Dusty trails!

The weather has been so good lately, the tracks have been so dry. Unfortunately, their was a storm before we got the cameras out but it hadn't affected the trails too much the following day. Here's a handful of Riders Retreat Guest Mark Smith's photos.

Been riding some steeper trails, with lots of roots to jump, it's been so good! Finished the week with a trip to Morgins, which was awesome as always, though the black was a bit slippy. I've been doing a lot of crashing all week, but it's been pretty fun actually!

Rain?

It's been so dry and dusty lately, been awesome. I rode Champery again, hit every section, which to some people might sound pretty standard, but for me, I was pretty happy. Some of my guests that I took with me were less impressed, and the crazy French dude we met survived the whole lot then binned it on the road.

I've also been trying to get fast on Super Morzine side, which has been so loose and dusty, whenever you see anyone else you just try to kick up loads of roost and dust, it's been awesome.

So I was a little bit down-heartened to see rain yesterday, then even more so to see that it had rained all night too. So today, I can't be bothered to go and get muddy, I'll stay in and watch the World Cup. With a forecast like this, I don't think it will be long before it dries out again.

  
Also been doing some chilling up at the mines and down by the lake since it's been so hot, so here's a few snaps of that!

Found this creepy geezer living down the mines

Definitely a safe game

RRRR 2012 Edition 2

You may remember some of the parts off this Rad Ride from 2 years ago. Dave has updated a few parts, the frame being the most obvious. Here's a few photos of the big red (soon to be pink?) beast!

The green parts are from back when Dave was on a stealthy M3 with green anodized parts. The brakes and hubs still remain.

Cane Creek, what else?

Dave flew here this year. Not with easyjet, but using his bars as wings. Cut down to 860mm!

Even his pedals weren't wide enough

Flying the flag. You can't get a more pimp seatpost than this

New Bits in Les Lindarets

Although these bits aren't technically that new, I think Les Lindarets is often an overlooked riding location here in the PDS. There's a blue, two reds and the remains of the French National track to ride here, and they're all pretty fun. The top of the blue run has had a fair bit of work this year, with completely new corners and a open section with two really good (smooth) berms. The red trails have had a few new corners, or old ones have been rebuilt and still feature the wooden drops and gaps. Go check it out!

Riding Champery Single Handed!

Tom Bannister is a true hero. He paralysed his left arm in a massive crash a few years back but still rides holding on with one hand. Now that already sounds pretty impressive, but when you see how good he is at doing it, you'll be blown away. He certainly did a better job with the Champery World Cup track than I did. So any of you two armed riders out there who are scared to ride some of the steep stuff, time to pull your finger out!

Chatel Blackshore

Yesterday whilst in Chatel we did a few runs of Gueps, then dropped into the Blackshore. I hadn't actually ridden it before but it's amazing! It's mainly 'north shore' jumps and gaps across the gorge. The jumps themselves aren't very big, but they're high up and jump over deep sections of the gorge, so you get a pretty big rush. I decided to try to stop on an off camber bit of wood, I really don't know what I was doing but I was left hanging off, holding onto my bike, it was quite a mission getting me and bike down. Oh well! Here's a quick vid of Riders Retreat guests Bran and James hitting the bit I tried to stop on.



blackshore on Pinkbike

New bits in Chatel

There are a few new bits in Chatel Bike Park which I got some snaps of today. The infamous road gap has been completely re-built, bigger but better. There's another pump track which looks like a lot of wasted effort - who takes a hardtail all the way over there anyway? Also some work was being done on the old Ric et Rac top section, and is looking good. There's also some new doubles at the bottom of Komatrotrail (hopefully got the spelling right there!). In addition, but not in my photos (sorry) there is a new trail with a multi-syllable name, featuring loads of doubles, with a big ladder drop start. Not open yet but it looks to be very good!

The take off of the new road gap. I couldn't describe it as a booter, but it's definitely more of a jump now than a fly off.

Little bit higher, little bit longer, steeper landing. The run in looks better, plenty of time for panic cranks before the take off.

New pump track

The new doubles. This one was still closed and the line in looks a bit strange, maybe there is more spade work to be done. There's a little one on the left though which is nice and easy.