Coming to an end

My bike has gone online to be sold today

Ludlow blur

Hopefully winter will be hitting the Alps soon, but in the mean time I have been back in the U.K visiting friends and family.

Me and my Dad hit up Mortimer's forest for our classic autumn ride checking out the new trails he's found. There seem to be more each visit. A great sign of the building community of trail builders in the boarder Counties.

This past weekend I went to North Wales to visit some past haunts. Over the last 5 years I had only visited North Wales to complete International Mountain Leader courses, so it was nice to be finally back how it should be, with a mountain bike. However, over those 10 years many of the trails have been exposed to all the finest weather of North Wales, and many, many bike tyres. Penmachno was basically a solid stream, but a fun roller coaster despite getting soaked in under 2 hours.

After a big meal, plenty of ciders and a sleep in a local Betws-y-Coed bunkhouse we headed across to Llandegla as my mate was taking part in a Halloween night time enduro. The trails are perfect for a good laugh. Wide, smooth and with features to boost off all over the place. Unfortunately, as good as the flow was, every descent seemed to have a nasty climb 3/4 the way through in an attempt to make the "descent" longer. Not the greatest trail centre, but it did the job for my mate, his mates and the night race.

Night time enduro team

On the way back to Herefordshire I stopped off at Eastridge near Shrewsbury for a bit of a challenge. There's trails all over the place if you know your way. I don't, so I stuck with the marked red and had a blast. Slippery roots a plenty and even some quite steep descents for such a small hillside. The local's are really spoilt in this area!

Wonderful Shropshire morning light, but mud tan inducing trail conditions

Now my bike is online, hopefully the snow will arrive and I won't need anything till next spring, it's been a superbly "epic" riding season showing that there are many good trails close to home in Savoie & nearby boarding countries, but it's also given me a taste for southern exploration!

CHEERS!

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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