a point of reference

I just realised, that "2000m of descending" doesn't really mean much, so, if you were wondering what the hell 2000m of descending means, well Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales, is 1085m high.
Ben Nevis is 1344m, and Scafell Pike, the highest peak in England, a mere 977m.
So, 2000m of descending is like riding down Snowdon. Twice. In 40 minutes.
Do you see?

Back in the Saddle.....

Tried to get the Helmet cam going today, but each of the files created on the Archos recorder where corrupted (or so it said) - bah bloody technology! One would have been a belter, I was recording on the fast blue on the Pied Moutet side, and there were a group riders in front of me that I had to pass, the first 2 stopped, the 3rd held on, until the track splits and you can take a large tabletop or remain low, I took the table route and pedalled like mad to get past, however nearly lost it on the next jump as my foot slipped on the pedal. Great days!

So, went off to do the Glacier descent again, ended up going a different way on the top section, its not that well sign posted - at least for Mountain of Hell there will be several hundred riders to follow :D - descended all the way down to Venosc - so that made around 2000m of descending - it took 41minutes, max speed was 36.6mph and distance is 10.3 miles.

Average speed was 15mph, dropped slightly from last time, probably because of being lost, crashing once, and the final descent to Venosc is just plain evil. Huge bermed switchbacks one after the other (it drops 800m in 2 miles) with massive braking bumps coming into each one really pounds your body. Some of the berms have jumps coming into them, and I found myself jumping into the berm just to clear some of the braking bumps. Hands and arms are that mullered at the end youo can hardly brake.... :D

Would make good helmet cam action if I could only get it working! Maybe I need someone who knows something about computers.....

Finally, there is a photographer each day on the LeDiable descent, heres a couple of shots he got of me on Saturday, I am sure he won't mind me using these, I'll probably buy a copy anyway, they're good shots:

Who is that retard? - Pic Blanc at 3300m

Ha! a picture says a thousand words, and all one thousand of those words are "retard"!!!!

Taken at the top of Pic Blanc, at 3300m, where the megavalanche starts. The start looks crazy, complete snow\slush fest, that starts off steep, and then continues to get steeper. With my subtle black line I indicate the start, that goes straight then a right hand bend where things get steeper. as shown here by this rather natty black arrow. Where the course goes from there is hard to tell.Guess I'll find out on Tuesday when I go over there for a day, this time with my bike.
Alped'Huez looks pretty good for trails, a nice blue rated one runs under the lift and too a little bike park with some wooden structures and a little cabin to drop off, so I'll start there, and move higher up the mountain as my eye gets in. A red I spotted looked pretty steep, there were strategically placed crash mats on some of the rocks, and I think that section may be on the Mega qualifying course - deep joy!!!

Weathers still great, 32ºC in the valley between 2Alpes and Alpe d'Huez, 22ºC in the resorts. mmmmmm.

And to end, another view from the top of Pic Blanc, the snow on the mountains in the distance is in fact the glacier at 2Alpes:

Sunday is rest day.....

No riding today, too hot for one thing, its a scortcher. Heres a picture of the bizarre climbing thing, taken from the apartment I am in (http://www.doublehigh.com/). People climb up and down this thing all day, including little kids.....

Off to Alpe D'Huez now, try and get to the top of the glacier, take a look at the start for Megavalanche, will bring pictures back....

1461m of descent in 30minutes....

Phew, just got back from descending from the Glacier at 2Alpes, altitude 3200m.....

The top part has an optional red rated section called "canyon", and this takes you over some snow sections. Haha now that was amusing! My first attempt to ride on snow, albeit slightly soft snow ended in 2 spills as the front wheel snaked all over the place and dumped me off. At least it was a soft landing, I was laughing my head off!

The initial descent from the gondola goes down quickly, but there are a couple of sneaky climbs (32m in total), climbing at 3000m or so with full face helmet and low seat sure takes it out of you.

Half way down you pick up some other trails, including a road section that is strewn with golfball sized rocks - hold on tight and keep the bike pointed in the right direction. I hit 36.1mph there, and finished the whole descent in just short of 30minutes, giving an average speed of 17.6mph for the 8.77m miles and 1461m vertical descent. Not too shabby.

So that was pretty much the Mountain of Hell route, apart from that starts half way up the ski slope on the glacier, and adds a red section to the end of 2miles with an additional 827m of descending (down to a village called Venosc) just for extra pain.

Heres the graph from the GPS software (altitude in feet because it won't let you mix metric and imperial measurements - should be height in metres and speed in mph hey ho)

You can also see the action at motionbased here http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/3291572

By the end, my hands were completely numb, I had taken some Ibuprofen before hand to keep the hand pain at bay, so pain wasn't an issue, but numbness was :)

Lunch now then back out, perhaps to try that leg down to Venosc.

BTW forks not leaking anymore since yesterdays fettling :)

Mountain action and Forks in bits....

Hit the glacier side of 2Alpes today, 2000m of descending in a couple of hours, including a red rated run. Now my arms hurt. I think I will have arms like popeye by the end of this holiday :)

Did my bit for european relations as well, a French rider had a puncture in front of me, and he had spare tubes but no pump (!), fortunatley for him I had a pump on me, and I pumped his wheel up, which was a good workout at 2200m. On that note, I think I am becoming acclimatised to the elevation now, pushing the bike around seems a little easier, doesn't feel like an imminent asthma attack (not that I have asthma but I guess thats what it feels like) - In fact due to the fact the french are lazy, I missed the lift that closed at 12 by 5 minutes, and I had a 200m climb over 2km to push the bike up. What fun!!!! All good training I guess....

Also stripped the forks down as per previous post, and they were pretty mucky under the seals, so gave them a good clean and re-oiled and had a run down the green. Still a little oil around, but hopefully that is just float fluid from the seals. We'll see I guess, still got plenty of fork oil left, worst case I'll ask Tim Flooks to send some spare seals over. The job was pretty easy, only a 5mm allen key needed....

It just came apart in my hands guv:
Think I'll do the run from the glacier at 3200m tomorrow.....

Dusty Trails and busted Bikes

So, the less said about Mudtown the better - suffice to say I wasn't the only miserable British biker there at that time. Felt sorry for some of the guys who where only there for the weekend, and had to make the most of it. I just retired to my apartment and chilled (drunk beer, listened to music and read philip k. dick books). Lots of guys I spoke to where looking for a different resort for next year, Morzines lack of maintenance and high biker density putting people off.

The highlight for me was falling head first into a swamp on the Chavannes downhill in Les Gets and breaking the peak on my helmet - how I laughed :)

Anyhow, arrived in 2 alpes to glorious sunshine and dusty trails. Did the blue rated run on the Pied Moutet side (No.9) 4 times. A fabulous track, super smooth, a few jumps and steep drops but generally about speed (no rock gardens and no braking bumps either). Its 3.5km long and drops about 440m, fasted time was 6m:30s, average speed therefore ~32km/h or 20mph. Fastest I clocked was 31.9mph :) (just call me data) - on the fourth run I had a spill, one of the flat corners (i.e. not bermed) I hit a little too fast, was getting tired at this point, weight all wrong and the back end span round and I went down, all happened quite fast (GPS shows speed of 30mph at the time!!!) - no lasting injuries, my knee guards have a nasty gouge out of them and another jersey ripped.

I also got this shot of Pic Blanc, this is where the Megavalanche starts from. I have circled (badly) the lift at the top (3300m high) that is pretty much the start of the race. Hopefully, it then continues down the other side of the mountain, as the side that faces 2Alpes is nearly vertical:

One final thing before I head off to get my 6 day lift pass - I noticed oil coming from the seal at the top of the left leg of my Totem forks yesterday after the runs down the blue. Arrrggghhh I cried, thoughts of having to get a new pair sent over passed through my mind, I really don't want to use the Enduro now the VP-Free just rides so well and the forks are awesome. Anyway, a quick phone call to Tim Flooks - master of all things Mountain bike suspension put my mind at rest - apparently the seals on the Totem aren't too great, they get bunged up with mud (Morzine mud in my case) and dust, causing them to bulge and then leak. Tim said don't worry about it short term, but you may want to remove the fork lower legs and clean the seals up, then replace the oil.

The only problem, says I, is that I don't have the correct weight oil (15wt), only some Fox Float, and some Fox Suspension fluid. No problem says Tim, mix them 50\50 and put 20ml in each leg, job done! So a job for later is to do that (removing the lowers is easy, just remove the allen bolts from the bottom of each leg (ones also the rebound adjuster) and drain the oil. Then tap gently and slide them off, holding them upside down so that any muck near the seals falls out rather than back into the leg) - Big thanks to Tim for the info - check him out for your shock servicing needs at http://www.tftunedshox.com/
DIY fork servicing here we come....

Where you bin?

I been stuck in mud-town as Morzine is now called. Rained solid since the last post boo
Still, back in 2alpes now, fabulous weather and great fast dusty trails. Will post again soon, must eat.....

Morzine in the mud!

Hi! Found a free Internet connection at the pub owned by the guy who manages the apartments, so here I am....
Been a fantastic day in Morzine today, woke up to this view from my apartment:So off I went in search of a free lift pass, and a trip upto the Pre La Joux (or Chatel) bike park. Soon discovered that all the rain they have had here this last week plus the number or riders around has turned most of the trails into a thick brown soup (I was here last Sunday for the Passportes and there was only a couple of muddy sections then) - Still time to get the mudslide down vertical downhill trails head on..... First run was a nightmare - it was very slippery. However on the second run, got the hang of it a little, more tails slides than I know what to do with - but most of all FUN stuff. Heres the bike after a couple of runs:

....and it got progressively worse - twigs and stones were put to good use trying to remove some of the cack, but it stuck like sh*t to a blanket, becoming harder than the welds that hold the bike together once dried....

Still, ended up nailing some of the runs, the slidey mud and no mud tyres did make for some interesting moments :D and managed 3000m of downhill, half of the Passportes....

Heres a few shots from the top lift of the bike park mmmm nice alpine sunshine :)

Finished the ride with a blast down the road from Avoriaz to Morzine - couldn't face more mud!!! Managed 38mph according to the GPS.

Things learned today : you don't really need a back brake, it just messes things up on mud. Finally learned to brake with front brake only, lots of weight over the back obviously, but this is a very effective braking method. On steep downhills, the last thing you need is your back wheel locking up, because things start going sideways from then. Front brake all the way! In fact I rode from Avoriaz to Morzine round many switchbacks using the front brake only.... Maybe these dirt jump types are right (or is it only a back brake they use? Can't remember drinking mutzig now)

Mutzig - 7% and the only blonde I am getting tonight :D

anyhow - took me 2 hours to clean the bike, had to remove the crank, there was no way the front mech would shift into the small ring, in fact you couldn't see the small ring anymore... that mud dries like steel - at least it was sunny and warm for the event.

Forecast - more rain. Hey its just like England - only no work, good beer on tap and great riding only a lift away.....

The good news is that 2Alpes and Alpe d'Huez are much more rocky and higher than here, so that rain will probably fall as snow - bring on the Megavalanche!!!!!!!

oh christ

Lyon and bye for now....

Took a trip to Lyon today to take Marcus to his CCNP exam (unfortunately he failed - boo)
Saw this cylindrical building:

and this field of sunflowers on the way back:

Also had a Subway - however the metric system has demoted "foot long" to a mere "30 centimetres" - still had a BMT though, with everything on as it was easiest :D

Anyhow, off to Morzine for 6 nights tomorrow morning - hey I may actually get out on the bike whilst I am there ;) - However lack of Internet access may make this my last post for a few days, unless I can find an Internet Cafe or something.....

First Ride in 2alpes

Spent an hour or so at the bike park this morning, and whilst the top lifts where shrouded in cloud, there was a break or two, so I thought a trip up the mountain was in order to do Le Diable (a blue rated 800m descent from 2400m)..... after sorting a lift pass, got up there into the clouds and made the run.
Very slippy, not really muddy but a slippery surface to the trail. Saw a marmotte run across the trail at one point, good to see the local wildlife enhoying itself. Anyhow it took 17mins to descent the 800m, not sure of the length of the trail as I didn't have the GPS on (will do next time)
Second run, about halfway up the lift it started snowing! So as I descended this turned to rain, and I didn't have any tear offs on my googles, so had to stop every few minutes to wipe them, not that it made much difference as I was actually in a cloud at this point. Great to fly into a berm knowing that on the other side of it is a sheer 2000m drop, only you can't tell because its just more cloud (!) The trail seemed to get even more slippery, I guess with the fresh rain on it, and one or two sketchy moments with the back wheel washing out and sliding all over the place going into berms (the berms with a 2000m sheer drop on the other side) - sure focuses the mind....
Hosed the bike down at the lift station, and headed back to the apartment for a brew and some lunch

Mountain of Hell Update and early rider shot discovered

I think I am finally regsitered for Mountain of Hell 2007. Went down to the tourist information in 2alpes, and tried to find out if I was already registered (bearing in mind I had done it by email and also by sending my brother in with a completed form) - however they were unable to tell me, the main message coming through was that if I hadn't crossed their sweaty French palms with silver then my name was not down. So I filled in another registration form (inscription in French) and went back with 55Euros, and handed in my doctors note (they took the original, but I retained a photocopy) and they also photocopied my BCF racing licence.

I had to ask for a receipt, because once they had the money they were happy enough to call it a done deal.

Hopefully when I turn up to register on Friday 20th June it will all go smoothly (I doubt that)

Also, check this photo, recently unearthed showing early signs of bike skills (thats the saddle between my legs btw) - That budgie went on to be thrown down many a hill, sometimes with 3 people on, 2 on the seat and 1 on the handle bars. There also seems to be only a front brake, can't remember if the rear brake worked by pedalling backwards or not, maybe it just didn't have one..........

French Zombie Bimbo Magazine

Look what I found in the local shop, a magazine called "Guts". I incorrectly assumed this was a totty-turned-zombie publication.

However, in much the same way as the UK magazine "Nuts" does not contain any reference to macadamia or cashew, this particular tome contains no Guts whatsoever, well not unless you count Pamela Anderson wrestling with a fat woman with a pigs mask on....

One for the trading standards methinks.....

Arrival in 2Alpes

So, tired and aching, I set off from Morgins to 2 Alpes, following the TomTom blindly.... and with a blocked road somewhere near Morzine (I think) with a massive diversion via Thonon and close to Geneva, not to mention a missed turn on the autoroute that meant paying a 1.70 toll twice, and a trip through the centre of Grenoble, I arrive in 2 Alpes 4 1/2hrs later. (check the route graphically here: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/3187749)
Greeted by a my brother Marcus and a brew, I unload the car, which seems now to contain a whole bike teams equipment:

A day or twos rest is in order now - some nice food and a chill for a couple of days. Off to Lyon on thursday to take Marcus for his Cisco exam, and then back to Morzine (to use those free lift pass vouchers - thanks again Glen, Ian, Dan, And and Gary) on Friday. May get a day riding in 2 Alpes on Wednesday - see what the weather does......

Passportes Du Soleil 2007

So the day started early, 8am start from Chatel. Met with the Bad Brains boys (Glen, Ant, Dan, Ian and Gary) at their apartment, then straight to the Super Chatel lift for the first leg over to Morgins. The guys had been riding for 2 days solid, so I figured I may be able to keep up with them on the Vp-Free (big rig as it became dubbed). Great first section, what alpine riding is all about, skijumps, doubles, berms and lots of grinning!

Which stopped as soon as we came to the first of 315m of climbing, a small section of road to Morgins. Ah now I doubt a heavy bike and full face helmet is such a great idea. No matter, still over 5500m of descending to go..... onwards to Morgins, then Champoussin;

between Champoussin and Les Crosets, we have the first incident of the day, Glen snaps his mech hanger under mysterious circumstances which may or may not have had something to do with some riders stopped on the trail...
Here is Ian and Glen making fire - sorry thats trying to remove the broken hanger from the mech. This never happened, so 30minutes later Glen became Chainless boy No.1. (more of chainless boy later...). This small hiatus allowed us to get our breath back, and get some pics:

and so it continued, to Les Crosets and then Champery, from there onto a belting fast descent for lunch in Les Linderets jumping or manualing drainage ditches all the way down, avoiding riders became as much of a sport as riding the trail. A sneaky beer with lunch for some too.....and Glen gets the Mavic guys to help recover his mech... Some mention of the weather by persons who shall remain nameless (!) as there was a possibility of a storm sometime in the afternoon. Regardless, we continued onto Morzine and then Les Gets, where a tannoy announced a dirt jump competition, and a puncture for Glen. Fairly tired at this point, just over half way around (!) Up the Chavannes lift then down to Morzine, including a horrible climb, or in my case push. Plain sailing now up the Super Morzine lift and Zore telesiege for a good descent back to Les Linderets - pushing on now as the clouds had started to gather.....I somehow (because of riding slowly) lost the guys on the way into Les Linderets, and in a state of confusion got the next lift upto the Chatel Bike park - while they had a beer in Les Linderets. However, this was good, I got chance for protein bar and a few moments of reflection on the ride so far.

Only one more lift to make from here, then a big descent to Chatel. In steps Chainless Boy no. 2, as Gary rips his rear mech of on the Chatel loop called "Panaoramic". Still Gary rode like a demon with no chain, only being held back on the uphills.

So final descent into Chatel, I was running on empty - I was a passenger I admit, and whose that on a storming run? Its Ian, ripping not at all like a man on the last run of a 3 day session in the alps. I managed to keep it all together, to meet Ian by an electricty sub-station(!) absolutley buzzing with his best run of the weekend - gowan lad!

As we arrived in Chatel, the heavens opened, and a well needed beer was consumed.

Big respect goes to Ant for riding the whole thing on his Inbred - and to everyone for giving me their free lift pass vouchers - cheers guys - a great day.

So, it took us 9hrs 20mins (moving time of 6hrs 14mins - 3hrs stood or sat around!) - and we managed 6154m of descending (just double checked my data and it says 20191ft or 6154m), and covered 61miles (this including the lift journeys)

My maximum speed was 37.2mph (best ever)

Take a look via motionbased and google maps at the whole thing here as recorded by my GPS: http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/player/3174233

je suis arrivé

Phew - arrived in Morgins in Switzerland at around 6pm. 8hrs 38mins of travelling. TomTom was great throughout - brought me via Lausanne in Switzerland, dropped me right at the edge of Lake Geneva, drove past Montreux (made famous in Deep Purples "Smoke on the Water" - classic 70s rock!!!)

Small issue when I tried to fill up with gas at my planned stop near Troyes. The connector is different to the UK Arggghhh. I had been warned of this but plain forgot to check. Fortunately, they handily sold a converter at the station as well. Panic over. LPG (or GPL as it is known here!) is around 0.70 Euro a litre, more expensive than the UK, but unleaded is 1.70 Euro here in the Alps so much cheaper than that.

Hotel is great, I'll get some photos, a large painting of a cow is on the wall in a psychedelic style, I think photos are needed to see what I mean there. (Update - heres the cow)

Free wireless internet too (hence this)

Registered and got my pack for the event tomorrow, I am number 3201. Weatherwise, according to the tourist centre, there may be storms tomorrow afternoon, so an early start is in order. The lifts close in the event of storms so that no-one gets struck by lightning.

Spoken to Glen (airscool) and I am meeting up with him and a couple of other BadBrainsers for food at 8:30pm in Chatel. Then early to bed.

Soon young Padowan....

Ha! Weathers looking good (small amount of rain in the afternoon) for Sunday in the Portes du Soleil area - now bring on 80km of alpine riding!!!!! proper mountains as well -
I set off for the ferry tomorrow afternoon - can't wait - meeting Airscool etc. in Chatel on Saturday night

see here http://www.passportesdusoleil.com/index.jsp?SDP_CHANGE_USERLANG=en

bring it on!!!!

Not be long now.....

Phew nearly time to board the ferry to Zeebrugge and drive to Switzerland. Seems to have arrived all of a sudden.

Organised? Non.

As long as I remeber the bikes, I will be happy.

Need a list, must start on it tonight :D

Oh BTW, I "accidentally" bought a Santacruz VP-Free off eBay, so that will now be my weapon of choice in the Alps, the enduro acting as backup bike.
8.5" of travel? You got it
12mm Bolt through rear axle? Its there

Been to Llandegla a couple of times on it and it flies - very jumpable as well. Hopefully won't get me into too much trouble :D

French Roadtrip 2007

Hello,

the penny dropped, and I realised that the weekend I go to France for a month, is the weekend of the Pass Portes du Soleil. So I figured, why not stop off for a couple of days in Switzerland on the way down to 2alpes and do this:

Approximately 80 km - 12 ski-lifts - 6200m of total downhill

7 different resorts to start from: - In France: Avoriaz, Châtel, Les Gets and Morzine

- In Switzerland: Champéry, Morgins and Torgon

320 m of total uphill climb

7 refreshement points

Start at any time between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. from each resort.

So, on Sunday 1st July I shall be starting from Morgins in Switzerland giving the Enduro (which is now finished) a good opening blast for the holiday. The refreshments mentioned are wine and cheese :D Of course, will be taking it fairly easy, as I don't really want to break myself on the first weekend of a months holiday. So, hotel booked for Saturday night and Sunday night. Should arrive at around 6pm on Saturday night I think after the long drive from Zeebrugge, nice nights sleep, then ride Sunday. Collapse Sunday evening, then set off for 2Alpes on Monday. Might goo over to the Pre la Joux bike park for half a day on Monday, however I suspect I'll need a rest after 6200m of downhill..... :D

Heres the Enduro - looking good:

Hoping to go to Llandegla tomorrow for a test ride......

Megavalanche bike takes shape.....Tubeless is fun

OK, so the enduro is having a rebuild for megavalanche. So far we have:



2 x Hope V2 brakes with vented rotors (+plenty of spare pads)

PUSH'd '07 Fox VAN R rear shock (thanks to www.tftuned.com for excellent service)

2xEX823 Tubeless rims with Hope ProII hubs

6xVarious Maxxus Tubless tyres (1 month in France will see the end of a few of em methinks)



Hope - Keep it British



got a 50mm Thomson stem coming from www.aspirevelotech.com in the states as well


on the not so bouncy front, I am mostly riding an On-One 456 at the moment. Lightweight and steel, goes great uphill - everything the enduro is not. Apart from it flies downhill as well. Still not upto the mega tho, or maybe........
Off to the Lakes to wheebase for a demo day on Saturday, "demo-ing" a Rocky Mountain something. Meeting up with some old friends (old as me at least!) from Uni (Tom + Jenny). Should be fun! Biking then Beer - a perfect combination.