Productive Week

Been a stressful week, looking after both chalets just when the boiler decides not to work... Hence, not much riding. I put my wet tyres on ready to face the mud, but then couldn't go out, so ended up changing them back for the next day. Fun.

A few of us also went up to the mines at sunsent. A big storm looked to be rolling in but it disappeared somewhere and we stayed dry.

We also did some filming with Geebeebee Media over at Chatel to test out their new camera. Despite me riding like a donkey for every shot, everyone else made the video look good!
Chatel - People from geebeebee media on Vimeo.

Passportes du Soleil

 So it seems I waited for the rain before I chose to go and get some photos of what was going on in town. The Passportes is not an event I take a massive interest being more xc/all mountain orientated. However, you get people entering on DH bikes, and you don't have to ride everything if you don't want to.

Labyrinth were here, I think it's a pretty good looking bike

YT industries were there with some nice looking bikes, they were hiding their top model a bit though!

   

Electronic shocks eh? Not sure if these were available to test or not

Some more unusual bikes were on display too. Clean lines on this

Our friends Hope were there

YT also had this mega truck for some reason. It was loud as hell!

Fortunately I arrived in time for this bizarre French trials/drums fusion

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...

RRRR 2012

Lapierre Spicy, sleek matte silver, fox 36 up front, a mudguard that isn't a Marsh Guard (tut tut) blue formula brakes that could stop a freight train by the feel of them. He's running custom prototype pedals from WrongWayRound components and his shifter is made of platinum, it's that good

Elka stage 5, the thing that really brings this bike alive. Joe definitely didn't blow it up today though.

A bit of a mixture of blue and green anodizing (warranty replacement frame) but it still manages to look pretty spc

Like OMG, I'm bringing back the alliteration allstar (I don't know if that one counts) that is Riders Retreat's Rad Rides. So here's the first installment.

Joe the Show/Factory Joe/Joe Winston's Lapierre

Pleney still not running...

...so I guess I'm stuck with Les Gets until the weekend. Yesterday was very wet, so bits through the woods were greasy today but the forecast for the next 5 days is looking good! As requested, I got a couple of pics of new features. There really aren't very many though. I don't think there's anything new in the bike park, I'm aiming to head up Mont Chery tomorrow to see what's going on there, but again, nothing new I don't think. Reports are that there isn't much new in Chatel bike park either, but there are a few new jumps and the like. I'll find out when I get over there.

This table near the top has been rebuilt. But it's about the same... Kaiser Wilhelm whipping

The corners leading up to it have had a bit of work with some line choices.

3 lines here. The lower two kill your speed a little.

The new tables in the mini jump park. Guy Hewitt throwing shapes

The wallride is different too

The double near the top has also been re-done. It looks fairly alright if you can pin the corner before, but naturally this is rough as hell!

Not as forgiving if you come up short

Wet or Dry?

There seems to be a lot of panic amongst the forums about the weather. Fret not! You don't need to pack your arm bands or life jackets, the trails are dry and dusty! The forecast is fairly good for this week, and has been good other than the storm. So no need to worry for now.

Pleney is still closed, with reports of Wednesday being the earliest it is likely to be fixed, but lest we forget, we are in France. I've got out on the bike again, and the arm and shoulder feel alright, not quite 100% but not too bad.

For now, here's a little clip of bandaged up little me riding the new 'mini jump park', nothing too exciting (see - dry!).

Mega Rain

Mega rain in Morzine on Pinkbike

Big old Alpine storm came through today, never seen rain like it! The gutters overflowed and water was pouring down past the balcony.

In other news, I tried riding today, painful. See how tomorrow goes. The Pleney lift has also been closed and the gondolas taken off, though they've been using the service lift next to it to take people up. The queue is slow moving.... However, fingers crossed it will be open tomorrow.