My new favourite place- Part 1

Discovery

After a 9 days of riding in a row I was still up for more. Tired legs, an increased appetite, and still with a hunger for more descending.

However Chamonix weather wasn't playing ball. I had no work, it's quiet time at the moment, but I also had nobody available to join me for adventure's. Solo it was to be. I sat in my apartment and looked where I could go to find good weather. First option, Finale. Stormy down on the coast. Inland around Switzerland, also stormy. The closest weather window appeared to be just below Grenoble, and westwards.

Heading around Grenoble the skies where still grey, the wind was still blowing, but the temperature was creeping up. I turned off the motorway, and headed left (west).

I'd planned to spend the next couple of days around Die and Crest in the southern Vercors pre-alpine Massif. As I lost mobile phone signal and the central line markings on the road you could feel the change from the Haute Savoie to the Mediterranean. Clay roofs replaced wooden.

I arrived at the Col de la Croix (745m) with the Bec Pointu (1342m) insight as my mission for the afternoon. Being in the middle of nowhere, there was parking space for maybe 3 cars at the col, luckily I was the only one. The wind was still blowing when I reached the summit after hike-a-biking the majority of the trail. Ready for a fun loose gravely descent!

Just down the road from the col I'd seen a quiet little track I could sneak down with my car to set up a camp spot. It was chilly, and I was as far out the ever blowing wind as possible. I climbed into my sleeping bag...

Comments

Aiguille de la Grande Sassiere 3751m

One of those pure adventure days *warning mega photo post* Ali-venturing as it's been known by over the summer. When Ali from trailAddiction gets grand idea's in his head it always leads to hike-a-bike. Read here on DIRT Mag about a previous mission, its the highest rideable peak in the alps! A special team was organised: A top ten finishing team from the Bivouac Enduro, Mael and Max, Ali, myself and Fred the mountain bike mechanic from Mavic. All keen, all stupid? And then my alarm went off at 04:30. Time to eat and drink as much as possible. I hadn't been up this early since ski touring in refuges last winter. In my tired state I did subconsciously know how to load the bikes onto the trailer, it's easy after doing it everyday all summer. We drove up towards Val d'Isere, then turned left up a singletrack road. It was around 6am, and it was still pitch black. Slowly the sun began to rise: Tignes...

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. ...

Saint Luc, Valais, Switzerland

In a small hard to reach valley there is a real gem of bike-friendliness Tom H. Photo by Tom G The road up! It was a long drive, but the girls did us well! We'd only seen a few cars on the hairy, Verdon Gorge-esque road up to the ski resort village of Saint Luc. The road up was stunning and the views into the steep sided gorge were worth the drive alone. We'd come to bike, and upon pulling into the carpark we were greeted by a lack of parking spots. Is it going to be too busy today? The funiculare train only runs every 30mins at weekends. The bike park was so busy that they were running the funicular constantly meaning very little que time. Not that 30 minutes is that bad, but it meant we kept going and going all day long. Another reason we kept going lap after lap was that the trails were so good! The Swiss bike park's always seem to have a good setup and are alwats so well looked after. Despite constant funicular access it ...

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