Bay

Boarder shred fest in the steeps

A bit close for comforts, the story of the day for not just Shane, all of us!

Normaly my posts mention International boarders and the trails that take me between these lines.  Today was slightly different.  Everyone knows that the Swiss Canton of Valais is full of great trails, and until today I thought that it's neighbouring Canton of Vaud was full of bad drivers, Freddie Mercury statues (Montreux), vineyards and a whole heap of money!

However right on the boarder of Valais/Vaud is Bex.  That's pronounced 'bay' in French, not Becks like Posh n Becks for you vrai Anglais.

It doesn't matter what Canton your in, in Switzerland public transport is top notch, and seeing as this place is near a ski town, the all-day travel card for mountain bikers is not actually too expensive at 28chf (€25). 

A little research revealed a whole host of trails, but luckily Timmy was on hand to guide us today which was really nice for me to not have to think about navigation.  Timmy is Fabian Barel's long lost brother...  When he tell's you to, "open your eyes" on a certain section of trail it means either get off and walk, or hold your breath and hope the berm at the bottom catches you.

First up was the old Maxi Avalanche course from the ski town Villars which was a mix of superb fun singletrack with fireroad climbs.  These ruined the flow of the trail, but for a mass start race like the Maxi Avalanche would be great for testing fitness, allowing overtaking and stretching the field out.

After lunch back at the van, for the second lap off the train we checked out the Gryon trails.  Fast, rooty, flat out corners had us all grinning, but little did we know what was in store.  Remember, it's still early season, most trails haven't seen much traffic yet and are still covered in last autumns leaves.  Also remember that even though it was 25.C, it did rain a few days ago so under the leaves is a slippery layer of mud.

We dropped in to some of the longest sustained chute sections I have ever ridden, with greasy corners with almost non existent catch berms.  Hold your breath and hope as you surf down, weight back, heels almost dragging into the ground trying to get as much grip as possible. Luckily after we all got through this there was some great flowy, old school DH style trail and then the loop back through the vineyard back to the train stop.
AND REPEAT for another lap, fast roots, slip, slide, slip some more and then flow!

Wayne in survival mode in the steep woods

Vaud's not all that bad!