Taking advantage of the sunshine and the opening of the Champery cable car on Saturday, an intrepid troop of 5 set out from Morzine to conquer the Col de Coux. Nearly 1000m of vertical to scale from Morzine town centre to the top - it’s no small feat.
Starting from Morzine town centre, we headed up the road towards the Valley de la Manche. The road is a good warm up for the steepness to come! And it is steep!
An hour and a half later we were up at the top admiring Morzine down below, and the Dents du Midi looming over Champery. The classic ridge ride down towards Balme then left to Champery. Awesome stuff. Unfortunately on the road run into Champery I felt a knocking in the back wheel - looking down it seemed like a regular buckle. However once at the lift station, to my horror, I found something rather more serious - a big crack in the hub.. ouch.
I like to think zip ties made the difference between me being able to roll back into Morzine, rather than walk for hours.
So then I took the lift up from Champery and eased over to the base of the Col du Coux climb - I thought I’d walk it rather than risk ripping the rear hub apart (any excuse not to climb up there!) - Then a limpy ride back down to Morzine… but I made it!
Bit of sunburn on the forehead but otherwise unscathed.
I have since re-built my wheel with a spare hub and some expert wheel building knowledge from Sian 
It survived a few hours being nailed down various Pleney DH tracks in good condition - even with the odd dodgy sideways landing! Might tighten it up a bit tomorrow..
It survived a few hours being nailed down various Pleney DH tracks in good condition - even with the odd dodgy sideways landing! Might tighten it up a bit tomorrow..
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