“A f***ing goat!' 🐐 Ready to bring you big hits on a budget 👊 #CAPRA takes it back to the roots introducing the all new Core 1! Featuring Rockshox Zeb/Super Deluxe, SRAM NX Eagle and super strong Aluminium frame 🦾 Everything enduro rippers need, and nothing they don’t. To put the new bike to the test we flew out to Portugal to check out the legendary trails in Sintra 🇵🇹 Who better than Irm to take the new goat by the horns and show us what it can do 🤘”
In Episode 5 of Iago Garay's lockdown-initiated video series, the crew crosses country lines for the first time
“For this trip we decided to go international. My good friend Sergio Layos (BMX legend and MTB ripper) kept speaking about the amazing trails in Sintra, Portugal, and at the time of year we wanted to do the trip, Sintra was supposed to have the best conditions. Thanks to it proximity and culture, Portugal has always felt more like home than any other country, which made It an easy decision.”
The E-MOUNTAINBIKE Print Edition 2020 is our third annual edition and ultimate test bible, with which we aim to help you choose the perfect eMTB. More than 250 pages of extensive buyers advice, tons of eMTB know-how as well as reviews of the 35 most exciting eMTBs and the 7 best motors. You’ll also find many helpful tips and a guide to the most exciting eMTB trends – all of this is wrapped in a high quality print format. Our magazine is aimed at experienced eMTBers and beginners alike.
Enduro bikes with 29” wheels are right on trend and, on paper, the SCOTT Contessa Ransom 910 ticks all the right boxes. However, our 160 cm tall test rider, Antonia, tested the bike extensively and had to dig deep to unlock its full potential.
Sintra, Portugal, was the location of the test track, which had plenty of rocks, jumps, and corners to subject the fork to a wide range of forces. After a few laps with the 2019 fork, the swap was made to the 2020 version. The initial part of the trail was relatively smooth, other than a few fun-sized jumps, and the difference between the to forks wasn't readily apparent. But once things got rockier, and the size of the impacts increased, the new model felt noticeably calmer. It wasn't drastic, but it felt like the fork had a lighter action, and was better able to handle those bigger hits without using up all of its travel.
A ship’s horn blows in the distance. Seagulls circle in the sky. An aeroplane flies over an apartment block. The warm sun dazzles us and covers the city in a warm glow. Where the Iberian Peninsula meets the sea, these are the scenes of a normal winter’s day. We’re in Lisbon! A metropolis with many names and an even richer history. The city of seven hills. The city of light.
Sometimes, Christmas makes us have the best ideas. “Dad, you should just come down here. To Portugal!” Hop on a plane and escape the miserable weather! He was lucky. Window seat on a direct flight. Three days in Lisbon, the day after Christmas Eve. A Christmas present. A gift for both of us! Aboard two new eMTBs, the age difference shouldn’t matter. Or so I thought…
At the westernmost point of the European mainland you will find a labyrinth of mountains and valleys that look like a fairytale forest and previously thought to be the edge of the world. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and tourist trap. The Sintra nature reserve, bordering on Lisbon, is every romantic’s dream with its palaces, though it also attracts mountain bikers with its steep descents and ocean views.
EVIL came to Sintra in Portugal with Kyle Norbraten and Marc Beaumont to test and show The Following: the bike that made people realize 29ers don’t suck and started an entire genre of bikes.
#following #120 #morepoplessfilling #evil #bikes #xc #enduro #everybodysfollowing #bleedblackdieevil
Film - Alex Fostvedt x Callum Jelley
To get to the north we decided to go by train rather than automobile or plane, relying on our previous travel experience to “wing it.” How hard could it be anyway? Most of the time it can be as simple as getting on the train, buying a ticket and figuring the rest out as you go. Sometimes you get it wrong, and in the case of traveling from Sintra to the northern city of Braga, we got it really wrong. Like we got kicked off the train wrong. Thankfully we took it all in stride and arrived only 5 hours later than expected. The more I travel, the less I worry about these situations. My motto is, someone will tell you if you are doing it wrong, otherwise act like you have been there before.
Based just north of Lisbon, in the historic city of Sintra, we were now immersed in one of the more popular tourist zones in Portugal. Our lodging, Casa Do Valle, was perched on the edge of a mountain of trails, an ideal spot for a smooth transition from the ultra rural setting of the previous week’s bikepacking adventure. It felt more like a mountain retreat than a bed and breakfast in a busy visitor area. Certainly, we intended to take advantage of the good eats and sights of Sintra, but our main priority was to soak up the mountain bike experience.
Are you constantly scouting for your next eMTB adventure, be it a family holiday, an epic trip, a leisurely ramble or just new local loops? Whatever the purpose, here’s where you search ends. We’ve compiled a list of 10 lust-worthy locations that should tide you over for your next 11 trips.
Instagram feeds are a synonym for living the dream – everybody is always on holiday, always on the road, always riding. No doubt about it, my posts may look the same, and one can be forgiven for thinking that I’m simply living the perfect van and bike life every single day. However, this picture perfect dream is quite often different to reality…
