Better weather and BBQs

The weather decided to stop mucking me about on wednesday, and after some dampness on tuesday, lead to rather favourable trail conditions. The wet weather lately has meant there is some added roughness to most of the tracks though.

It was possibly that roughness that lead to a few failures on my bike - spokes, mech, chain and probably other faults. Trying to jump into a few corners that I'd usually hop in and out of lead to some pretty harsh bottom outs and some hairy moments where there are now just giant holes. But nevermind, the Morzine Mountainbike Mechanics sorted me out once again!

So I've spent a bit of hard earned and ordered myself some new rims and a straight chainring to make my bike look prettier when I get home. Talking of which, I have just over a week left here. It rained today, and tomorrow looks to be rainy too. Next week looks set to be cold. Nevermind.

We also took a trip up to Lac de Montriond for a BBQ and a big fire which was good, if a little cold, and our BBQing skills leave something to be desired. Paul's lighting skills however, were spot on.

Also, bit of a plug here, but girls, ride your bikes!

Lindarets Air Bag

I stopped off whilst the weather was glorious to catch some people hitting the Lindarets airbag jump. I was pretty impressed by the xc riders hitting it (I didn't!) though their style - see pic - varied slightly from the downhillers and dirt jumpers.

Also, look out in the video for Neil from the Morzine Mountainbike Mechanics hitting it for the first time on his full sus, after a full run of one of the downhills! It seems bike repair wizardry isn't his only game.

On that topic, although the lifts over that side will be closed from this weekend, next week and after, the MMMs will still be around if you need help with your bike. They told me they'll carry their mobiles on them, so if you're stuck with a broken bike, give them a shout.

Chamonix

The weather is still fairly poor, which is beginning to get annoying. So when there was a slight window in the weather, we decided to try Chamonix. I've been with my family a couple of times before, but the weather has always been awful.

This time was no different, except the clouds were marginally higher. Most of the Boisson Glacier was visible, and a little bit of snow, but you could see the cable cars climbing into the clouds. One day I'll get up there on a glorious day.

My niece enjoyed it though, possibly not because of the incredible scenery and geography all around, but more because of the petit train which had her in giggles, and the pigeons which kept her entertained (for a short while...) at lunch time.

Not much to say...

Pretty much as the title says, it's been raining loads and I haven't been riding today. Spent the day with my family instead, hiding from the rain.

It's a shame, especially for the guests that have just arrived, it means they've muddied their kit straight away and it might not get dry for the rest of the week now. It does however mean they're braver than me as they went riding.

Dry riding?

Bit sparse on the blog entries lately, but I've been riding so much! It's dried out now, though the weather looks set to turn tomorrow.

The past few days we've ridden a lot more runs off Pleney, just searching for new stuff and found some gems, wonderful rooty mayhem, which of course I can deal with in the dry...

We also made a trip to Morgins, driving round this time to get a full day there, which was well worth it. Despite some mechanical woes for one party member, we got in many runs, faster each time, finding some great lines.

My parents, sister, her friend and my niece have also come out to visit me now, as well as my brother's fiancée, her friend, and my other niece! (look out for two cool babies round town in AC/DC t shirts by the way). Hopefully I'll be able to show them just how wonderful the PDS is.

Also, check out those MarkinMorzine inspired photos down there! (extra photos from Ross Darch)

More wet riding

Thursday was wetter than a duck's undercarriage, so we hid indoors from the rain (though a trip to the shops got me an unbelievably nice slice of chocolate cake). Friday the weather was bright, but naturally the tracks were soaked still, which saw the boys changing to their wet tyres.

I don't have any wet tyres, so a pressure change was needed. I went from 'kinda hard' to 'a bit softer', and didn't really have an issue with grip. We did some exploring on Pleney, which lead us down some good tracks, and some that were, well... Different.

ATM was good, not too steep but loads of wet root labyrinths, which caused the taking of some 'pro lines' (round the outside) and some uh-oh moments. We also tried to tackle the Celine Gros line, which was steep to say the least. That wasn't what made it difficult though. It was the foot deep, 6 inches wide rut the whole way down, which lead to even more pro lines where possible.

The main track itself was grippy as anything, and the braking bumps were being dug out throughout the day, as well as 10% getting a make-over (see pics) which actually made for a rare enjoyable run down. We also explored some other rooty lines near the top, before losing Ross. When we eventually found him, his tube had done an escaping act.

What a fantastic day though, my wet riding phobia is coming under control, but then again, I'm sat looking at a rather good weather forecast, so who cares?

Arrival of Alex and the Boys

My Brother has arrived for 2 weeks now with the Bournemouth crew, which means lots of riding and fun times. Yesterday we had a fairly dry day, although Pleney and Chavannes, even though we barely rode the main tracks, were pretty brutal on the hands.

Today the rain came down, on top of all the rain we had last night. It wasn't really enough to make the tracks in Les Lindarets really muddy, just super super slidey, with a greasy layer over the hardpack. That, plus the boardwalks that lack chicken-wire, was lethal. So sliding about in zero visibility was the order of the day.