. And given the drama that we’ve had, I think, you know, we can’t complain about that. But yeah, what we up to today? Yeah. So, yeah, today, like I say, we got s tired legs, but feeling all right. Had a good breakfast. Um we’ve headed north away from Miri today. So it’s about an hour on a bus and uh yeah in a beautiful kind of harborside uh town at the moment and today is the big one. So there’s about 1,800 meters or so of climbing to do today and that’s kind of that’s really in two main parts. We’ve got a mountain pass to get over um bit of a ride down the other side of the valley and then there’s another mountain pass to get us back over here. Um obviously we’ve had beautiful weather for the last two days but it seems like it’s on the change today. Um, at the moment we can’t see the hills we’re about to go in. So, I think we’re going to be climbing through some clouds today. So, uh, yeah, it’s going to be a good day. It’s going to be adventurous. Very different to the last two days that have been more bike parky. It’s a lot of natural stuff today. But, yeah, it’s going to be a good adventure. Looking forward to it. Get the legs turning, get warmed up, and uh, yeah, get it done. Can’t wait. This is the stage we’re here for. It’s only going to get easier from here. Yeah, let’s get this queen stage done. Let’s go. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat [Music] [Applause] up here. [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh man, it’s like a solid hour out of the town to get up to the top of the mountain. Just covered in uh fog. Couldn’t see anything. Sure, the views were beautiful, but we had no idea. Coming down the other side, there’s bodies everywhere, people fixing punches, there’s rocks, natural riding, but unbelievable. So much fun. Amazing. We survived. No punches, no crashes. Now we got a load of road. Yeah, Benny. Bush. Good work. Yes. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] That’s day three done. That was the queen stage. most probably not the longest stage of this race, but certainly the most climbing. I think we clocked just under 2,000 meters of climbing today. Mainly done in two big parts. So, first hill was about 600 odd meters of climbing, but mostly road. Just uh came out of the town that we were dropped in and then straight into the clouds. Um and yeah, just rode through a cloud for about an hour. But the descent the other side was like super rocky, really good fun. There was punches and uh like carnage everywhere, but we got down there nice and safely, which was awesome. Good job. And then uh about 30k on the road. Um just down like gravel valleys, beautiful, amazing like Icelandic scenery, mountains, lakes, all sorts. You name it, it was there. It was amazing. Um quick feed stop and then into the hardest bit of probably the whole race. um solid hiker bike about 700 meters of vert about 5k in total climbing up back through the clouds and we were absolutely blessed to come out the top of the clouds and have the most incredible views. Um yeah before we hit the descent descent was loose scree everywhere. Um bit of mega avalanche ice to ride down as well. Just so much fun. Solid solid finish to the day. We’re feeling it. We’re 3 days in but my god it’s been such an epic day. So yeah, stoked to uh get some food on board and then uh yeah, get on for tomorrow. Eh, what have we got in store tomorrow? Um don’t really know, but it’s about um 700 meters of vertical, so hopefully it means it’s going to be a bit easier, but it is about 70k, so kind of hoping for more like gravel straight roads, like chill it out a little bit. Uh more of like a really long competitive recovery ride. Um, but yeah, hopefully it’s gonna be more chill because today was hard work. So, yeah, we’re gonna get some sleep, get some rest, get some food, and yeah, get ready for tomorrow. Stoked for it. Day four incoming. Let’s go. Good morning and welcome to day four. We’ve uh traveled away from Akiri again. This time we’ve gone east and we’re over more in the geothermal area of uh the north of Iceland. We’re currently at a uh a spa, a lagoon, and uh yeah, big area of geothermal activity here. Lots of like old volcanic um lava fields as we came here and yeah, beautiful area. Very different to the last couple of days, but stoked to be out riding today. Legs are feeling it. We’ve done three days now. Yesterday was a big day. Um and yeah, lots of coffee, lots of food, and uh yeah, we’re just going to try and uh try and get some miles out. So, what’s in store today? So we have around 70 km. So the rift is not taking it easy on us, but around 70 km of about 800 to 1,000 meters of climbing. What will be the saving grace is that it’s more gravel roady until we get to the end where we ride something called Yaya Ding-Dong. If you know the Eurovision song, you know what I’m talking about. Um, but has been quite an interesting development that Tai found on the coach today. Um, we’re 7 minutes away from a podium place. Um, of course, if certain things didn’t happen, we’ll be looking much better, but I think that’s put a bit of a pep in the step for the rest of the race. So, yeah, let’s see how it goes. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] So, day four, 63k in, about 13, 14k left to go. It’s been a heater of a stage. Really not our bag, but I don’t know what Liam had for breakfast this morning, but I need to have some cuz he has been on it today. Been burying myself, just trying to keep up. So, we found ourselves in a weird bit of the pack. We’ve not been in before and I think that’s the result of us putting the hammer down a bit. So yeah, stoked. It’s been a hard one. Certainly not my cup of tea. I’d rather be pushing up mountains than smashing gravel, but we are doing well. We’re nearly done. The weather’s sort of held. Definitely did get wet, but my word, what a stage. Stoked to get it done. Stoked to get in and have something some warm soup and some get the day done. But yeah, what a day. It’s been a toughy, but we’re near there. I don’t know what got into us through that one. Um, we weren’t expecting that to be terribly successful or at least as successful as it was. Um, but our aim was just kind of keep things super consistent, but we ended up putting the watts down and like we had relatively low heart rates compared to the rest of the um week. So, we managed to get good power down very consistently, make some real solid overtakes and make some good time in our standings. And I don’t know about you, but I feel pretty good. I wouldn’t say I feel great. I definitely have been chasing you all day today. It’s been a bit of a role rehearsal today. Um, we went from yesterday climbing mountains and today was just bashing out miles on gravel. Such fun through the lava fields, but I know tomorrow is back to more maybe our our kind of forte. So, we got some steeper climbing and some more kind of natural descending. Um, but yeah, tomorrow we got 60k in the cards and about 1,400 m. So, no by no means over yet, but uh I know that we’re certainly in the running for third place in our category at the moment. And we were chasing hard today to try and uh try and sort of cement that position. So all to play for tomorrow, but yeah, good day. Long day. Legs are feeling it, but glad to go and uh get the bikes. At least the bikes had a wash. And now we’re going to go and have a wash, get some warm soup, get some food, get some sleep, and then yeah, I’m trying to have too many beers before tomorrow. Last day of the rift here in Iceland. Tomorrow is no great. All right, so we’re on day five. It’s the last day and it couldn’t come a moment too soon. Yesterday was pretty hardcore. It was a lot more difficult than we’re expecting and that was a good 70ks worth of constant pedaling. So yeah, we’re definitely feeling it. Saddle sores are coming in. Legs are definitely tired, but I’m really excited to get this day done so I can go home and sleep properly for a bit. Um but yeah, what we got going on? Yeah. So yeah, day five. We’re definitely at the point of fatigue now, but uh we made up some good time yesterday. We’re 2 minutes off the podium now in our category, so it’s all to play for. Um we weren’t expecting to do quite as well as we did yesterday on a stage that was very grally and very much not our forte. So quite a bit of riding to do today. We’ve got about 60k and uh well, the roots saying 1400 m of climbing. Um I’ve heard from other sources it’s more like 1,700 m of climbing. So we’ll find out. But it’s uh yeah, it’s by no means a small day. There’s uh we’re going to try and make it fun, but yeah, we still got our work cut out. Um but yeah, we’re happy. It’s day five, the Rift MTB. We’re leaving Auri and we’re going to finish in Forest Lagoon in the sauners. Cannot wait. Three beers. Yeah. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Oh wow. Well, that’s day five done. My word, that was a hard day. We clocked in. It was about 60k. I think it was about 1,600 m of climbing and uh my word, all the climbing just came in big chunks. So, literally start of the day, hour and 20 minutes of just climbing. Did about 700 m of vertical in 16k. Um, and yeah, really just set the tone for the day. We’re up in the clouds and there was nothing to do but just sit and pedal and uh, yeah, hard, really hard mentally as well, especially after 4 days when the legs are just not wanting to go. Um, but yeah, got across the top and then Liam got a puncher, wrapped a big old gash in the side of his uh, tire. We tried to stick it with the tire plugs, but nothing was sealing it. So, ended up having to stick a tube in there. So, lost a good chunk of time there, unfortunately. But yeah, after that we’re like, well, you know, the race is there, so the race is done really. So, we just kind of like dialed it back and just had some fun really. So, yeah, good good fast descent down the other side. And then the climb back up onto that ridge again was another really long one. Um, yeah, and then proper natural techy descent back down into into the finish. But yeah, super stoked to get the day done. And we couldn’t have finished in a better place. We’re at the Forest Lagoon Spa. So, I’m going to have a shower, get this bike packed up, and yeah, go and sip some beers in the uh in the sauna and try and soothe some of these aches. So, we’ve come all the way to Iceland to answer one question. That’s can two amateur mountain bikers compete and finish a multi-day stage race cross country style, and we’ve answered that. Yes, we’ve done it. Very proud of ourselves. There’s something at like 6,000 m climb we’ve dispatched, 300 plus km we’ve done over 5 days. and we’ve only trained using home things. Bit of turbo trainer, bit of getting out and we have done it. Um, it’s fantastic. It feels real good. There were times where it was really tough. There are times where it was just mind-blowingly fantastic. So, there were there were as many highs as there were lows. But to sign off, thank you very much Cube Leot and Granite for supporting us and this video. We will have bike checks on the bikes that we’ve ridden throughout these past 5 days coming over the next few weeks. So, keep your eyes peeled on those. And as always, thanks very much for watching. We’ll see you in the next one. Don’t forget to like and subscribe. Good work, dude. [Music] Let it go.
1 Comment
Amazing video 🙌