This morning was a busy one for the flowmtb team. Hero Phil (as he has become known this week!) had a busy morning of bike fixing as problems and worn brake pads had beed discovered yesterday; Jess was non stop baking cake and cooking breakfast for everyone; while I set up my sandwich production line in a corner of her kitchen. With bikes perfectly tuned and backpacks stuffed with water, sandwiches and Mule Bars we headed out for the day.
The Super Morzine lifties were very happy to see so many girls heading into the hills! After a warm up ride to lindarets Jo had us practicing skids. The aim is so we’d all feel happier when our wheels slid unintentionally and we were all pretty chuffed with our efforts. next u[p was the amazing panoramic route with stunning views of lac Montriond and surrounding mountains. Then we had some berm skills sessions and plenty of practice. After lunch on a peaceful hill side we rode long and hard all afternoon (as well as an ice cream stop on col de bassachaux) before stopping for beers and meeting up with the other dirtgirls group in Chez Roger.
Perfect end to a great day.
The dirtgirls arrived on saturday. An afternoon of bike building, cake and beers was followed by dinner and a wander to the fete in town. With a hot sunny day and forecast to remain the same spirits were high.
This morning over breakfast we compared our new minx purchases (thanks to Minx for the much appreciated dirtgirls discount!) I had my great new Harlot Annie shorts and bright minx jersey, a lot of Sombrio gear was around and some more Harlot shorts of course!
We’ve got a great group of girls from all across the UK, all really going for it and some non stop smiles 
We spent the day biking around Les Gets, mixing riding with some skills sessions on cornering, weight on bike and steep sections. Our coaches did an amazing job getting everyone improving a little already and building confidence to set us up for the week.
Beers in Bar Robinson then a huge BBQ and pecan pie back at the chalet topped off the day.
I’m back out to join them all for another glass of wine.
Video diary 1 of the Singletrack Reader holiday with flowmtb in Morzine.
Click here to see.
So I’ve had the Ragley Blue Pig for a couple of weeks now. Time to show you a pic and what spec I’ve got running!
Sram X9 gear bits
Juicy 7 Rear brake (185mm)
Formula ‘The One’ front brake (200mm)
Fox 36VanR 160mm forks
Truvativ BB and Crankset
WTB post and saddle
Pro2 Hubs – with a 321 Rim on the rear (built by yours truly on Monday – two days of hard riding and it’s still true!) and a DT5.1 on the front (stolen, along with the front brake and forks, from my Nomad)
And the most important bits (if you get this wrong, Brant will come and hit you with sticks, apparently)
50mm Raceface stem
745mm Sunline V1 Bars
I’ve had the bike for a few weeks – firstly with Rockshox pikes on there but swapped them out for the 36′s to see how it handles a bigger fork. The verdict? very well indeed. No where near as divey as they were on my Prince Albert – but they do raise the BB just a smidgen…
I took it on our 2 day refuge trip this week, with some properly slow technical riding and it excelled itself. I was also suprised at how not beaten up I was – must be those twangy seat stays!
Refuge ride report coming soon. It was a belter!
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Matt filmed by Benji on the descent towards Samoens. Filmed last week on the Singletrack Reader holiday with us.
Check out this great new video by top cameraman Stewart Monk. Some top mega footage, plus info on our favourite energy bar!
Well done Fionn – see results
And great result for Jo Petterson too!
