Downhill mountain biking in the Alps is fun. It’s scary, dangerous….lethal sometimes, but still it’s fun – ‘Type two’ fun. Sometimes, when you’re heading at mach 40 towards a jump you hope you’re going to clear, it only becomes fun once you land on the other side. This seemed to be the theme of the trip……
We had a week staying in Morzine with Alpine Elements, a tour operator out in the Alps, and to be fair to them they did well on all fronts apart from never changing the towels which were covered in dirt after day one. Shame on them (although they made up for that with lovely three course dinners and the breakfast hot option…..simply splendid).
Here’s me trying the hot option…..
There was a team of 7 of us, all nearly pro riders, super knarly yet steady and calculated. No one was nearly pro that is a blatant lie. I was on a 1996 kona that people laughed at when they saw it but that didn’t stop me nor the other boys who all stepped up the level this trip. They were on much better bikes then me but they had chosen to spend money on theirs unlike me who had chosen to go budget. Other people in the hotel we were staying at got involved and it was a right laugh. Here’s the team.
I wasn’t much of a jumper before this trip. I was in my youth on a motocross bike but that was a while ago now and jumping on a mountain bike intimidated me. I am not sure why. Maybe the lack of an engine or moving places for your feet to go onto known in the industry as peddles but I had to break this fear this trip and it started on the afternoon of the first day. Jason, a good friend from Bristol, was the opposite and loved to be in the air whipping the bike side ways, GoPro on. I had to catch up!!
The first day the group were keen and belted off on the knarly black runs and I had to wave the white flag and get warmed up after not riding downhill for 3 years. I went down one of the blacks in Les Gets but steady, at my own pace and even tried a few of the double jumps.
The next day I told the group I had discovered the world’s best run and they followed me over to it. With my heart in my mouth I hit all the massive jumps one after another with Jason following me recording on his GoPro. Here is the film.
[su_youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIMe1NXNyXw&feature=youtu.be” width=”660″ height=”440″]After this, the level only got bigger, scarier and steeper so we headed over to Chatel to get some and I had a go at another trouser filler in the form of the famous Chatel step up jump. 10 minutes of quiet time and I peddled like a priest to a small boy and the jump was in the bag. The Chatel gap jump below.
[su_slider source=”media: 3894,3895″ width=”550″ height=”300″ title=”no” speed=”800″]The other guys went bigger still and I bowed out of this and went on a solo mission to explore and find some nice spots – which I found.
Do I like downhill mountain bike riding? Yes, it’s ace, I also like tennis and beer. I think it’s time to start mixing it up a bit more. Can I be bothered to climb 8a? No I can’t, too much time hanging around on the finger board, I would rather shit my pants on the run in to a large double jump hhhhmmmm or maybe I should take up darts.
Whatever sport you do just make sure you enjoy it. Much love amigos. X
