As many of you may know me and Nicky decided this year to go out to the Alps for 2 weeks. We where Joined for one week by James W and his friend Martin. I have decided that rather than writing a massive long post about what we did everyday i would pick ten events or things that happened whilst we where out there and write a little bit about each of them, so here goes.

1. Lifts, i know this sounds like abit of a obvious one but not only does it mean that you dont have to push back up the mountain side. But it also means the tracks are so much longer with the average descent time being 8 mins plus if not significantly more in places. But not only this it also gives you the chance to cover/explorer much greater distances. For example the Mossettes lift takes you up to 2250m which is extremely high

2. Braun roof n slopestyle (best trick) We were luck enough to be able to go and watch Sam Pilgrim (GB) out trick the rest of the field. The contest took place over a short course (1 drop and two dirt jumps). It was practically impossible to take any decent pictures of the riding as the contest was at night and you couldn’t get close enough for a effective flash shot. There was a real atmosphere with people sitting up on the roofs of buildings, loud music thanks to the Red Bull DJ booth. With the Cheerleaders getting the crowd warmed up before the riders dropped in. Highlights from each of the three runs can be found on freecaster. By trick Run 3 the riders where really going for it. It was great to see people pulling such technical tricks as these up close, massive respect.

3. The Chatel bike park is home to loads of well built trails and has a small area at the bottom known as the “Drop Zone”. There is this Wall ride with a fun box on the other side. With a series of three variously sized drops/jumps aswell which kept us entertained for a number of hours.

4.XC Helmets and Crowbar goggles While we were eating our lunch mid way up the Chatel bike park we spotted these two guys modeling some truly horrific headgear. The combination of xc helmets with Oakley Crowbar googles i am sure you will agree looks rather daft. I managed to take a couple of pictures of these guys as i thought i might report them to the biking fashion police.

5.Braun roof n slopestyle (Main event) The main slopetyle event took place the following day after the best trick contest and had a much larger field with a step up in rider class. We were therefor very excited to see the likes of Cam McCaul, Darren Berrecloth, Cedric Gracie and Ben Boyko and not forgetting british hopeful Sam Pilgrim. The course was much longer and included a roof top section. I got a couple of pictures with my favorite being one of Cam McCaul doing a 360 bar spin. But i decided to use the picture of Sam Pilgrim not because it is a better picture but instead because again to our delight he won. Highlights of both runs can be seen on Freecaster, with Sams second run being partially impressive.

6.Table tops In Avoriaz there is a short 4x track, i call it four cross but you would struggle to get anymore than two riders side by side on most sections anyway. We stop briefly one day on it and took some pictures, the rest can be seen in the image gallery. The track itself isn’t partially technical or long. And the jumps are not that big (well apart from one) but the view makes it. With Alpine meadows and high mountain peaks.

7. Cows Again a strange, let me explain. I am guessing so that the farmers can keep track of the cows easily they all wear larger bells around their necks. The large group shown in the picture, i guess there must have been at least 50 were making an impressive amount of noise. Not only that but during one run down the Les Gets “Jump track” me and nicky almost hit one as it was stood right on the the track. It made for a comedy moment as we narrowly mist it!.

8. The view from the top of Mossettes lift, as i have already said this lift goes upto 2250m and takes you over the border into Switzerland. From here there are loads of different ways to head off, you have got the single track route, miles of epic alpine single track, puncture alley (a daft fireroad), the Swiss National downhill track (as seen in Kranked 6), or you can head down the ridge further into Switzerland. Anyway back to the view, From here you have a breath taking view over much of the Portes du Soleil region. The picture shows the Dents Blanches which are covered in snow all year and meet up with the flanks of Mount Blanc.

9. Morgins This is a small swiss town that we had heard lots of good things about so we decided that it would be worth the trip over. This involved heading off into the unknown and riding off the beaten track a little. But we ended up getting caught up in the middle of a mountain bike race (we even got filmed!) But we made it to Morgins and we were not disappointed this small town has three graded downhill tracks blue, red and a gnarly looking black run. But a mechanical problems with Nicky bike meant that we had to head off early before we got to ride them all, something for next time.

10. Chatel Town We had already been to Chatel bike park which is located a short distance from the town of Chatel and we had been told of some other tracks there so we got the free bus ride to check it out. You could take you bike on the bus which was great. With half the the bus being open so that there was somewhere to store bikes. Anyway once we got there our efforts were rewarded with two great tracks. The easier of the two was a combination of doubles and berms which was great fun.

And one last thing, i have got to say the 14km road downhill from Avoriaz back to Morzine was just quality especially when you get to overtake cars!
08-07-12 Morzine JI+NB+JW, 56 Pictures

A Pump Track video from when Irwin, Shane, Adam and I (Jeff) were down there on Tuesday afternoon/evening. Let us know what you think.

There’s also the pictures from then and some from the Sunday:
08-07-29 Pump Track JI+JK+Shane+Adam, 8 Pictures
08-07-27 Pump Track JI+JK+Ollie, 10 Pictures

This year’s Clough Climb initially saw only three entries, but later numbers grew as more riders turned up and signed on to take on the challenge of Bamford Clough, a rough track half a kilometre long and 130 metres of height gain.

Last year one man had made it to the top on a bike designed specifically for the challenge. This a new contender took the crown, on a regular bike, impressive!

There were about 10-15 riders in the end, with some people having a couple of go’s. I put in a poor effort losing grip and having to restart due to bad line choice before the corner, and then misplacing my front wheel and stalling higher up, I think I was probably about 5m short of last year. I did carry the ‘Road Closed’ closed sign all the way up to the top in quite a good time though. I like to think it’s not the winning that counts, it’s how knacker you get!

There are some average pictures in the gallery, it was quite dark and I was limited in what I could get as I was marshalling too.

08-07-19 Bamford MTB Clough Climb, 19 Pictures

Me and Jonny were down there tonight, Jonny was persisting with the 360s but not quite making it, we added more to the second jump’s landing and re-shaped its take off to make it steeper. Jonny was almost there on his last attempt but hurt his wrist a bit so called it a night.
I added the a small roller after (or before) the S berm that joins into the mini-loop, it needs more soil but at least now the line is rideable.

So who’s around for Thursday night? Jonny was up for it and I’ll be there, Nicky and Irwin are in France (update & pics soon…). So provided it’s not properly raining aim to get there for 7pm?

Also don’t forget the Clough Climb is this Saturday. Who else is going? I think they might need some marshals.

Irwin and I dodged the weekend’s rain and headed out for a short evening ride in the WinHill area on the Saturday. We rode the moorland singletrack, which was fun as usual. We then headed down the hill stopping off in a random section of the woods for some flash photos, the midges were really biting so we gave up the MTBing in favour of pro-amateur stone skimming at the side of the reservoir, I won.

08-07-05 WinHill JI+JK, 4 Pictures