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I thought I'd pay a visit to the off road forum for a change after returning from Morzine yesterday. I'll get to the bikie stuff in a bit as I thought the other activities might interest you adrenaline junkies.
The 5 of us went on an activity holiday in the Alps and it was a real experience as we had only been to the area before on skiing holidays. Check out "Fantasticable" on You tube and you will see the two 1 mile long, several hundred feet high and 60 mph zip wires that we hurtled down on Monday in the Superman position. It's the closest I'll ever get to flying without an aircraft!
We also went up the Via Ferratta at Elephant Rock which is 260m straight up on a vertical cliff hanging on to steel staples in the rock and clipped in with two lanyards to a coiled wire rope. Near the top you tip toe across a 3 inch wide plank for about 6 feet with no rock to hang on to and just balance keeping you in the air. It is literally 800 feet straight down below you and if you listened very carefully you could hear my arse twitching and my teeth chattering as I slowly slid my feet across it! Katie, Jack and Connor thought it was really funny watching my face as I followed them. They couldn't see what all the fuss was about, especially Katie who is a climber and she spent the next 2 days climbing the cliffs below using her spiderman skills rather than just climbing up a 1000ft ladder. Caroline was happy to read a book at the bottom and to sneak in a few relaxing hours in the action packed itinerary. She had however spent 2 hours on a very tiring high ropes course with us, in the morning so she didn't exactly get away scot free.
We went white water rafting down the river Dranse and at one point we shot the rapids out of the boat on our backs whilst bumping our arses on the rocks below on the way down the river. At one point we beached the 8 man raft at 45 degress on a big rock in the middle of the river and we all piled down to the back end to get it back down.... great laugh!
We couldn't go to the Alps without doing some cols, so caroline, Jack and I rented some road bikes one afternoon. We spent 1 hour riding up the Col de Joux Plane (about 7 miles) but at a steady crawl. The Dauphine went over here afew weeks ago and we saw Phil Gilbert scrawled all over the road on the steep bit. Caroline went back to the hotel for some Apres bike when we got back down, but Jack and I went for Bernard Hinault's record up the 9 mile Avoriaz climb. This is an ace climb with loads of switchbacks for the first two thirds of the climb then a never ending slog for the last 3 miles. The gradient is relentless although not too hard and I 've got to say it would have been better on fixed! I got up in 52 minutes and Jack in 63 minutes. Hinault just about pipped us on the climb with his 33 minute ride at the end of an 100 mile plus stage back in the Eighties. I must say that the drugs were much better back then though! We flew down the hill and got down in 17 minutes, overtaking cars all the way on the hairpins........great fun 😀 .
We had cheap hardtails on Thursday and soon discovered that they were not up to the seriously steep and rutted berms of Les Gets, so Katie and Caroline hung up their wheels and me and the lads got full suspension XC bikes. These were still not as good as the beefy DH bikes but were way better than the hardtails. It goes without saying that the lads left me standing on every decent but I enjoyed riding just slightly outside my comfort zone. I got my own back on the very few up hills though which I rode and they pushed the bikes up.
On Saturday we had the only rain in the morning so the softie Fearons stayed at the hotel whilst I revelled in the challenge of climbing the 9 miles to Avoraiz via the back road up the Montriond valley on a full suspension MTB. This is a stunning climb that passes the beautiful Lac Montriond with it's dramatic back drop of sheer cliffs. It then passes the impressive Cascade de Ardent waterfall and shortly after the gradient significantly steepens for the next 3 miles as it winds it's way up the hairpins to Les Lindarets (goat village) where you dodge the goats who wander around the village scrounging food off the tourists whilst crapping all over the road. At this point I really appreciated my choice of mount as the bike was heavy and the locked out suspension was not quite as locked out as I would have liked. It didn't help that I refused to change gear as I just don't do that sort of thing!!
After the village you pass the ski lifts and the gradient reduces slightly and you wind your way through a beautiful forest for the next 3 miles. Just as you think it's getting easier it rears up again for a tough final 2 miles to the top.
Believe it or not the climb was the enjoyable bit as I then had a freezing cold 30 minute decent back down the hill in sopping wet clothes. I could have got down quicker but knobbly tyres on wet Alpine hairpins don't mix well plus every time I let the rear brake go, the wind cut right through my wet clothes. I got back to the Hotel and the sun had come out but I couldn't stop shivering. I stood in a hot shower for 10 minutes to warm up then put on some fresh cycling clothes and the 5 of us rode to the Gondola to go back up to the top of the climb that I had just decended. Katie was a bit reluctant as she is the none cycling Fearon and she openly proclames to all who will listen that she hates anything to do with bikes (except amybe the velodrome). However I used my persuasive skills to get her to come so she could see all the cute little goats at Les Lindarets 😈 .
It was still a bit drizzly at the top but a lot better second time around. We rode down to the village just as the goats were being led out of the village so we nearly missed them. We found out later that a Pro bike race was coming up the climb later in the afternoon and hence the evacuation of the goats, but we missed it. The second decent was a lot faster and more enjoyable as we wizzed around the hairpins after the village and then rode along side a rowing race on the lake.
On Sunday afternoon we watched Cav win the sprint on the telly and some other bloke winning a yellow jumper for some reason and then jumped on the coach to the airport. Here we bumped into Derek Huffadine who had been in the area also a couple of valleys away. Derek, Jack and I bored the rest of the plane to death on the way back to Liverpool, rabbiting on about cycling.
I think the Porte du Soleil region is the downhill capital of the Alps and it is also great for road cycling and other adventures. Maybe at some point in the future we could arrange a club holiday there, but be warned.....this is not like Delamere, it's pretty extreme. Jack and Connor are now downhill addicts and I loved it but didn't like the thought of coming off on those steep rocky tracks. My only injury of the week happened when we accidentally found ourselves on a black run. The downhillers on their beefy suspension bikes with body armour and full face helmets hurtled down its 1 in 1 slopes (and steeper). Jack and connor gingerly negotiated a few short easiler sections and I walked most of it. My bike was running away from me as I walked so I dabbed the front brake and the rear wheel lifted up and swung around and hit the back of my left calf. It wasn't quite a great white shark bite, but it left a nasty little bruise!! 😉
Cheers
Dave
Wow Dave, that's a holiday and a half! We were in Morzine too, I think about a week before you..for a club run, report on the blog...
We couldn't get over all the dirty downhillers in Morzine...wearing body armour and so many clothes, in the heat. But for these riders, does riding up in a cable car, and coming down on a bike, count as sport? Surely you have to suffer the pain of ascent to earn the joy of descent. Debate and discuss.
I knew that a few of you were going to watch the Tour but didn't realize you would be in Morzine as the Tour didn't go near there. I know what you mean about the downhill being a bit of a cop out without the uphill, but believe me these nutters are certainly not just rolling down a hill, they are hurtling down and throwing the bike all over the place in the process. It's the Summer equivalent of skiing but without the smooth wide open pistes. Instead your getting rattled and juddered until you can't feel your fingers because they go numb.
I must admit that I preferred the road biking but the downhill was fun. It would have felt a lot safer though if we'd had all the armour and full face helmet as those rocks were pretty big and sharp at times. Having said that you're right, they must have been sweating like pigs in all that gear as it was quite hot out there most days.
We rode up the Joux Plane from the Morzine side which is steeper at the bottom than the other side but not as long. I assume you came up from Samoens?
Cheers
Dave
Yes we did a loop, Col de l'Encrenaz, Col de la Ramaz, through Taninges to Samoens, then up the Joux Plane climb and over. Fabulous. For a full report, including the story of Matt's struggle, see the blog!
I've been following your holiday a bit via Jack's Facebook updates a bit Dave, sounds ace!
@Eleanor wrote:
Surely you have to suffer the pain of ascent to earn the joy of descent. Debate and discuss.
Dave, you probably heard about the Pass'portes du Soleil event from Derek, we took in a lot of the same areas as you went to. I can assure you Elenor that it's a whole different sort of suffering doing a day full of decending in the Alps! I've never had legs as sore as my fingers, hands, wrists and arms were after the day we had riding up the lifts!
I'll second that Matthew, I had to keep stopping and shaking my hands to get rid of the pins and needles or worse to get rid of the numb feeling. Llandegla is up and down and bumpy but in the Alps you get scree, rocks and very very long decents and it's a whole different ball game. It was fun but very different from anything I've done in this country.
Cheers
Dave
@nofear wrote:
in the Alps you get scree, rocks and very very long decents
which is clearly absolutely ace!!
