Fionn Griffiths made 7th place this weekend at the World Cup in La Bresse, France. Well done Fionn!
The Brits did well overall With Steve Peat winning the mens, and Tracey Moseley second in the womens.
The mountain bike season is truly here. Round 2 of the World Cup is now over, Round 3′s up next weekend in Andorra, and not long till the lifts open in Morzine….
Archive for May, 2009
The forecasted clouds didn’t appear on Saturday, so we set off riding under hot sunshine and bright blue skies. The first ride started with a tough climb up a rocky and loose gravel track. Before long we were feeling the heat and the effort! The reward however, made the memories of that fade – amazing views, then a fantastic descent. Some great forest track and a very technical descent with tight rocky switchbacks.
Ending up back in town we refuelled on pizza, paninis and cappuccinos ready for the afternoons outing.
This was an easier option than the morning’s ride. Half an hour up on a steady road climb, followed by a fun singletrack descent back to town.
Sunday was the homeward day. After packing up, we rode along the coastal road to the next town, had a look around, some lunch then rode back.
Arriving back in Morzine on sunday evening, we were all pretty sure we’ll be back again for more italian biking pretty soon.
Photos and routes will be posted up shortly.
Thursday’s fun was the Roman Roads ride – one of Finale’s most famous rides. Climbing up a long way we were rewarded with fantastic rocky singletrack and some amazing views of the sea way below. A descent that’s well worth the climb.
An evening of beers on a sunny terrace, followed by a final beer on the beach, was topped off with pizza. Perfect ending to a great day.
With rain on friday morning, we took it easy, just riding around town, enjoying pizza, ice cream and a rest. And preparing for more riding on Saturday.
Guy, Phil (who will be working with us this summer, helping you all find the best trails and keeping the bikes in top condition) and I left Morzine early on Tuesday morning, heading for Molini di Trioria – the home of Riviera Bike. Arriving around 1.30, we found Sian and Carl, pretty tired from their week of cycle touring but ready for another ride.
We started pedaling up the road, then the fun started on the descent,
Over beers in the local bar we were fed far too many great snacks. Ade and Ray from Riviera Bike came back from their day of trail maintenance and a plan was hatched for riding the next morning, using their van for uplifts. We returned to the hotel for 5 courses of amazing food and pretty much rolled to bed!
After coffee in the cafe we loaded bikes onto the trailer and drove up for about 20 minutes to the trail head. Ade left Ray to show is the way down while he took the van to the next meet up point. This was a great trail, technical rocky singletrack, switchbacks and definitely enough to keep us all thinking and our hands and arms aching by the bottom. Another 20 minute drive up and this time Ade got to ride, leaving Ray to take the van back to Molini. This stepped up a little from the first descent, with some very technical sections and a couple of hike a bikes. But more amazing views and more great riding.
After paninis in town Jo took us up to a new trail they’d built. Natural sections were joined up by jumps, berms and some short sharp steeps. Knackered after this one, only Guy and Phil were up for more, which Ray happily obliged!
A quick beer and we drove to Finale Ligure and set up camp. Gareth Sam, and the kids from Endless Ride were already there, so we got on with planning Thursday’s ride!
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Sara Burdon
flowmtb.com
+44(0)20 8123 5654
+33(0)688101757
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Sara Burdon
flowmtb.com
+44(0)20 8123 5654
+33(0)688101757
—————————————————————-
We’re nearly ready to leave for mountain biking in Italy (just some sleep before the 6am start!). Got the bikes sorted yesterday, the rest of our gear done today, and should be riding tomorrow afternoon. First stop is a couple of days in Molini with Rivierabike, then onto Finale Ligure.
Can’t wait!
Another day, another road bike climb to Avoriaz. Today I made it a full 5 minutes faster than friday – thanks to a Pinacolada MuleBar I started munching halfway up. Never leave home without one!
The velo club organise a timed climb in the summer. If you want to take part this year make sure you’re here for the 14th July. It’s a great event to do with around 200 people each year and a fun atmosphere. See if you can beat Bernard Hinault’s 33 minutes!
As sadly Shecycles is no longer online I’m (finally!) putting up some of the articles and the dirtgirls diary from Bex Hopkins. Follow the links below
shectycles-july-2006
shecycles-september-2006
shecycles-jan-2007
shecycles-july-2007
shecycles-aug-2007-dirtgirls
shecycles-dec-2007-mega
First ride of the year up to Avoriaz today. Saw a friend just before setting off and said ‘just going to pedal up to Avoriaz’. Not long later and i realised i should have said, ‘I’m going to slowly and painfully grind my way up to Avoriaz’.
It’s only my second road ride of the year, but, despite the pain, was great. A little tougher than I remember, but that’s just the effect of a winter of snow and not much cycling. Going to try again and see if I can beat my time on Sunday.
It’s great to see the snow melting too. There’s been a lot of it this winter, but now the ski season’s over it’s quickly melting away to reveal our favourite mtb trails. Not long till the Morzine lifts re-open for mountain bikers.
