"Enduro was made for you"

Riding with mates old and new

On the afternoon I returned to Chamonix from my final trip guiding the Tour du Mont Blanc I met with an old friend from my Cardiff Uni days. He's visited me a few times over the years in various styles. And this trip for Dave was no different. As I crossed the Col de Balme on foot in wet conditions with clients, he crossed the Cormet de Roseland and Col des Saisses on his road bike with kit strapped to every free tube on the bike possible.

My mate was planning to cycle from Geneva to Nice, via 2 days in Les Arcs mountain biking, and a day in la Thuile with me and a Chamonix friend, bivi-ing along the way.

The lure of Aosta of course played high on our minds and we made plans to ride an Enduro World Series trail in La Thuile on mountain bikes, before leaving Dave to continue on his road bike towards the Mediterranean via some bloody horrendous Col's.

Road climb with Monte Bianco poking through

We were climbing and talking shit between the 3 of us like we'd all been hanging out throughout the summer. The road climb was rewarded with finding a bar open for cappuccino's at the Col.

Fueled up Italian style we hit a lovely long gentle off road climb up to the start of the descent. We paused for a bite of baguette over looking both the Cervinio (Matterhorn in Aostan) and Monte Bianco. A site rarely enjoyable in the Alps, but of course for an old mate, the views came out!

The worst part about the descent was not the EWS, but the recent 4 day rain storm that had hit the northern Alps. Too much front brake on the open descent and the front wheel would drift as much as the back. Luckily loose rock turned down into larch forest and classical Aosta flow through the forest back to the carpark.

"Enduro was made for you" Dave said to me. He's right, even in the old days of South Wales riding, we'd slog up big hills for big descents and big smiles.

And like every descent, time with an old friend was over all too quickly. We all headed off to different parts of France with big smiles and more tales to tell in years to come...

And introducing the savoyard stem saucisson:

Comments

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