If you ain't riding in The Alps you ain't nuthin!

9th to 16th July 2005 Richard, Elliot, Dave, Will and Mike - The Alps

Here's a detailed account of each day's riding. For all the photo action see the Alps July 2005 photo album

Sunday 10th July - Riding Day 1

A poor start to my week - we excitedly build up our bikes in the garage but I realised that I had brought the Sunn Rim with the 185mm rotor on. What's the problem then? Well, the problem is that the rim seems too large and I can't get any tyres on or off the bloody thing. After an hour and a half of trying I give up and to cut a long story short I lost my mind and bought a new front wheel from the shop in the local town. That's £70 and an expensive start to the week.

We finally set off and meet up with Mike 'Brittas' on his Demo 8. Up the Pleney lift and straight onto the DH course. It has been raining for a week before we arrive and the surface is like glass. Elliot on his brand new Kona Coiler takes 3 heavy falls within the first 5 minutes and we glance at each other nervously.

Then Mike goes over the bars on one of the expert sections (that he had successfully nailed yesterday) landing on his hip and and spends the rest of the day limping heavily.

The rest of the day covers Avoriaz, Les Lindarets, Lake Montriond, Mont Chery and Les Gets. We manage to lose Mike in the clouds at the top of Les Crosets and he heads off into Switzerland following another group and a different trail.

On the fast rocky descent from Les Crosets I hit a water rut at full speed and suffer a double puncture which takes ages to fix. After Mike has rejoined us for lunch at Les Lindarets we spot the goats before Mike suffers a flat in his 3inch rear tyre on puncture alley.

The most fun ride is the Chavanne DH course - the top half of the course is full of braking bumps but has loads of huge berms and sweeping corners at the bottom.

Memories of the day are arm pump, blisters on your hands from gripping the bars so tight and too many braking bumps.

Monday 11th July - Riding Day 2

Wake up feeling sore after yesterday's ride and I head back into Morzine to buy a couple of DH tubes and some new grips (Raceface Good n Evil) to replace my el cheapo grips that are giving me blisters and to try to cushion my hands from the effect of the constant pounding of the trails and the braking bumps that are everywhere.

We head back over to Les Gets and play around on the Chevannes DH course again. After 4 descents I can feel myself getting faster. The trail has plenty of step ups and humps in the trails where you can't help getting air if you go into them with a reasonable amount of speed.

Will then takes us on a secret trail known as 'Your Mum'. This proves to be an interesting piece of very overgrown singletrack and we end up fighting our way through the undergrowth.

Next we head up Mont Chery and session the Les Gets bike Park. After tackling the descent a few times we stand around and watch as a couple of guys tackle the shed drop and (see video) and Mike does the smaller ladder drop which I also capture on video.

We then head up to the top of Mont Chery. The ski lifts no longer accept bikes and this turns out to be a 30 minute push uphill but the descent down the other side to L'Encrenaz is worth it. Stunning scenery and long singletrack descents that haven't seen any other bikes for a long while and are free of the braking bumps that characterise most other trails. The smell of burning pads and streaming rotors is in the air.

Will then leads us on the five stream crossing trail. Another quiet trail littered with football sized boulders and well, five streams actually.

From here we somehow end up back in Morzine and then head up the Pleney lift to take the singletrack 'Bar Creperie' descents. These are really fast, steep descents with fences and cattlegrids part way down to catch you out. On the third or fourth run we meet Solamanda, RiggsyB and a couple of other guys from Singletrackworld and as Mike tries to keep up with them he fails to brake in time for the barbed wire fence and Superman's across the top leaving his bike entangled in the wire (see the cattlegrid that he is meant to cross at the bottom right).

Memories of the day are more arm pump, steaming disc rotors and the endless pushing up Mont Chery.

Tuesday 12th July - Riding Day 3

A slow start as we wake up with a feeling as though our bodies have been pounded overnight. Mike is feeling bad after a number of crashes and has bent the rear mech hanger on his Big Hit so decides to take a rest day. Will, Elliot and myself head up Super Morzine lift and the next lift and ride across the ridge to Avoriaz. We then descend to the bottom of Les Mossets, up that lift to the Pointe de Mossets where we are literally in the clouds - very impressive.

Amother descent via GR5 to Les Lindarets. Up another lift to Thaux Fleurie and traverse to the Col de Bassachaux to descend via Satan's Chute. Will warms us up for this one by advising that he broke two vertebrae in his back here a couple of years ago but apparently they are the rubbish ones at the bottom of the back - so that's alright then!

We then head up a new lift, the Tele de Pierre Longue and see the North Shore beneath us. Will discovers he has broken a spoke, probably on Satan's Chute but decides to push on. We head down the GR5 again but via an alternative descent. This is a long, rocky steep descent and at the foot of the descent my front brake suddenly fades (a nice name for a rather nasty experience) and with only the rear brake working I broadside to the ground.

After lunch at Les Lindarets we head up the Tele de Lindarets and then ride past Avoriaz, towards Les Maisons de Zore and an XC trail back to Morzine. Up Pleney and over the top to Les Gets. We pick up a new mech hanger for Mike and then head back to the top of Pleney for the last run of the day down the singletrack descent past the scene of Mike's crash yesterday.

Memories of the day are the smell of burning brake pads and the tic-tic-tic of the front rotor warped by head slapping against the pads.

Wednesday 13th July - Riding Day 4

Last night we were joined by Dave on his Turner DHR. Dave, a closet roadie, has been competing in one of the amateur stages of le Tour, before watching Lance on the Alps mountain stages and then driving over to join us.

We head up Super Morzine again and the Tele de Zore and then along the ridge before turning left down the rocky chute to Les Lindarets. Up to the top of GR5 again and along a different muddy piece of singletrack. We head down towards the North Shore trail we spotted yesterday and it's not Mike's week as he nosedives off the exit ramp and over the bars (again).

We head up to the top of GR5 again and down the same descent as yesterday and my front brake boils in exactly the same place slamming me to the ground again. Thankfully, the Roach pads save me again and I carry on after waiting for the brakes to cool. Another lift up and we spot some marmots lazing in the sun. Then down a super gnarly trail, rocky and rooty and I end up pushing over far too much of the terrain.

After lunch it's back to the top of GR5 which is really a great route and as we descend for the 3rd time today we come face to face with a herd of cows that have wandered on to the trail like they own the place! My brakes are boiling again and all this descending wondering whether your main brake will work gets me really nervous.

We drop down to Lake Montriond and then take a cross-country route that involves a bit too much climbing to return to the chalet. I head over to buy new brake pads as Elliot and Mike head up Pleney for a couple of extra runs on the 'Bar Creperie' descent.

Memories of the day are endless lifts and descents only spoiled by the sheer terror of losing my front brake to brake fade too many times.

Thursday 14th July 'Bastille Day' - Riding Day 5

As if 4 days of continuous pounding of our bodies wasn't already enough, we decide to attempt Tour VTT de Porte du Soleil today. It's circa 70 km's including ski lifts and we set off at 10am on a warm morning. We follow the route, missing lunch until roughly 4pm when we realise that we won't be able to make the last loop and decide to tackle the DH and 4X course at Les Crosets. I find both of these pretty scary. Really steep with serious drops at the side. This wasn't helped by the fact we saw an air ambulance lifting someone out as we took the lift to the top although my new pads mean there are no brake issues today. To get a sense of the scale of this ride check out this great map of the Porte de Soleil area from AlpActive

Back to the top and down the fast, rocky fire road to Les Lindarets. As I come round one of the corner's I see Mike picking himself up after yet another over the handlebars manouevre, this time he is lucky to escape breaking his collarbone as he lands heavily on his shoulder.

Will then decides to take us back via Russell's Backyard which proves far too much after so much riding already today and Elliot and I end up at the back pushing along much of it.

We descend to Bar Robinson, the local apre ride meeting place and sink three pints of the 7.0% ABV lager which pushes me over the edge after a lunch free day and I head back to the chalet for a doze before showering and being dragged back into town for a meal and beers.

Highlights were crossing the Swiss border and teasing Elliot about forgetting to bring his passport and seeing Mont Blanc not in cloud for the first time. I end up dreaming of the DH course that night, a never ending descent that I couldn't get off.

Friday 15th July - Riding Day 6

The final day's riding sees up heading up Super Morzine again and then Will decides to take us on the 'tin mine' descent. This is a nightmare trail that is totally unrideable and sees us hanging on to chains bolted to rocks as we haul our bikes down exteme trails with sheer drops only inches away to our left.

We exit at the top of the descent down to Lake Montriond and as we get to the bottom Dave's rear mech decides to explode, loosening a number of spokes and finishing the week's riding for him. The weather has become really hot and humid and the sweat is flowing freely as we head back up Super Morzine to take another one of Will's off-piste descents that flows beneath the super Morzine lift. We hook up with 3 guys from Manchester and discover that this trail is pretty gnarly as Elliot discovers but is mostly rideable.

After lunch we head over to Le Boomerang in Les Gets to meet Jason, Curtis, Dom, Adam, Tony, Hora and Darryl who have just arrived from Blighty. We head up to Les Gets Bike Park for a last couple of runs and then down the DH course for the first time this week. The last ride of the week is down the Chavanne course before heading back to Le Boomerang for many beers and a BBQ, riding home down the hill about 8-30pm.

Movies

I finally finished editing the movie clips together which includes this superb shot of the shed drop.

To download the Alps Video right click and 'Save target As' (7.8 mb WMV file)

right click and 'save target as' for the shed drop1.33mb MOV file

right click and 'save target as' as Mike tackles the smaller ladder drop 1.55mb MOV file

	Web www.diaryofamountainbiker.com

Previous Page Next Page

Top