The Megavalanche, Alpes d'Huez road trip, July 2012

I’m still on a come down, the Mega...where do I start?

I decided to race the Mega last year, it’s the ultimate of enduro events and as soon as the tickets went live my finger was on the buzzer.

"I have no idea what I'm getting myself into..."

Got some of the North-East Massive together, and headed over in a convoy of vans.  Steve and me were upfront followed by Sarah Newman and Helen Gaskell in the ‘Team Weapon’ truck behind, and then Sara and Paul (‘get in ma belly’) Rennie at the back!

Loading up the trucks....

Once out of the Eurotunnel it was then a good nine-hour drive, we spent a few nights ripping up the trails in Morzine.  Absolutely fantastic being in the Alps with a vehicle, before this trip I've always flown over but you can't beat a bit of van-life!!

Convoy...

Got some more good riding in over in Switzerland on the national track and at Les Crosets - not as flat out as on a downhill bike but sure as hell as much fun!  We found a sweet rock-strewn mountain-walkers path to ride down called "GasGas" which lead back to the van by Lac De Montriond – had a quick dip followed by a few beers and a BBQ!  Over the next day we hit up some cross-country trails on Mont Cherry and Les Gets before moving on to La Clusaz.  Turning into an awesome road trip.

So, which way....?

Mordor.....

Bombs away chaps....

I think Sarah's hungry....

Best barbie scenery, ever!

Alpine toe nail varnishing....

Et voila....

A big cock....

La Clusaz was a special little place - the guide book said "If you want some proper riding in the Alps with no Brits, go here!".  We parked up by the river but got slightly distracted for four hours by the Crazy Golf :D (Cue: one happy girl).  This was however to be equally balanced out with probably one of the most epic rides yet; a lung-busting uphill climb to around 2,000 metres before swinging around into a huge open valley.  The ride down was amazing, not just the trails but the scenery, needless to say we all got lost many times and ended up at a mountain hut surrounded by vicious cows!

Crazy golf champ....

Prepping....

Unloading....

Mind the vicious cows....

Ruuunnnnnn......

We turned around and climbed back up for another hour, having run out of food and water by this point in a 35-degree heat with no wind I was dragging my heels a tad!  Soon found the main track and rode some the sweetest big mountain riding ever!  Picture some technical rocky singletrack leading out onto a plateau of lush green grassy meadows!  Awesome... absolutely awesome!  We eventually stumbled on a hut selling food and got stitched up big time with an omelette for 50 Euros, WHAT?! Sarah bared her teeth with some pure Scottish grit and got a bit of discount!  Phew, still pricey mind you.

Andddd..... PUSH....

When the ice cream cravings start to kick in....

Steve looks chuffed with his new Yeti...

Ooooh, I spy a possible snowball ambush?!

Can you beat this scenery?

Sara and Paul Rennie taking in the views....

Trail side repairs, the bane of our lives....

Top o'the world!

Next day was a rest day!  We didn't want to screw our legs up too much for the following week! Although we did drive to Chamonix and ride a bit of pump track...would be a shame not to!

Chamonix was a bit on the chilly side, overcast, wet and windy!  It didn't stop us though. Sarah declared that she wanted to smash out a big climb?! Well we sure found her one of those bad boys did we not?  A two-hour non-stop climb up what seemed to be the world’s steepest road (well, maybe I exaggerate a little here). Well worth it though as it was followed by a loose pine needle covered rocky descent with a lovely cliff drop to one side and an amazing view of Mont Blanc!  Good times!

Following the convoy up through the Alps...

Carbo loading, well that's my excuse anyway....

"The hillllsss are alliivveeee.....".....

All too soon we were back on the road to Allemont near Alp D'Huez, where we remained based for the rest of the week with the Megavalanche.

Base camp.....

The next morning we got up super early, Tracy Moseley was camping with us so we were pretty lucky to get to ride with her and see some sweet lines. The top of the Mega at 3,300 metres was EPIC!!! (And that is an understatement!). Freezing cold, amazing views and we were up there with our bikes about to ride down a black-rated Ski run, absolutely BUZZING!!

Sarah and Helen feeling the chill......

I didn't have a clue how to ride in the snow so just went for it, landed on my ass the whole way till Tracy gave us some tips on holding the back brake only and straddling the bike, I got the hang of it eventually!

After the snow you hit the singletrack and oh my god it was just rad, just like riding in the Lake District but on a way, way, WAAAYYYYY bigger scale... cruising down into Alp D'Huez onto a little climb and then pretty much all downhill the rest of the way through the woods into Allemont.... 24km of pure downhill adrenaline-fuelled smiles all round!

Next day we hit up the qualifying track, I found this harder than the Mega track, especially up the top where it was real rocky and loose, the smaller bikes just aren't as stable. A cool track nonetheless but a bit boring toward the bottom.

The rest of the week was spent practicing both tracks and perfecting Slack-Lining in the campsite, having friendly footy matches and eating crepes in the local cafe's!  Life doesn’t get much better than this!

Sarah, Helen and Steve ...van-life......

Ms Moseley slack lining.....

And then Chris showing everyone how it's done....

Friday was qualifying day, my race run was at 1pm.  The girls were last off which was a bit of a bum-deal as the track ended up being cut up with big rock-cookies strewn all over it.  It was a Le Mans-style mass start, all 90 girls together, the gun went and we were out and around the first corner.  Anne Caro, Tracy, Sabrina and the other big dogs were fighting it out up front where I was a being bit more timid, keeping out of the fight. I've since learned if you want to do well and not get held up you need to sharpen your elbows and get stuck straight in!  I had a clean run but slow, after the start I just got stuck behind riders who wouldn't get out the (expletives deleted) way, found it hard to get past them. I qualified 36th out of the 90 odd riders. I wasn't too disappointed but knew I could have done a load better.

The day after was race day, up at 5am, on the bus at 5.30am, up on the gondola at 6am and to the top at 7am...and WOW was it cold! All the girls were huddled up keeping warm in the toilets until it was time to line the bikes up. Racing started at 9am and by then the music was pumping to get you psyched, most people were pretty nervous as you can't really predict what's gonna happen, unlike with a normal downhill race.

And so it begins....

Trying to keep warm in the loo....

How's this for a start line eh?

It wasn't that popular really......quite!

Hell YEAH baby....

Breath taking.....

The gun went and we set off... it had been raining during the night so the snow was slushy. Instead of being able to ride I had to push through it until there was enough gradient to pull you through. I went down the steepest bit and held my line pretty well till a girl took me out sideways hurtling me upside down and using my helmet as a snow plough, the air was turned blue!  Eventually the snow plateaus off and it was here where I lost my shoe whilst running across the flat section, stop laughing you lot!  Being 3,000 metres up I was finding it hard to breathe with the air being so thin, having a full-face helmet on and with the adrenaline pumping away it was quite an experience. You feel like your getting chased down by a pack of hungry wolves, it’s pretty scary.

Hitting the singletrack further down I was concentrating on controlling my breathing, I also got stuck behind a couple of girls eventually getting past I caught some more and got stuck for ages!!  Very frustrating!  Got passed by a girl on a climb and then got stuck behind her on the following downhill, argh, however toward the tree lined section I thought ‘sod it’ and pushed past her, loved the rest of it with no-one in front of me!

You can't stop to take in the scenery this time....

Single track sections...AMAZING....!!

Just a little pootle down a little hill....ahem!

Battered, scarred and bruised but so worth it!

I finished in 1 hour and 17 mins taking the 34th position. I didn't feel that tired, wasn't really out of breath and had no arm-pump which I was expecting...this was my first shot at the event and I learned a lot especially with riding and taking advice from Tracy.  Next year I really need to get amongst it all up front at the start, the ‘take no prisoners approach’, it’s crucial to doing well there ….and I reckon you really ought to be shattered after that!

Angela's Mega Photo courtesy of Xavier Grassone

The whole experience was amazing and I wanted do it all again in a flash! This event is something that I think anyone who rides a bike should have a crack at!

All over.....

Long live the Mega, see you there next year!

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Feeling the Urge....

Nick's spill up at the Scottish Champs in Fort William totalled his helmet, cue Urge UK distributors Decade dashing to the rescue with a new one..... and a very nice one it is indeed, I think you'll all agree!  A big THANK YOU going out to the lads for their help.

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Scottish Downhill Championships, Fort William 14th & 15th July

Whilst Angie was getting set to blast down some French mountainsides in preparation for the Alpes d'Huez Megavalanche event, Nick took the trip up to Fort Billy for the Scottish Downhill Champs.....

Fort William, let me hear ya, I'm BACK!  This time for the Scottish Champs.  I am absolutely in love with this track, like most people, because it's as tough and as mean as hell, no let up at any point. Unfortunately I was full of man-flu (Lee: ahhh, he's going for the sympathy vote....it won't work!!) but wasn't going to let that put a downer on things.

Saturday morning came with the scent of frying bacon in the air and the sun was kind of shining whilst the rest of the country was still being flooded out!  I was eager to get up the hill and put the FTW through its paces again, that bike is simply MADE for this course, mark my words!  I took my usual plan-of-action for Fort Bill cruising the first run down to get warmed up and spy some lines as not a lot changes on the track, apart from different routes through the woods.  I was expecting the course to be a little beat up from the previous World Cup there as well. 

Nick in practise, photo copyright of Ian Linton

My run through the open top section was good, it's nice and flowing although I paid particular care on some of the dust strewn corners, I didn't want to wash out again!. Hit the beginning of the rocky section dead on, the bike was soaking it all up, thought 'Sod It' and got some more cranks into it to pick the speed up even more, the bike could take it easily.  Unfortunately I couldn't though, took a spill and gashed my knee, that was clever of me wasn't it!?  Jumped back on and a bit further down there were a load of riders stood about checking out the second of two drops.  I scrubbed a little speed off here and took off as I normally would, my front wheel landed in the only soft patch on the track behind a rock which catapulted me over the bars landing on my head hard!  You know those old Tom & Jerry/Roadrunner cartoons when one of them gets whacked.....well this time it was me seeing stars!  I thank god for my Urge lid, seriously, that was a big stack!  

Knee-sy does it!

I chilled out by the trackside for a little while to get myself back together, as well as my helmet my own mojo had taken a dent, it also allowed me to scope out that part of the track on foot and I noted a good few other riders having problems there.  Got back on the bike and carried on down the hill, when I got to the bottom I chilled out with some mates for a while till I felt back up to 100%. 

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

The new 'motorway' section at the bottom of the course that was built up for the World Cup was absolutely AMAZING!  Where, in the past, the sprint along the motorway was an utter killer, now we have the new massive table-top jumps to help you to carry speed, it's so much better.  I did six runs on Saturday and really felt it the next day as the track was rough as hell, this was also apparent from the number of punctures and broken wheels I was witnessing, although thankfully not my own Sun-Ringles.....Thank you! *Touch wood*

Come race day the combination of my man flu (Lee: that excuse is still not gonna work!) and the number of runs on Saturday had me feeling pretty shattered. So I just put a single practice run in to refresh my memory and to keep check on where the track was getting cut up.

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

First run was plain sailing taking into consideration the slight downpour of rain, which actually had a more positive effect on the track, the tyres' grip increased as the rain packed the dust down nicely.  Went a bit squirrelly and nearly over shot a corner in the bottom section, made mental notes not to do that again on the following run, pulled it back in and got on with it.  Not too bad going.  Second run came and I pushed myself through the rest of the top corners, nice, smooth and fast, did I tell you that I love this course?!  Further down I nearly over shot the same bloody corner as before, got my head screwed straight back on and hauled it. Took ten seconds off my first run time and was told that I finished in the top ten of the Experts category, not bad for a man-flu ridden bugger eh?!

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British Downhill Series, Glencoe 8th July 2012

Here's Nicklaus with the Glencoe British Downhill Series weekend run down:

I was back up at Glencoe for the BDS, and back from my holiday where I may have overdone the free food and drink *pats tummy*.  Can you believe it, it wasn't raining....unlike the rest of the UK which was being flooded!  The track was looking pretty dry compared to my last visit and was also taped out a little differently which opened up a lot of sections. I was also debuting the new Development team jerseys, and I have to say they do look bloody good, yes, I know, such modesty!

Come practice on Saturday I was really stoked to ride in the dry.  My first run didn't go quite to plan, my rear shock blew up through the rock garden and I had to take the walk of shame to the chair lift station and took the trip back down to the pits.  A quick dash back to the car I soon had my old shock fitted to the bike so I hadn't missed too much practice time, phew!  

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

As I progressed through my first main run I began to notice that although the track was much dryer then normal it didn't have a massive amount of grip.  However the bike was riding great and the new Boxxer fork upgrade from the guys at TF Tuned were working awesomely, taking all the huge impacts with a plomb.  It was apparent where the toughest parts of the track were as there were a lot of riders stopped at the side trying to scout the best line. The two steep and rocky shoots where causing the most trouble, lots of crashing, lots of punctures, lots of damaged bikes!  I found my bike was more than capable of doing its job and tracking well through the sections, this is one of Frank Wadelton's legacy's....he knows his shit when it comes to frame designing and building!  Glencoe is very steep, very rough and very fast, I had 100% trust in my Sun-Ringle wheels and Hayes Primes brakes, no dings, no buckling, no fading, no arm-pump, everything was working flawlessly.

Practice went pretty well, stoked with the bike's handling.  Come race day my qualifying run went well, made a couple of mistakes but nothing out of the ordinary and knew where I could improve. 

Photo copyright of Ian Linton

I was really motivated for the race run, feeling good and the bike was riding perfectly. I set out of the start gate spinning it, took a chunk out of the ground with my Burgtecs, get in!  Blitzed along on the top section and hit the the more difficult parts of the track bang on. Came into a right hander half-way down where my front wheel washed out on some loose rocks and I hit the deck, Couldn't lose the time and I knew I was pinning it, jumped straight back on galloping the FTW down the hill like a demon possessed determined to make up the lost time.  When I got to the open section near the bottom before the big ski jump, a spectator was shouting "Rider!" at me so I pulled to the side as I thought with my crash the next rider had caught me.  As the rider got closer he was telling me to keep going, turns out I had passed him further up and he had caught me up after my crash, bloody spectators, god!  I got back on the track and sprinted through the finish line.  I was really hacked off by the incident, by pulling over for no reason lost me some considerable time.  Taking the crash into consideration and the pulling over for no reason I still got 20th place, however it's left me with a big 'What might have been', sure, it's all part and parcel of racing.  I was just so gutted, I loved the course, the bike was handling it so amazingly well and I was gunning for the podium.  Gutted!

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