last refuge...

this week something odd happened - I actually went skiing. Third time this season and boy what a cracker - probably the worst off-piste conditions any of us had ever failed comically to ski in!

Still, it was always really a hut trip with a bit of skiing on the side and was absolutely fantastic fun. We headed up the Transarc out of les arcs and then skinned/snow shoed up under the Grand Col lift, following almost exactly the start to Sketchy Dismount. Then we peeled off the usual mountain biking route and headed to the Refuge du Mt Pourri. Forget bothy and think un-manned youth hostel - within half an hour the fire was blazing, the food was cooking (thanks Mansell and Lucy!), wine was poured (Mansell again) and the whisky started flowing soon after (cheers Ben!). Good chat, good friends and a fairly fierce head in the morning. Perfect!

Going to the chapel...



View? What view?



Just had another awesome evening ride with Guy from King of the Mountains (road cycling hols near Alpe d'Huez) up above Bourg St Maurice - a savage climb known as Two Scoops (of pain, naturally) which rewards you with some amazing views out over the Tarentaise valley and some bob-sled style singletrack up top, leading into some great nadge further down. Yum.

Bedrock berms. Quite useful!

The 1x10 set-up is working brilliantly. Climbs everything I can normally climb, hasn't dropped a chain once and was cheaper than getting a front mech. All good in my book!

What riding sweets for the Alps?

No doubt a common forum question, this week I've been mostly eating Morris' jungle ropes - a sweet/performance sport product named after me!

A great big thanks to Ian, Alan and Anne-Marie, who were out staying with us this week whilst skiing and boarding in les Arcs and la Plagne, for introducing me to jungle ropes, not to mention the Talisker! I'll never look back...

Today's ride was a textbook bit of alpine mountain bike exploring, running something like this:

1. Curious about feint track on map.

2. Eventually find it after a long climb and 30 minutes in a tiny hamlet getting barked at by big dogs and stared at by old women.

3. Pedal it. It's good for about 5 mins. Just as I think I've found something special, it gets choppy, then gets overgrown, then boggy, more overgrown and spikey. Then I find myself somehow stuck in the middle of a sea of thorny bushes with wet feet and a frickin' long walk out. Arms and legs scratched to hell, at least tubeless tyres are effective!

4. Cross another bit of 'awesome singletrack' (ahem) off the list, be glad I'm not stuck in the massive traffic jam of skiers down in the valley and pause for a wee photo.

Tomorrow I'm going to ride a familiar trail that I know wont evaporate just as it gets good!

Optimising the Five

After another evening in the basement the Five is almost tweaked to perfection. Almost. The 'patient' this time was the chain guide, a superstar components one (£11!). The top of the metal arm was touching the swingarm and stopping it from sitting nicely over the 32T set-up so out came the hack-saw and the file, off came an inch of metal and it's all sorted. The guide now sits perfectly in place and I even managed to fit one bolt through it into one of the ISCG mounts, so it's rock solid too. Two rides on and no dropped chains, pretty happy with that! All I need to do now is make a home-made dropper seat post for less than £250...

Man's best friend

This evening I popped out ridng with Ian, a mate who is now a Paris based photographer (visit his site) and whilst we were hitting Scary Bear Trail, a beautiful bit of ridgeline singletrack at the foot of the Beaufortain mountains, we met about the friendliest farm dog I've ever seen. He hung around and played with us and the camera for about half an hour until duty beckoned and he went back to the cowshed. A great little evening ride and just what was needed after another day plastering...

WInter trail riding - Mission trail

What a winter! Today I rode up to 1700m, something that's not normally possible untill late April. There was a bit of snow up top but it was well compacted so awesome to ride on - more grip than the saturated loamy patches inbetween!
The new Five is inspiring to ride on and the fact that so many trails are rideable is making this the best winter I've ever had out here, just don't tell any skiers I said that ;-)

The trail is called Mission trail, and if you look closely at the Five on its cross you'll see why. It's one we hardly ever do so you might not have heard of it - an amazing ride but there's one section of fireroad I still can't seem to avoid, hence today's little sortie. I'll keep y'all posted if and when the last piece of the singletrack puzzle comes together!

blog virgin

Sam and I have decided, against our better judgement, that we might just about have enough interesting stuff going on to warrant writing a blog now and again. It feels a little like homework that I'm not sure anyone will read!
Anyway, as it's a first for me, I'll keep it short. All is quiet at BV towers as I write this - Sam is plastering the new house with a helping hand from Ian, who's down from Paris for a bit of mountain air. Beware, you might think you're coming to Landry for a holiday, but you'll soon end up with one of Sam's old T-shirts on and a plaster trowel in your hand.  There is the reward of a sneaky little bike ride to do St Germain this evening though, it's not all hard work and no play!