The random bike stuff page....
If your a frend, or family member, you might have guessed I have a bit of a soft spot for all things 'bike'. On this page I am planning to drop all the cool bike related stuff I have come across recently - as much for my own archive as for your viewing please. If you don't love bikes then I suggest you steer clear right about now.
Morzine 2007
Hell yeah - after a missed trip in July (much to Oldhams relief) with a shot back I am finally getting out to Les Gets and Mozine in France for a week of chair lift up MTB action. Now dont get me wrong, I am not adverse to slogging up hills for hours on end for a 15min blast down the other side, but the idea of sitting my fat ass on a gondala lift for 10mins for a 30min downhill is something dreams are made of. Jake, my BMX buddy and part time friend, is joining me - I'll post an update and pictures if/when we get back. Riders ready....
Morzine 2007
What can I say - what an ace holiday. We flew into Geneva from East Midlands airport, which was totally stress free apart from the Nazis at check in, but even they couldnt dampen mine and Jakes mood as we set off for Mecca.
Baptism of fire: picture the scene - me and Jake sat at 3000ft on our sparkling new bikes after having got the big lift up out of Morzine to one of the main downhill runs, 'all the gear no idea', imagining ourselves with pro contracts by the time we flew into the waiting crowds of fans at the bottom. Wow - we were going to tear this track up. 15 minutes later my fingers were swollen and couldn't grip the bars, I was worried that Jake had ejected off the side of the mountain or worse, my brake discs were glowing blue hot from me pulling them with all my might for the last 2999 vertical meters and any confidence I had built up over 15yrs of bike riding had been eroded to the point I was thinking about heading out on gentle cross country rides for teh rest of our stay just to make sure I got home in one piece. Christ, we were definatley in at the deep end here and had another 4 days to survive (enjoyment was ruled out at this early stage).
Suffice to say things chilled out a bit, we found our groove and had a blinding 4 days riding Morzine and Les Gets. Jake, for a first time mountainbiker, put up a great effort and was ripping by the second day (much to my horror) and we met up with a great guy called Phil (who was there for the summer living in the back of an old British Gas van) who showed us some of the better 'off piste' routes, some unbelievable root fields and even took us for a picnic one night! Here are some pictures we took on the way: CLICK HERE.
All in all it was as good as I could have imagined - we only had one puncture the whole time and no crashes to speak of. The riding was epic, the food and beer were great and the weather was glorious. The only downside is that it has opened my eyes to all that chairlift mountain biking has to offer and I am hungry for more. I hear there are a number of places with lift access in NZ so I'll be keen to check those out as soon as possible!