Skip to main content

Midlands

Middle Mountain Trail sharing with a Hereford and Shropshire crew, plus an Aussie...

Rich was back from work and his mates had bought him a new toy all the way from Shrewsbury.  Sandy the owner of The TrailHead bike shop had come out to Chamonix to personally deliver Rich his new Santa Cruz V10.  He was so fast on it I couldn't get a proper photograph all day long.  Shame Tom H was taking photo's of posh-eco chalet's this weekend...

Sandy and Neil are both very fast.  I'll say that straight away.  In the UK they hang out with Neil Donoughe (Trans Savoie 3rd place), Matt Simmonds, Marc Beaumont, Richard Cunynghame, Atherton's & all the other top tier riders of the UK enduro and DH scene. Lucky me and Rich had big bikes to their trail bikes...  I did make some switchbacks they didn't...

After getting past the runners in Cham centre we headed into the clouds at the very top of Brevent.  I'd warned Rich it would be tough on the V10, but he wanted to ride his new bike. Straight into it!
Brevent at its best- Rich (l) & Neil (r)
Look carefully & you can see the trail
We hiked across to the Aiguillette and discussed options.  All the way to Servoz, back to Cham or Les Houches and then some Tramway trails. Les H was called, but we had to keep moving as the last tram is now at 15:10 from le Fayet! Take note if you wish to ride before its closes at the end of this month.  We twisted and turned our way towards Merlet animal parc on alpine singletrack that gets progressively steeper as the roots grow  leaving the open alpine behind.  From there we zoomed down the trails of Copeau to come out in Les Houches.

Neil threading through
Rich throwing the big new girl around
Sandy executing a classic alpine hop turn

Rich
Neil testing his pivot's out

Neil
We kept moving to get to Prarion, lucky these UK boys we fit and full of enthusiasm, and began the fast descent down the backside of Les Houches.  Neil tried using a rock to brake into a corner and pinched his front tube in the top woods which gave us all a little rest-bite before zooming off downhill again. A few falls from Rich going around puddles and we were in St Gervais before we knew it.

The pipeline trail is now open again so we hit that up for one last UK length descent before a well earned drink in Le Fayet.
"Why are we going back up on this?" asked Neil,  "To get one more descent in" I answered which was greeted with big smiles as the Shropshire boys thought the day was over.  We had to get near 4000m of descending in to make it a good day really. They also loved the ride up on Janette, even if we did get kicked of at Bellvue rather than Lachet (the lifty had no answer to why we'd been allowed up there before, but not today, good ol' CMB).

I was a bit stuck with what to do so I gambled on an old classic that Andy had said was washed out from the winter. Near the old downhill track is a lovely ribbon of singletrack that leads into 5 or so great flat out turns and then drops into the woods by a drag lift.  The trail was still in great shape and we hopped around tight corners and then took a new turn, even for me, which was so fast, and so smooth I couldn't believe it was in Cham' Valley! Great end to an epic 4000m day.


And Neil (pimped out VW owner and smooth bearing-ed Orange) - Thanks for gloves!

And of course that Aussie for post ride beers whilst the V-dub was loaded for Trailsheads next adventure in Chatel/Portes de Soleil.
l-r: Bmx, DH bike, DH bike, Trail bike, Trail bike & 29er


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Being shown around my classic stomping ground

Another chance to be shown around trails.  Not as glamorous as Switzerland, but just as good! Mortimers Forest and Bringewood, Ludlow, Shropshire, England The woods of Mortimers Forest and Bringewood are where I grew up mountain biking so I always love going back.  A few years ago I built a long section of singletrack trail to link in above a much loved piece of trail that had been a staple of rides for many years.  It was my way of giving back to the forest riders and builders. Over the last few years whilst I've been away riding 1000m+ descents my Dad has still been out exploring every corner of these forests.  Sometimes walking with my Mother, other times out on road rides with his Wednesday night Pub Ride group or usually with his main Sunday morning off road group. They are trail connoisseurs, though they might not look it.  They are the type of group that make up every British Forestry carpark on a Sunday morning...
Post a Comment
Read more

What guides do between work in the peak of July

Summer is here, and after fantastic spring riding in Southern France and then all over Valais, Aosta and Haute Savoie with good friends it's been time to get back to summer guiding, taking hikers around the Tour du Mont Blanc circuit.  There's much worse things to do, but with three weeks off the bike I was itching to get back on some trails. With a carefully planned week between tours I was excited and made some plans to hit up some classic lines, and some new stuff too. It's mid July now, so in Chamonix valley you have to think carefully about where to go to miss the crowds, and to avoid going on the bike ban trails (July & August).  Luckily it's still easy to find quiet trails in nearby resorts, or to simply drop round the back of a hill away from the frontside lifts. It went a little like this: Day 1- La Thuile with Wayne of newly qualified French legal mountain bike guiding service  Chamonixmtb.com  . Enduro race venue at it's best, rough and raw. ...
1 comment
Read more

Changing times

Being show around Valais trails for a change People I've been riding with recently have been talking about the Emosson to Martigny trail and how good it is.  Me and Tom had been up there in June to ride the first half of the trail and loved it.  blogged here . So I was keen to get back. I wasn't keen to get up after a late night in Amnesia, but knew that the road climb from Finahut would sort me and Jarno out. 1 1/2 hours spinning wasn't too bad. Luckily the trail is great form the beginning, even if it undulates and you often have to get off your bike for a quick push up.  It still kind of flows, in a 'flow-tech' kind of way. The views looking down towards Martigny and Sion were still great.  The trail really gets going after about 3 kilometres.  Basically from the Emosson the trail traverses North-Eastwards constantly hugging the mountainside to your left, and always with a big drop down to your right.  It's another one ...
Post a Comment
Read more