A group of very lucky ladies are heading out for the dirtgirls trip this weekend. The sun’s shining, the trails are in great condition and I;m looking forward to a week of riding my bike every day! But to top it all off, not only did minx offer a discount on pre-trip buys she sent over a parcel bulging with giveaways. If I wasn’t so nice I’d be keeping my mouth shut and keeping it all for me…..
Archive for July, 2008
I was a very lucky girl this weekend - a parcel of goodies arrived from Minx. Top of the list were the minx pink hope mono minis which look fantastic on my white heckler, finished off with some super cool oury grips and the charge ladies ladle saddle. One of the best looking girls saddles around, plus comfy and cheap! My bike now looks pretty much perfect 
And it didn’t end there, with my new Loeka pinstrips shorts, Maloja Minas freeride jersey (plus some super comfy Pearl Izumi liners, which luckily for everyone else weren’t on show) I looked pretty good too.
Once I get my mitts on the camera guy took over to Champery for the Swiss Freeride week I’ll get some photos of my bike up!
Girls get to minx stuff’s flying out at the moment.
Here’s a video from freecaster.tv of the first slopestyle comp in Avoriaz:Â
And here’s some photos of mine from the event.
it was a good event - shame about the rain beforehand, but hey ho. The boy Sam Pilgrim (GBR) won it in some style!
The flowmtb team took a break from Morzine yesterday to head to the pretty lakeside town of Annecy. A picnic by the lake was followed by a very competitive game of mini-golf, with Tom storming into the lead. Gordon managed a very respectable score too, given his right arm is in plaster following breaking his wrist on Sunday. The most important part of the day was the Annecy ice cream parlour with more flavours than you’ve dreamt of, followed, of course, by a canalside beer. My efforts to get everyone on a boat were thwarted by a vote to head to the bowl and watch the skaters and BMXers, then back into town for some drinks and lake caught fish.
A nice break all round and back to Morzine feeling like we’ve all had a holiday!
Here’s one of the many photos I’ve taken at this years Mega - check em all out here.
Check out this snippet from the new Kranked movie - fast forward about 5 minutes into the video and check out Champery local Ben Walker riding some sweet singletrack around here. Makes me want to go and ride it again and again We’ll certainly be checking it out on our Swiss Freeride Week - and if Ben’s not too busy he may join us (fingers crossed!).
All was not looking rosy in the flowmtb chalet on Friday night. Petra and Jo had just managed to get their bikes fixed by the Sram guys, when Jem discovered his frame was cracked and Rich took out his bottom bracket only to find it threaded and wouldn’t go back in. Luckily Jem had come on holiday with a spare frame (these guys had a week in Verbier too so had not packed light!) and had a late night building that up. Guy offered Rich his spare heckler, but with the late hour, and various parts needing fixing to it he decided against it. Maybe something to do with the rain…..
….that’s right, late on Friday evening the rain came and with it storms. We woke at various times through the night to hear the storm raging and shiver at the thought of going out in it early next morning. Undeterred we headed out at the alloted time of 7am when there seemed to be a brief respite. We got to the midway station on the lift and were all bundled out so they could close the lift as the thunder rumbled. We waited around glad of the shelter as it was once again pouring. Those of us up there were pretty happy not to be in the first wave waiting further up out in the rain. The organisers were waiting for the updated weather at 8am, and all remained amazingly cheery and helpful, depsite having had almost no sleep that night as they tried to plan round the weather.
Sadly the storm meant we couldn’t start up on the glacier and at around 8.30 we were all told to head for the lift up to the qualifier start. As we pedalled over we met quite a few of the guys who’d been waiting up there through the storm and had decided to call it a day. We all headed on and up the lift, disappointed by the lack of glacier, and having to re-ride parts of the qualifier (I think all of our group prefered the Mega track to the qualifier!) but not ready to give up just yet!
We got up top in time to grab a cup of tea and see the first group of guys set off. Straight after the girls were told to line up, cold and nervous we got ready and waited as the organisers explained the new course. The sun even started to poke out from behind the clouds. Then, a quick countdown, the music, and we were off.
Things were looking good until once again my chain jammed. This time somehow it unjammed itself (same tactics as yesterday, but worked!) just as a helpful spectator ran down to my aid (is it something to do with bikes fixing themselves just as a man approaches!) so thanks to my saviour! Annoyed at being passed by a group I had worked hard to over take I jumped back on and pedalled as hard as I could. A stupid overtaking manouver on a rocky corner resulted in a crash that put me back again - must remember to stay calm! One of the lovely things about the race though is how friendly all the girls are. No one passes a crash without checking the rider is ok. I got on and managed to stay on through everything except one of the slidy rooty corners down towards the bottom. The course was in an amazingly good condition given the weather and remained very fast. So top marks to the trail builders. I finished in 18th place at 1 hour 20. The winner, Alpe d’Huez local Ophelie David finished in 1 hour 2 minutes, so I have a long way to go! Tracey Moseley, who won the qualifier, had got stuck down in Oz and missed the start of the race.
Guy also had a great start, leading the Mega Promo for a short while! However, all was not smooth running for him either. A crash, resulting in taking out part of his casette, and a jammed chain later on saw him lose a fair bit of time, but he still managed to come in 11th in the Promo with a time of 1 hour 4 minutes. The overall winner was once again Rene Wildhaber in 45 minutes, 37 seconds, very closely followed by Remy Absalon. Well done to Brits Danny Hart, who came in 14th in 50 minutes and 49 seconds, and Chris Ball who was 15th and just 3 seconds behind Danny. Morzine based MTB guide and instructor Alex Balaud came 5th.
By the time we finished the sun was shining and memeories of the cold wet wait in the rain seemed to fade away. After some much needed food and drink we all loaded bikes into the trailer, jusmped into the flowmtb van and headed up the hill, glad to be avoiding the queue for the bus! Back at base, bikes were washed and fixed, and bacon and egg sandwiches were made (doing the mega entitles you to two lunches) plus lots of tea was drunk, before heading into town for a night out.
Thanks to the race organisers, and we’re looking forward to next year…..
Friday was the big qualifier. Everyone headed up at their alloted time ready to tackle the tricky course ahead. Having previously decided not to worry too much I got a race head on (a new experience for me!) and managed to get going pretty well, riding faster than I think I ever have and somehow pulling off some scary overtaking manoeuvers. My streak of luck was not to continue as just over half way down my drive train jammed and no matter the amount of swearing at it (plus actually trying to unjam it) it wouldn’t fix and let me pedal. Fed up of people passing me as I stood trying to fix it I got on and pushed up and along the remaining flat and uphill sections. Luckily as there aren’t so many girls it doesn’t affect positions for the race too much. Guy also had a few problems and a couple of crashes so didn’t do as well as last year (in the first wave) but made it onto the front row of the second wave - the promo. He’s not at all nervous about starting on the glacier with 400 people behind him
Everyone in the chalet got down the course without major mishap. Well done to Chris who made it into the first wave and Jem and Jonas who made it into the promo (second wave of men).
Results are here
Guy and I headed over to Alpe d’Huez on Monday afternoon to a full chalet of guests excited for the week’s riding. Tuesday saw us all ride parts pf the qualifier and some of the other great trails around, and on Wednesday the Mega course itself. At 10am on Thursday Petra Wiltshire and I met up with a large group of girls for the girlie Mega pre-ride we arranged. Everyone started up a little nervous on the snow but soon got the hang of it as we tried out different methods of descent together.
The rocky section was up next, with lots of encouragment from each other and discussion of best lines at tricky stuff we all cleared sections we weren’t sure we could and finally made it down to Alpe d’Huez for lunch. Most of us carried on with the second half of the course during the afternoon and there’s no doubt that the group discussion on how to tackle some of the steep rooty switchbacks helped us all clear them better than expected. After the bus back up the day finished with a beer in the sunshine.
Photos will be up on the gallery once we’re back in Morzine next week.
Today’s mission is to get the bikes all geared up for the Megavalanche - we’re leaving on Monday for the week and I can’t wait.There’s more snow than ever before - due in part to the fact that the race is being held 2 weeks earlier than usual plus the enormous quantities of snow we had in the Spring. It should make for a great race, and even the qualifyer is going to have some proper snow this time. I’ve just been checking out google maps to see that they’ve been taking their Street View camera cars around the tour de france route - which means L’Alpe d’Huez and means they’ve got a great shot of the flowmtb chalet.Â
See you there I hope!
GuyÂ
