Lost my Alps cherry - wow!
Discussion
Got back from a 4 day trip to Les Arcs and am still buzzing! Can't believe how much fun hurling yourself down the side of a jeffing great mountain can be! Landed saturday morning and were staying in 1950 in a mate's mega apartment overlooking the square. Got out at around 2pm and rode down to the Black 8 run to start things off gently! It was like Aston Hill versus CwmCarn but 20 minutes long and truly amazing.
We then came back up and did the Cachette downhill race course followed by Black 8 three more times and then caught the last bus back up to 1950.
Sadly woke the next day to find rain of biblical proportions that just didn't stop all day and despite several attempts, we wrote it off as unrideable. Ended up making some ramps in the underground carpark with some friends and being 14 for the afternoon which was all good fun!
We had booked a guide for the Monday from http://www.coolbus.co.uk and the plan was to get an uplift into La Thuile on the Italian border, session the singletrack there for the morning and then have a horrible climb over the top and ride back down into Bourg to get the last funicular up at 1930. We awoke at 7am to find it was snowing, but a quick call to Coolbus confirmed it was localised so we were out at 0830 to ride the Black 8 (but slower in the wet!) down into Bourg for the pickup.
45 minutes later the sun was shining and we parked in Col de petit St Bernard and set off down what was the wildest mountain side I have ever seen. The guide had competed in the mega last week and did OK in the final so was a fantastic person to try and keep pace with over some properly off-piste trails with a mixture of singletrack, rock gardens and then down through a stunning Italian village before getting a chairlift backup and coming down some incredibly steep and twisty singletrack. 3 different runs later we stopped for lunch before getting the chairlift backup and doing a horrible 400 vertical metre climb on the granny ring which must have taken 45 minutes or so. Was well worth it though as the descent from there was even better than before with ultra narrow, ultra twisty, ultra steep singletrack through the trees.
A TDF stylee road descent followed for about 10 minutes and then even more epic singletrack down towards Bourg. Half way down the group split and those who were tiring or had had some offs (including one OTB onto a road that split a full face lid!) rode back to Bourg along the roads to get an earlier funicular. The remaining few were told by the guide that what was ahead made the previous singletrack look like a motorway and off we went, basically traversing a mountainside forest through a completely virgin route , making our own switchbacks, sliding on the pine cones and generally having a ball!
A 100m road climb followed, and then the guide's personal favourite training run down into Bourg. We were all pretty tired by this point but I decided I might as well give it my all and managed to complete the circa 5 minute descent about 10 seconds slower than the guide.
All in all we covered about 100k, mostly gravity assisted and it was without doubt the most tiring day I have ever had but one that will stay with me forever - truly epic!
The next morning only four of us had the energy to get back out for a few final runs before lunchtime, so we started off on Black 8 before getting the cachette and telearcs lifts right to the top and sessioning the other side a few times.
Thankfully I managed to break my crashing streak and didn't come off once and despite some fairly big offs within the group, no one got injured. The course I did with Jedi last week certainly gave me more confidence and I found that I quickly tuned in to opening the taps and flowing nicely down.
Roll on next year I say!
Have just uploaded a pretty bouncy chest cam video of one of the guided descents - check out the very lucky Graham about 3.30 through who could have gone a long way down the mountainside had he not hit some soft trees!
http://youtu.be/_S76JGK8MGM?hd=1
Excuse the annoying clicking sound - time to take the silicon to the GoPro mount I think!
We then came back up and did the Cachette downhill race course followed by Black 8 three more times and then caught the last bus back up to 1950.
Sadly woke the next day to find rain of biblical proportions that just didn't stop all day and despite several attempts, we wrote it off as unrideable. Ended up making some ramps in the underground carpark with some friends and being 14 for the afternoon which was all good fun!
We had booked a guide for the Monday from http://www.coolbus.co.uk and the plan was to get an uplift into La Thuile on the Italian border, session the singletrack there for the morning and then have a horrible climb over the top and ride back down into Bourg to get the last funicular up at 1930. We awoke at 7am to find it was snowing, but a quick call to Coolbus confirmed it was localised so we were out at 0830 to ride the Black 8 (but slower in the wet!) down into Bourg for the pickup.
45 minutes later the sun was shining and we parked in Col de petit St Bernard and set off down what was the wildest mountain side I have ever seen. The guide had competed in the mega last week and did OK in the final so was a fantastic person to try and keep pace with over some properly off-piste trails with a mixture of singletrack, rock gardens and then down through a stunning Italian village before getting a chairlift backup and coming down some incredibly steep and twisty singletrack. 3 different runs later we stopped for lunch before getting the chairlift backup and doing a horrible 400 vertical metre climb on the granny ring which must have taken 45 minutes or so. Was well worth it though as the descent from there was even better than before with ultra narrow, ultra twisty, ultra steep singletrack through the trees.
A TDF stylee road descent followed for about 10 minutes and then even more epic singletrack down towards Bourg. Half way down the group split and those who were tiring or had had some offs (including one OTB onto a road that split a full face lid!) rode back to Bourg along the roads to get an earlier funicular. The remaining few were told by the guide that what was ahead made the previous singletrack look like a motorway and off we went, basically traversing a mountainside forest through a completely virgin route , making our own switchbacks, sliding on the pine cones and generally having a ball!
A 100m road climb followed, and then the guide's personal favourite training run down into Bourg. We were all pretty tired by this point but I decided I might as well give it my all and managed to complete the circa 5 minute descent about 10 seconds slower than the guide.
All in all we covered about 100k, mostly gravity assisted and it was without doubt the most tiring day I have ever had but one that will stay with me forever - truly epic!
The next morning only four of us had the energy to get back out for a few final runs before lunchtime, so we started off on Black 8 before getting the cachette and telearcs lifts right to the top and sessioning the other side a few times.
Thankfully I managed to break my crashing streak and didn't come off once and despite some fairly big offs within the group, no one got injured. The course I did with Jedi last week certainly gave me more confidence and I found that I quickly tuned in to opening the taps and flowing nicely down.
Roll on next year I say!
Have just uploaded a pretty bouncy chest cam video of one of the guided descents - check out the very lucky Graham about 3.30 through who could have gone a long way down the mountainside had he not hit some soft trees!
http://youtu.be/_S76JGK8MGM?hd=1
Excuse the annoying clicking sound - time to take the silicon to the GoPro mount I think!
Les Arcs is awesome , went two years ago ,and driving out agin next friday for more , can't wait , stayed with Trail addiction last time , The mountain Bike Chalet this time , BBBBIIIIGGG days out on miles of singletrack .
I bet your sphincter was doing dustbinlid/sixpence when your mate went over the edge.
I bet your sphincter was doing dustbinlid/sixpence when your mate went over the edge.
Might help if I posted the link to the second vid!
http://youtu.be/jlh1XGWixyE?hd=1
Ouch - that shoulder looks VERY painful. Managed to separate my AC joint a few months ago but it was mild enough not to need surgery but that kept me off the bike for about 7 weeks. Hope your injury heals quickly!
We took our own bikes out there - BA class a bike bag as regular luggage so managed to not pay an extra - 23kgs of bike, bag and armour and then a BIG hand luggage case (up to 23kgs too) and just carried my helmet as a 'handbag'! Hiring bikes is OK, but quite expensive (circa £60 a day) and it will probably take you half a day to get used to it. Guess it depends on what bike I had, but my group have all got 160mm bikes which are ideal out there - don't think I'd fancy it on much less TBH.
http://youtu.be/jlh1XGWixyE?hd=1
Ouch - that shoulder looks VERY painful. Managed to separate my AC joint a few months ago but it was mild enough not to need surgery but that kept me off the bike for about 7 weeks. Hope your injury heals quickly!
We took our own bikes out there - BA class a bike bag as regular luggage so managed to not pay an extra - 23kgs of bike, bag and armour and then a BIG hand luggage case (up to 23kgs too) and just carried my helmet as a 'handbag'! Hiring bikes is OK, but quite expensive (circa £60 a day) and it will probably take you half a day to get used to it. Guess it depends on what bike I had, but my group have all got 160mm bikes which are ideal out there - don't think I'd fancy it on much less TBH.
Edited by hughjayteens on Friday 22 July 13:39
hughjayteens said:
Ouch - that shoulder looks VERY painful. Managed to separate my AC joint a few months ago but it was mild enough not to need surgery but that kept me off the bike for about 7 weeks. Hope your injury heals quickly!
Thanks. The radiologist, the French surgeon and the consultant now looking after me in the UK all say the same thing; looking at the claivcle end-gap, I must have broken the AC ligaments in some previous incident, which is highly possible IMHO.I was really lucky in that, apart from grating and crunching a bit, the injury didn't cause too much pain. Which is a good thing because I had to wander down the fire roads, descending about 1,000ft on foot to get to the top of the furnicular railway. Cannot thank Stevo & Iona enough, our guides at The White Room Chalets: http://whiteroomchalet.com/sumintro.htm
It will be October before the pins/skewers are out and I can even begin to use the full articulation of my shoulder. So lots of physio...
Looking forward to watching your other video.
ETA:
- All twelve of us took our own bikes (for reasons given by Hughjayteens above) and 160mm seems perfect. Dual ply tyres are a must.
- In case anyone is wondering, the French NHS (at least in Bourg St Maurice) are first rate.
Edited by Digga on Friday 22 July 14:04
Excellent, looks like somewhere I'll have to try ... only ever been to Morzine before, although I loved it there I'd like to try somewhere else. In our group, some rent and some take their own ... some are infrequent bikers so it makes sense to hire. Can be very expensive through ... remember it being about 100 euro's a day in Morzine for a Commencal Furious ... more freeride than downhill bike. Full DH rig was another 20 euro's or so!
Unless you own something with more than 6" of travel, I'd advise to hire as it will get destroyed on some of the DH trails which are long, punishing and dangerous on a bike not fit for purpose.
Unless you own something with more than 6" of travel, I'd advise to hire as it will get destroyed on some of the DH trails which are long, punishing and dangerous on a bike not fit for purpose.
oola said:
Unless you own something with more than 6" of travel, I'd advise to hire as it will get destroyed on some of the DH trails which are long, punishing and dangerous on a bike not fit for purpose.
Good point.Brake toom, they take a real pasting and you need a few spare sets of pads. Mine seemed okay whilst I was using them, but they were 4-pot Hopes, so they should be. When my mate came to visit me in hospital on the second night I asked if thre was any other damage or scratches on the bike (I knew at the time of the crash I'd snapped the bars) and, to add insult to injury he saud "no, but my brakes boiled today so I've had to nick yours". Cheers!
Hughjayteens, that second video; looks like they hadn't finished building the trail? Wouldn't like to run into a 2.5 tonne mini digger on an mtb!
Digga said:
ood point.
Brake toom, they take a real pasting and you need a few spare sets of pads. Mine seemed okay whilst I was using them, but they were 4-pot Hopes, so they should be. When my mate came to visit me in hospital on the second night I asked if thre was any other damage or scratches on the bike (I knew at the time of the crash I'd snapped the bars) and, to add insult to injury he saud "no, but my brakes boiled today so I've had to nick yours". Cheers!
Hughjayteens, that second video; looks like they hadn't finished building the trail? Wouldn't like to run into a 2.5 tonne mini digger on an mtb!
I hope you have a speedy recovery Digga! We've unfortunately always had injuries in our group ... collarbones seems to be the most common ... then broken fingers and hands next. We've never all returned free from at least someone getting a battering! I do a lot of snow boarding ... up to 30 days a season in th past 15 or so years and I've never seen as many injuires with the people I've been with than on bikes in the Alps.Brake toom, they take a real pasting and you need a few spare sets of pads. Mine seemed okay whilst I was using them, but they were 4-pot Hopes, so they should be. When my mate came to visit me in hospital on the second night I asked if thre was any other damage or scratches on the bike (I knew at the time of the crash I'd snapped the bars) and, to add insult to injury he saud "no, but my brakes boiled today so I've had to nick yours". Cheers!
Hughjayteens, that second video; looks like they hadn't finished building the trail? Wouldn't like to run into a 2.5 tonne mini digger on an mtb!
There was quite a lot of trail work going on around where that second vid was shot - some new ones that were in incomplete but the one we were on was having some new jumps made - the digger driver was very on the ball and swung out of the way whenever anyone went past!
I was quite surprised by how quiet everywhere was - no queues on any lifts and probably only saw another dozen bikes all weekend.
I was quite surprised by how quiet everywhere was - no queues on any lifts and probably only saw another dozen bikes all weekend.
oola said:
I hope you have a speedy recovery Digga! ...I've never seen as many injuires with the people I've been with than on bikes in the Alps.
Thanks for kind wishes. I'm doing okay.As you can imagine, post massive accident, it's made me think a bit more outside of the box and your comment about injuries - frequency of - is prescient.
Another group of mates were in Morzine the week before I was in the Alps and one of them did a collarbopne. He's a nutter mind you, but all the same, it will happen.
I went up to Llangollen yesterday to watch the BDS Dowhhill champs and can honestly say that spectating on the steep rooty hillside watching other riders is the most scared I've been around mtbing. Looked at from that perspective - there were a lot of tumbles which were very nearly broken bones - it is an accident waiting to happen!
oola said:
Unless you own something with more than 6" of travel, I'd advise to hire as it will get destroyed on some of the DH trails which are long, punishing and dangerous on a bike not fit for purpose.
Agree with that. I'm recently back from 3 weeks in Morzine/Chamonix and rode my 160mm Spicy for the entire time - damn it was hard on the bike. Went through numerous pads although didn't suffer any brake fade whatsoever due to big rotors and decent brakes (Formula RX). Tyres are utterly destroyed, forks are in dire need of new bushes (I think), rear shock could use a service, and my frame looks decidedly "used" now...But all SOOOOOOO worth it!
I'd love to justify purchasing something like a Kona Operator DH bike but I also did a bit of XC when I was over and can only take the pne bike, and the Spicy was probably the best compromise for that.
And digga, that looks sore - speedy recovery I hope.
My shoulder injury really knocked my confidence - as I approached the area where I crashed I was getting nervous for a couple of months, but then went on a skills course day at www.ukbikeskills.co.uk which really helped - gave me my confidence back and taught me a few basics I'd been getting wrong for years. Have no doubt I was faster than I'd ever been before in the alps and didn't have a single off which was nice!
Don't rush to get back on your bike before your shoulder's fixed - one of my group injured himself last november and kept riding - he's still not 100%!
Don't rush to get back on your bike before your shoulder's fixed - one of my group injured himself last november and kept riding - he's still not 100%!
hughjayteens said:
My shoulder injury really knocked my confidence - as I approached the area where I crashed I was getting nervous for a couple of months, but then went on a skills course day at www.ukbikeskills.co.uk which really helped - gave me my confidence back and taught me a few basics I'd been getting wrong for years. Have no doubt I was faster than I'd ever been before in the alps and didn't have a single off which was nice
Funnily enough, my confidence wasn't badly shaken, principally because I could remeber everything and knew why I'd crashed. It really was a daft accident; altitude, heat, over-enthusiasm, combined with a long day in the saddle and a late night travelling in the previous day; all meant the mistake, when it came, was minor but the consequences serious.However, since I will effectively be starting riding again from scratch, depending on operations etc. at the end of this year or the start of the next, coaching will be highly advisable anyway and is very sound advice.
hughjayteens said:
Don't rush to get back on your bike before your shoulder's fixed - one of my group injured himself last november and kept riding - he's still not 100%!
Thanks, good advice again. I am fortunate in having acces to very good family experts; a remedial masseur and a personal trainer. I also have the very good sports physio people at my LBS, who have experience on British olympic teams and who treat many of the local triathletes.I aim to get some serious upper body strength training under my belt before I start any more adventurous mtbing. Looking at the 'technical manuals', it's clear how the deltiod and pectorals link into the claivcle and how, if they and the rotator cuffs are trained, they can make a major difference to the outcomes of shoulder-related accidents, as well as improving bike control in the first instance.
Terrence79 said:
Just spotted this pedal powered section, Heading up to Les arc via trail addiction in 3 weeks, im still buzzing from Plymouth Twentyfour12 this weekend so cant wait to break my Alps Cherry (and my girlfriends too......alps cherry that is 
!!!!)
Tom
Enjoy it mate, just take the experiences of others here as a bit of a warning and you'll be fine. !!!!)Tom
OP's video clips make an excellent teaser of what you have in store. Plus there's some good bits on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1zlfOuT76s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYuSCKCHbQY
I would love to go back and ride it all again.
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