Can we survive Iceland’s toughest MTB event? Attempting the first-ever Rift MTB stage race

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A couple of years ago, I found myself fascinated by the cross-country racing at 2023’s Sea Otter Girona. Ever since, I wanted to have a go myself. After talking to the folks behind the scenes at off.road.cc, that idea turned into attempting a multi-day stage race, and as soon as we were invited to ride the first-ever Rift MTB, the game was on.

After the success of the Rift, an Iceland-based gravel event that’s quickly become a staple of the international gravel racing calendar, the event’s organisers decided to turn that winning formula into a mountain bike race. Thus, the Rift MTB was born.

The inaugural Rift MTB took place in the northern reaches of Iceland, taking riders through lava fields, over plenty of mountains, and through the country’s famous hot springs. With five days of racing to contend with, 7,000m of ascent, nearly 300km of distance, and 20 hours in the saddle, I turned to ORCC reviewer, Ty Rutherford, to form the other half of our pairs-racing team. Before then, neither of us had any proper experience of riding big miles over multiple days, let alone under the pressures of racing. 

Day one: the Akureyri Flow loop

After a quick shakedown spin the day before, our first day’s racing loomed. The Akureyi Flow loop started off just outside of the hotel but covered nearly 40km worth of distance with 1,480m of uphill to suffer through. 

However, the weather couldn’t have been better, so spirits were certainly high. The first 20km or so took us for a whistle-stop tour of Akureyri’s coastline with views over its vast fjord, before heading into our first taste of singletrack. This is where the first of our setbacks occurred.

The route then took us up to the town’s ski resort, which, as all of the best resorts do, doubled as a bike park in the summer. This area made for our first proper descent of the race, where we were able to let off the brakes and make the most of our gravity-focused skills. After overtaking a couple of teams, we made excellent headway before hitting our second climb.

With that dispatched, rock slabs and pine-forested trails finished off the day brilliantly. Filled with adrenaline, Ty and I were surprised that we still felt fairly fresh, despite knocking out a fairly large day.

Day two: Akureyri Trail loop

Day two was very similar to the first, but it certainly dialled things up a notch. Although it took us to similar parts that surround Akureyri, we were faced with a longer distance and a taller ascent. 

Straight out of the gate, we were straight into a very lengthy climb as we pedalled over trails used for Iceland’s national XCO track. With burning legs, we cranked our way up nearly 800m worth of climbing, reaching higher points of the ski resort than the day before. However, that effort was incredibly well rewarded with a technical, fast, and then flowy descent down to the Glerá river. 

With the river crossed, it was yet another, but gentler, climb back up to similar rock slabs as the day before, while finishing off the day through the same pine forest. Picking up a puncture within the final two kilometres, we had yet another setback. The Rift MTB was proving a challenge, but the toughest was yet to come.

Day three: the Queen Stage

In the weeks prior to the Rift MTB, The Queen Stage was the one that got us worried. It was a 60km jaunt that took us over not one, but two whole mountains with a total ascent of around 2,000km. On paper, it was a fearsome task, and in practice, it exceeded expectations.

Starting off at Siglufjörður, the weather took a turn. Cloud cover was low, and the sun we enjoyed over the first two days had disappeared almost completely. The weather alone added to the seriousness of the job at hand, as we began our ascent through the clouds.

For the first mountain, we never breached the top of the clouds, so visibility was incredibly low. Not being able to see Ty out in front limited my descending capability as I was relying on him to show me all of the best lines. However, this descent was one of the very best that the Rift MTB had to offer. As the trail was strewn with rocks, we passed a handful of puncture-stricken teams as we rolled down the hill, greeted by a feed station and misty views of the fjord ahead.

Once fed, we had a 30km gravel grind to get to the second feed station, and the biggest climb of the day. That climb was no easy feat, however, as it was around 600m of ascent over about six kilometres, and very little of it could be ridden. That meant taking to foot, and hike-a-biking up most of it. Once again, we were trudging through clouds, but this time, we climbed above them to find a moon-like landscape, plenty of sun and small icecaps.

With our moods lifted, we descended. This descent was super varied with shale, sheep tracks and rocks to hop over. As we had already covered 50km, tackling this descent felt more like an out-of-body experience before hurtling to the finish line in Dalvík.

Day four: across the lava fields

After the monumental effort of day three, and with equally as tired legs, day four’s 970m of ascent was a welcoming sight. But with 72km to take care of, the Rift MTB was taking no prisoners. Day four was another field trip for the event as coaches took us to the start line in Reykjahlíð, just beside a hot spring. 

Once again, the weather wasn’t quite as pleasant as the first couple of days, and it was certainly a little colder, but after a somewhat brief time pedalling over roads, we were fighting through lava fields – a very foreign landscape compared to what we have at home. This day’s racing proved to be strong for our gravel-experienced competitors as it was certainly flatter, however, a consistent effort on the pedals was the order of the day.

Ty and I are out-and-out mountain bikers who pedal for the downs, so we expected this day to be our worst performance, but to our surprise, it was one of our strongest. We still don’t quite know what got into us, but we felt more than able to put the power down and gain a whole five minutes on the team ahead.

This day rounded off with the one proper descent of the whole route – Jaja Dingdong, a trail named after the song that starred in Will Ferrell’s Eurovision film. As so many riders had finished ahead of us, it was slick but filled with berms and jumps, which pleased our gravity MTB persuasions.

Day five: the spa

Physically and mentally drained, we had just one more day to tackle. Day five presented us with 1,700m of climbing over 63km. This wasn’t a parade lap to see the race off with. Starting back in Akureyri, we pedalled over its fjord, spurred on by the promise of a dip in a hot spring once we were done.

After knocking out the initial road climb, day five threw everything the Rift MTB had, including rocky double track, leaps over swamps and seriously natural descents. As we wound through Vaðlaheiði’s hills, we picked up the third setback of the whole race. Another puncture.

While this would frustrate any competitive athlete, this otherwise unfortunate situation lifted a weight from our shoulders. Knowing that we’ve dropped enough time to be out of the running for a podium spot, we dialled back our effort to soak in the views, and properly enjoy the rest of the race.

Once again, the Rift MTB was nothing to be trifled with as the final stint of the whole race brought an incredible headwind before rolling to our last finish line. With bikes packed, we sprinted to the hot spring for a quick shower and plenty of beers as we soaked in its warm, volcanic waters.

Although it was definitely a race, the Rift MTB was much more. It was hard, it was demanding, and it certainly had its low points, but all of the challenges were more than offset by some tremendous highs. We had summited mountains, ridden over snow, pedalled through old lava and descended some truly excellent descents. Yes, it knocked us for six, but every pedal stroke, or step up a hill, was thoroughly rewarded.

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