RETURN TO THE WILD

TOM MARVIN TACKLES THE RIFT MTB, A FIVE-DAY STAGE RACE ACROSS ICELAND PACKED WITH SCENIC FJORDS, ICY SUMMITS AND STEAMING LAVA FIELDS

- WORDS TOM MARVIN PICS THRAINN KOLBEINSSON

I have a terrible habit of signing up for races I'm wholly unsuitable for.

First there was the fatbike challenge in the Arctic Circle in midwinter – a chilly affair that saw me trudging through the snow at a snail's pace. Then I suffered through an enduro in Lesotho, in southern Africa, that was the most insane experience of my life, blending terrifyingly remote technical tracks with endless hike-a-bike sections. And of course, there's the Strathpuffer closer to home – a 24-hour event in Scotland in January that, for some reason, I've competed in four times.

So, you'd think that when an invite to The Rift MTB came through via email, I'd have shuffled it to the digital trash can, with no intention of putting myself through the torture of a five-day cross-country race in the Icelandic wilderness. However, the race being based in the northern city of Akureyri jumped out at me – I'd ridden there before, and knew the trails were good and the scenery was out of this world. Plus, the invite came months before the event – plenty of time to train, right?

Heavy-duty training

Fast forward 10 months, and things hadn't quite gone to plan. I'd joined a gym in January with the intention of taking two on-bike classes per week to boost my FTP a measure of cycling fitness – and supplementing these with an increasing number of longer outdoor rides, at higher intensities than usual, in the run-up. Instead, I'd started smashing down creatine and protein shakes, and lifting ever more heavy things. Add in the best summer of trail and enduro riding ever, thanks to the never-ending dry spell, and, rather than getting fast and skinny, I'd bulked up and had a whale of a time on the trails! Still, Iceland was always at the back of my mind, so while my planned longer rides may not have been as fast as I'd hoped, I knew my legs could (probably) go the distance.