Marknotinmorzine

Joe the show getting loose on the lower section of the Chaux Fleurie track

So the PDS opened its doors today and I ventured over to Chatel. It was good to get out into the bigger mountains to ride. It's the Passportes du Soleil this weekend, I'll get some photos and words together over the weekend.

New bits? Well there's a few. Over in Chatel the trails are nice and smooth, but that won't last long. There are a couple of landslips on People so go steady on a couple of the corners! They've re-built and added some big old berms, and there's a few new lines I hadn't seen before. The Chatel Mountain Style course (the competition upon it is in a couple of weeks) is getting a full overhaul. They've removed the giant ladder drop and built the biggest step down I've ever seen.

Over in Lindarets there has been a bit of work, just tidying up. The runs need a bit of bedding in as they're a little overgrown at the moment, and the left hand red trail has a tree across it. The blue has a new top section that hopefully will bed in as it's a bit of a speed killer at the moment. However, as a beginner track it works excellently as the speed doesn't get away from you, but there are some tight switchbacks and good berms. Hopefully the braking bumps will be kept at bay. The Chaux Fleurie track was also dusty and loose and fun, hopefully this track won't get as beat up as it has done in the past.

The trails under the Zore lift have had some work too, though I didn't ride them so only saw some bits from the lift. There appears to be a new road gap near the top, some tables on one of the straights and some of the corners have been touched up.

As for riding today, it was good to get into the steep black runs in Chatel. I'm by no means the best rider out there but was feeling confident on them and managed to stay on pretty well! I couldn't be convinced to hit one of the mega ladder drops on Air Voltage, but we'll see how the season pans out...