Damiano Cunego will lead Lampre-ISD in Clasica San Sebastian, scheduled on Saturday 30th July.
Having just finished Tour de France in 7th position, the blue-fucsia captain will rely on Bertagnolli, Bono, Gavazzi, Kostyuk, Mori, Perez Arrieta and Pietropolli.
The team will be directed by Bruno Vicino, supported by mechanics Carminati and Gaia, masseurs Borgognoni and Inselvini and doctor Guardascione.
"Cunego is the main athlete, but I think that the whole team will be very competitive" sport director Vicino said "In fact, at the start of the race there will be many our riders that took part in Tour de France and are in a top form".
The boys at MTBCut have put out this banger of an edit of the Team Lapierre International downhill riders seemingly having a lot of fun at the Kokanee Crankworx festival out in Whistler. Enjoy!
Mountain Biking UK magazine have just put the Nukeproof Scalp downhill bike through its paces, and we’re pleased to say they love it as much as we do!
The widely anticipated bike – as ridden by the TeamChainReactionCycles.com/Nukeproof downhill team – is on sale now and judging by the MBUK review, it’s been worth the wait. There are anodized black, silver or ‘NukeProof yellow’ frames available either with no shock, a Cane Creek Double Barrel shock or a RockShox Vivid out back.
Here are a few snippets from the review: “Once we had the shock dialled in, the Scalp really came alive – the rear end reacting well to big hits, and retaining great small-bump sensitivity. There was barely any pedal kickback when you really put the power down on the rough stuff.”
“The Scalp turns on rails, with a real confidence-inspiring dark side, and persuades you to stay off the brakes into the next corner and let the bike do what it was made for.”
Keswick-based gas-to-flat master Adam Brayton galloped to a 3rd place finish at the British national Downhill Championships. The Llangollen race track is super steep and technical in the trees leading into a mess of super loose turns in the open leading down to the finish.
You can watch Adam getting loose in this video by the guys at Wideopen Magazine:
It’s been a while since I’ve done a race report and that’s mainly due to poor results to be honest, but after the national champs at the weekend things are starting to look up, actually the more I think about it things really picked up at the Windam world cup where my chain snapped on the start straight and I boshed a tree in my run and was 13secs down on old gwinner, so I got a huge boost of confidence there.
After America I haven’t ridden until the National Champs, I was pretty worn out so it was a good chance to get some rest and just chill out.
I landed down at Lang G on the Friday night and got right to bed in the Scudo hotel next door to Baz (Harry Heath) I could hear his suspension squeaking all night, God knows what he was up to in there.
Saturday morning I got up the track early and checked out the new wooded section it was looking mean as, just how it should be!
I was pretty chilled in practice and just having fun, there is some great turns on the track and the cut wet screams were hooking up a treat, my whole set up just felt dialled in and Saturday was done and dusted with 4 runs in the book.
Saturday night was just chilled, Six Pac (Scott Mears) came round with his new bible, so he read me a few stories out of that then I left him for a bit to make some phone calls and when I came back he was still reading his bible and we had a good time, he’s right into the old bible bashing, but he put in a solid performance this weekend so I’m stoked for him!! Well done 6 Pac.
Sunday and my goals were pretty clear in my head and that was to win so once I qualified 1st I was real happy with that and I knew I could build on it for finals. Going up for finals I was so chilled, it’s amazing how much a bit of confidence changes you! I was focused and ready for it, at the top it was a mean feeling of being last man down, it was my 1st time in this situation so knowing everyone waiting down at the bottom seeing if you could do it was pretty sick!
Right out the gate I went hard, this run was all or nothing and I took some great risks but that’s what it takes to win, you have to put it all on the line and that’s the best feeling ever, there was some insane moments up there that all added up to cost me time but I felt like I attacked every inch of that track so crossing the line in 3rd was a huge disappointment at the time but once I got back to the van and thought things though it was a great day, I put it on the line and gave it everything and that’s all you can do, I didn’t cross the line and think ohh what if I had done this or that... there was none of that so it was cool to put down a solid run and that feeling for me is as good as winning!
It had been a few years since I last entered the 6 hour downhill event. A last minute change of plan saw me head to Fort William to compete instead of down to the British Championships in Wales which I was disappointed not to be able to go to.
I was looking forward to the pain I was going to be putting myself through though and seeing a lot of good riders fight it out over the hours descending one of the longest race tracks in the world. It’s rated as the best on the downhill world race circuit due to its speed and bike breaking reputation.
The running start kicked off the race before the climb to the halfway point of the track. I made an early break on my Orange 225 leading halfway up the climb before some weapons came past me. Luckily I pressed on and made it onto the first Gondola car with 2 other riders. This gave me an early lead where I grabbed an open track at about 4pm.
Hutch taking an early lead after the Le Mans start.
I hadn’t ridden at Fort William for a few weeks and didn’t practice earlier in the day so took a few steady runs to get into the rhythm of things and to pace myself for the full 6 hours. The first 8 runs went well while I pushed further ahead of 2nd placeman, MTBcut's, Stu Thomson and gave myself a 4-minute lead.
A perfect evening and perfect light to capture the team colours.
I then seemed to hit a bit more pace; warmed up and the blisters appearing on my hands plastered I put in some faster runs. James kept me up to date on the times. James is still injured after a crash in Europe, he’ll be back soon! Al MacLennan was putting in faster run times than me but with my good start and steady runs I was probably 10 minutes ahead in total so I was banking on getting in an extra run at the end or for my continuing improvement in run speed to improve my overall time.
I headed up for run 12 of the day feeling like a good 17 or so was on the cards with a remaining 1 hour and 40 minutes left. 5 more following this was definitely doable. A red flag appeared at the top of the track while I was on the gondola. Not surprised I thought it would be clear by my arrival at the start. Unfortunately it wasn’t and after 40 minutes of waiting around it was decided that we would all do a final run from the top and call it a day as it was 9.15 PM and about 100 riders were queued at the top. That’s when my advantage went but I put in a fast run, the fastest of the day. The important thing was to get the casualty off the hill; I hope he makes a speedy recovery from his injuries.
Depsite being an endurance race Hutch found the time to send some sweet jumps.
Everyone grabbed their stuff following the last run while being devoured by the clearly starved midges. Results were printed and the rumours James warned me of were true. Bumped to 2nd overall but still winning my Category. It was all friendly competitions under the circumstances and a fantastic evening of racing. In total we clocked up over an hour of descending,…..I’ll be getting new wheels now! Shall I be doing it again next year? I hope so and would recommend it to anyone wanting a challenge and to get a lot of riding done.
Thanks to No Fuss Events for another fantastic event with a super atmosphere. The next No Fuss event for my will be the Tour De Ben Nevis.
Left to right; MTBcut's Stu Thomson, Hutch with a HUGE trophy and 3rd place Ben Arnott.
It’s been a good month of racing for me with 3 races and 3 podiums - One 1st place and two 2nds in three very different disciplines.
Next for me is the SDA at Glencoe but for now a rest is needed! James heads to the next Gravity Enduro in Wales in 2 weekends time, hopefully he’s all fixed up.
Nema and Leatt's Scotty Laughland takes a podium at the Irish National Downhill Championships. Find out how he got on below:
The past weekend saw the National Champs for me in Ireland. For those of you who don't know I was born in Belfast and lived there for a couple of years whilst my Dad was working for BP. I made the decision a few years ago to have a Irish license and haven't looked back. I've made a great group of new friends and really enjoy going back across for the races they hold there, but this was the big one, it was National Champs weekend!
Dad, Mum and I got the ferry across on the Friday morning and got there late afternoon in time to set the pits up and do a track walk. The track looked great; rock and technical up top, fast bermy middle section with; jumps, fast tree sections and flat loose turns before dropping through the gully to finish. A good time for elites would be sub 2.20.
Practise went well, I did 6 runs with several of them being full ones. The majority of the regualar top 10 boys had been up for a bit of sneaky practise the weeks before so I gave it a good walk and found some new lines to experiment with the following day!
Race day!!! We awoke to another great day, slightly more overcast but blue sky a plentiful, I headed up and was first rider down, I put in two good runs and my new lines were working well. Seeding I put down a solid run and came in 6th, I made a few little tweaks to my forks and I was set for finals determined I could put in a 2.14.
I left the start and got a bit to wild blowing my feet off the pedals I got them back on and carried on, with a messy top section I was determined to nail the bottom and that I did. I came into second and eventually finished 5th on a 2.19 a little dissapointed but on the podium!
Thanks to everyone at Epic DH for putting on a great event! I now head out to Europe for 6 weeks non-stop racing! Can't wait, I'll keep you posted!
Nukeproof components sponsored rider Tahnee Seagrave took the win at the Rhône Alpes Cup, at Morillon. Check out how Tahnee got on.
This week end was a Rhône Alpes Cup, at Morillon, a race that our bike club organises - usually quite well attended with some fast racers and a good field of girls.
It was a new track that ended in the village which was great for spectators. It has been raining here in the French Alps for the past 2 weeks there has been breaks of sunshine but nothing that would dry out a mountain bike track. Another complete mudfest which was a real shame as the track could have really flowed in the dry - there were sections of uphill that were made un-rideable in the weather!!
Kaos was the opening rider (still too young to race) so he got to train all weekend with me which was fun. There was a few technical bits on the track and by the end of training on Saturday I had nailed them all even the really sketchy road gap - Mum was stoked as she was a marshal at that point on the track!
With it being so muddy, it was really good to be able to drive the 1 hr home for a long hot shower at the end of training!
Race day and Kaos opened the race coming down in a 4.53 with a couple of crashes so pleased for him as it would have put him 3rd in the 13-14 category! Errrrrr it was also faster than my terrible 5.12!!! My run didn't go as planned - I was last girl to go… which is great in one way but means that I have to overtake so many people!!! I caught up at least five girls that were piled on the floor within the first 2 mins! I even had to stop and wait, as two had crashed in a corner after a steep bit. After that was the road gap, it was so slippery that pedalling in to it I ended up facing the opposite way!!
I then had chance to push a bit… coming into the last tight wood section that was quite fast, I saw two girls. Managing to get round them both, I was pinning it out into the open when I hit more mud and went flying - passed again by the two girls!! I was over it! Picked up my bike, and headed for the finish line overtaking the girls - again. I was second in Elite female.
In the second round it was not so eventful - the mud had turned to thick gloup and when I got to the start all the girls were there. Someone asked if I wanted to go first which I jumped at! A couple of slide outs and a few paddling moments but I got down in a 4.45 beating all the girls and Kaos - much happier!!
Next week - Nissan European Cup and the weather looks good!!!!!!!
Nukeproof Scalp rider Alastair MacLennan took part in the No Fuss Endurance Downhill where he managed to bring Orange Mountain Bikes dominance in this event to an end. Here's his round-up of the event:
This weekend saw around 160 racers line up for the Le Mans start at the 4th annual Endurance Downhill Race at Fort Williams World Cup Track .
After running 200m to the bikes racers then had to cycle uphill on the fire road for around 1.5 miles before joining the downhill track. Once the first racer reaches the gondola at the bottom station the 6 hour clock starts counting down and racers have to pile in as many downhill runs as possible in the 6 hour time limit. Each descent is against the clock, so in the event of riders doing the same amount of descents, the rider who does them in the quickest total time wins, simple!
I decided to take it fairly easy on the grueling uphill pedal on the DH bike and conserve some energy for later on as in previous years I have felt ill for the first few runs after pushing it too hard on this stage.
By the time I got onto the downhill track there was around 15 bikes ahead of me and I knew I was going to have to move through the traffic quickly so as not to get held up over the next few runs. Pic - Paul Davey of the 'Outlaw Riders' thanks for them for all the heckling and encouragement at the race.
On the first full run I managed to get past most of the field in front of me with the leading pack not far in front.
The main competitors were always going to be Chris Hutchens and Stu Thomson, Chris being a regular World Cup Rider and Stu a former World Cup Rider of note.
With 160 riders on course the field was well spread out and we started lapping people on lap 2 while trying to put in good times, so there were a few dodgy passes, near misses etc.
By around lap 8 I was in the lead by around 1min and feeling good having put in very consistent lap times when disaster struck as I got a rear flat. Riding on regardless as fast as possible I trashed my rim over the loose boulders and bedrock to the finish to lose some time overall.
Fixing the problem quickly I soon got going again and put in another 3 good laps making more time up again before a red flag closed the track for an injured rider.
With the track closed for around 1 hour most of the riders were stuck at the start at the top of the track with light fading and the clock ticking away.
Once the track cleared we only had time for one last run and were set of at 20sec intervals to space the backlog of riders out. This was a flat out run with everyone trying to gain as much time over their rivals as possible.
After the computer sorting out all the combined laps and times I was very happy to have held onto my lead and take the overall win with Chris Hutchens coming 2nd overall and Stu Thomson 3rd
Another good test for the Nukeproof Scalp in one of the toughest races out there.
Claire Buchar of Kovarik Racing won the Canadian National Champs at the weekend - here's her round-up:
You’re looking at your new Canadian National Champ! It didn’t come easy either. I consider myself lucky this time. The girls were riding fast! I seeded fastest on Saturday with more fuel in the tank. The track dried out quite a bit by race time and I knew girls would be going a lot faster. I was going to have to pull off a clean run to win. I barely did it after an unexpected pole and tape in a high speed section of track forced me to weave around into some loose rocks and I almost got bucked off…so scary. Missed my line into the next section and there went my flow through the rock garden bit. Didn’t really need that to happen as I was already not riding the most amazing that run, don’t know why. Pressure? Nerves? Anyways, so I am happy that I achieved my goal but would be happier if I performed my best. That is kinda what I’m always after.
Great job Casey and Miranda! You girls rip, watch out for them! Congrats to Drew Mitchell and Kyle Sangers for grabbing the Elite and Junior mens titles with super fast times! And of course, Lauren Rosser-our Junior World Champ- taking the Junior Womens Title. Micayla and Danice both had crashes, would have both been up there.
Chris came along for support and since he’s not a Canadian citizen, the CCA were good enough to make him Fore Runner. So he basically used the weekend as race practice and for bike set up, pretty invaluable as we only got our bikes built just before Crankworx….
Been a pretty successful week considering….grateful and stoked for that!
Thanks to all of my supporters, glad I could win you a title!
The good times keep rolling with the team and Rich T is pinning the MWT Nukeproof Scalp on the mountains of the UK at the National Downhill Champs, while on the other side of Europe, in Romania, Team sponsor and Rider Jonny ‘bravo’ Kingston together with Jason ‘the destroyer’ Eccelstone have been smashing their way through the Evil Carpathian Mountains in the famous Romaniacs Extreme Enduro.
Jason has managed to turn a brand new 2012 KTM 300 EXC into what can only be described as…‘destruction’… I have worked on and ridden bikes all my life and I have never seen anything like this amount of damage. The race is one of the toughest on earth and both guys have put their all into it and come out with heads held high, if not a little battered and bruised. Jon nailed an outstanding 17th place in the super tough expert class and we are still waiting to hear the result from Jason’s efforts in the Hobby class. The tough Australian maniac was the fastest guy in his class, but a couple of navigational errors cost him time, and in the end the bike, as it flew 250 feet off a mountain side landing on rocks and costing Jason the chance of riding into the finish on the last day. Like I said before… Molson World Team DESTRUCTION…
Well done Jon and Jase for a great job and roll on next year’s event.
Back to the MWT downhill mtb action with Rich’s take on our awesome National Champs weekend.
Rich Thomas
British National Champs 2011.
Well it seems it was only a few weeks ago when we were packing the van for the Halo BDS round at Llangollen… Though here it is and we’re off up the road again, this time for the big one! At the BDS I was on for a top result but decided to press the Nukeproof eject button near the finish and crashing out finishing in 25th….. Not for me really, so this time it was on.
We arrived Friday to set up the Molson World Team pits and walk the track; we did this in horrendous rain… The track slightly different for this race with a proper gnarly top section, like, ridiculous steep, big respect to all the younger riders, because when Steve ‘Sheffield Steel’ Peat leaves the start hut and is over the bars within 50 meters causing a red flag situation, you know things are wild! Anyway, the forecast for the weekend was promising so all good. The weather app doesn’t lie and we woke up Saturday morning to clear skies and what would become a hot weekend.
So the interesting part, the start of the riding, Saturday morning was tough, learning the track and hitting some of the big lines, it is hard to put things together on a track this steep because there are crashes, stricken people and bikes all over the place, wild times and Saturday with lots of uplift queuing and waiting for red flags to clear. Never the less, we got in some good runs on the awesome drying track and with some new factory Mojo Suspension parts the MWT Nukeproof felt better than ever!
Sunday, race day……
We had an early start eager to get some final practice for the race, with limited time unfortunately we only managed one run before the qualification run, on a rapidly changing track this is not ideal but that was the hand that was drawn. Because of this I was cautious during my quali run checking out the track for new lines and blown out sections, I came across the line in 12th position, a solid basis for the final and a confidence booster in the 160 rider deep British senior men field. With a quick ISO2 Recovery and re-hydrate, a prep of the Nukeproof and chill it was time for the final… A tough and fully focussed couple of minutes of riding to determine your National Champs placing for the next 12 months, I was up for it!!!!
Within no time I was sat in the start hut waiting to go, I had a great first half, crossing the first split in 7th place, I knew I was riding well and had flash backs of what happened at the earlier BDS round, because of this I just eased it off slightly at the bottom to make sure I didn’t have a repeat of the eject button incident and made sure I got to the finish, I managed this crossing the line in 9th place, only dropping a few places in the second half of track, so I was pumped, reaching the teams goal of a top 10 in the massive field felt great! A massive thank you to all the sponsors for their help and support.
The Nukeproof Junior team consisting of Dan Sheridan and Christopher McGlinchy took part in the Irish National Cross Country Championships at the weekend.
Christopher ended up finishing second ahead of team mate Dan Sheridan who suffered from cramps for the duration of the race and behind fellow Downhiller Gavin Carroll in the Junior category.
The guys said the track was amazing, full of flowy singletrack sections with a few hard climbs and some tricky section.
Speaking after the event Christopher said "I ended up finishing in second which was great as i didnt think i was going to finish half way through. The Mega was amazing, good on the climbs and was just like i was on my downhill bike on the way back down."
Meanwhile Dan explained his race tactics "I set off third planning to sit behind for the first two laps to not blow myself up, and then moved into second mid way through the first lap. I was sitting comfortably behind first for the first 2 laps and then I started cramping up so bad. Chris caught up pretty soon after I lowered the pace and we had a pretty tight battle for the last lap. Then in the last forest section I got off to run up a rooty climb but my legs cramped straight away and I fell to the ground unable to move my legs, watching Chris cycle past! It took me about two minutes until the cramp faded and I could finally get up and carry on. This was probably one of the worst pains I've ever experienced however I ended up finishing 3rd which was pretty cool as 1st, 2nd and 3rd were all pure DH riders!''
Well done to Christopher and Dan on their results. The guys' next race is in the Irish National Downhill Championships in County Wicklow.
No Fuss Events are well know for breaking the mould when it comes to outdoor events. The Captain Morgan's Spiced Glen Nevis River Race was no different.
Hotlines Europe had a contingent at the event a trio comprising of office manager Ed Ibbetson, marketing assistant Pete Scullion and sales/tech support advisor Paul Downie. This was the first time at the event for Ed and Paul, Ed being slightly apprehensive about getting in the river. Having done the race the year before, Pete thought he'd help Ed long by organising with No Fuss to have Ed first in the river. This almost paid dividends, but he ended up chasing Ed down the river!
The No Fuss Events describe the event as "a crazy lilo race on the river nevis, involving some jumps, rapids and brute strength. Not for the faint hearted but guaranteed to be lots of fun."
Despite the water in the River Nevis being very low during Friday, as sure as the sun will rise in the East, the heavens opened on Friday night and the rain persisted long until Saturday afternoon. River levels, therefore, matched that of last year's event which saw the river at record levels.
Owing to the amount of rain, the course was cut short and the competitors entered the rapids in The Dead Dog Pool just below the Legbreaker Falls. The shorter course barely reduced the risk to the 170 odd foolhardy folk who had signed up for the wildest 20 minutes of their lives.
Straight in the river, man (or lady) and inflatable were swept hard right down a narrow channel cut by the water through the rock immediately after which the river spreads out and shallows. The challenge is then to avoid the rocks and stay where the water is deep and fast to keep the momentum going. Struggling to find traction on the rocks at the river bank, followed by a quick jog to the Lower Nevis Falls where a 20 foot leap in the churning white water awaits. There simply is nothing quite like feeling the rush of gravity pulling hard on your body as you step off the precipice.
Below the Lower Falls, negotiating two rapids is the only real test before the river flattens off and competitors have to muster whatever strength they have left to get them to the end of the course.
Having hauled themselves out of the water successfully enough with arms burning, first task was to get to the caterers who were handing out free soup, then recount tales of how we got down the river in one piece.
Paul had a few issues at the Lower Falls, having forgotten his school lifesaver training, stayed straight as an arrow when he hit the water and shot right through the white water and was suitably kicked about by the water. A solid first attempt, a time of 22:35.3 which was good for 70th overall and 62nd in senior men.
Pete also had issues, but this time at the start of the course. Far too eager to get on the hunt for Ed, he jumped over his airbed and landed face first in the river under the watchful gaze of Captain Morgan and almost the full compliment of competitors. A time of 19:51.2 was good enough for 27th overall and 23rd in category.
It was Ed however who took the top honours out of the Hotlines crew. From what we can gather, an issue free run was had by the man least inclined to jump in the wet stuff. Dragging himself out of the water in a very respectable 19:00.9 slotted Ed into 17th place overall and 14th in category.
Watch the video from the event, featuring Pete's faceplant in the water:
With the Tour de France finishing yesterday in all its splendour under the watchful gaze of the Arc de Triomphe and with the Place de la Concorde at its base. The Australian Cadel Evans took the Yellow Jersey in Saturday's solo time trial which secured him the win over Andy Schleck.
The FDJ Team had a busy Tour with a rider involved in almost every breakaway of the competition. Here's a round up of the final 3 stages and the final classification results:
STAGE 19 - Modane Valfréjus to Alpe-d’Huez 109.5 km
Best result for Arnold Jeannesson (24th), the FDJ team is ranked 5th place of the stage classification.
STAGE 20 - Grenoble - Grenoble (Solo Time Trial) 42.5 km
Sandy Casar and Jérémy Roy finished 26th and 27th of the time trial.
STAGE 21 - Créteil to Paris Champs-Élysées 95 km
One final breakaway for Jérémy Roy who showed his determination and fighting spirit until the end!
Unfortunately no stage victory for the FDJ, but a great Tour full of performance:
- A FDJ rider nearly everyday in the breakaway. Jérémy Roy and Mickaël Delage have ridden 1528 kilometers in the breakaway!
- 5 Fighting Spirit Awards : Mickaël Delage (stage 3), Jérémy Roy (stage 4), Mickaël Delage (stage 11),Jérémy Roy (stage 13), Sandy Casar (stage 14). Jérémy Roy is awarded the Super Fighting Spirit Award.
- Arnold Jeannesson wears the white jersey after stage 12, and Jérémy Roy wears the polka dot jersey after stage 13.
- Jérémy Roy triggers the breakaway and leads stage 13 on his own.
General classification:
Arnold Jeannesson - 15th Sandy Casar – 27th Gianni Meersman – 77th Jérémy Roy – 86th Anthony Roux – 101th Arthur Vichot – 104th Mickaël Delage – 132th
Points classification: (3 riders in the Top 20)
Jérémy Roy – 11th and 1st French rider Mickaël Delage – 13th Sandy Casar -17th
Enduro specialist James Shirley has been racking up the road miles recently with a trip out to Europe for the Megavalanche, The Mountain of Hell and some French enduro races.
James is kept looking good by IXS Sports Division and steering straight with Answer Pro Taper bars, stems and grips.
Here's Jamesey Boy's round up of events as they happened:
I set off from the croft with my friend Emma Holgate whose father lived up the hill in Inverroy. There was only enough space in the van for one bike each so I took my Five which is the perfect all round cycling machine. In my bag I had a helmet, passport, phone, wallet and enough Bawbags to see me through the next two and a half weeks. We trucked down to Dover and just managed to catch our ferry to Dunkirk.
The journey was going smoothly until halfway between Dijon and Lyon when the fan belt snapped off. Luckily I had a spare and fitted it without too much hassle. In the process I noticed that the water pump pulley bearings were a bit shoogly so I didn’t know how long the new belt would last before it got spat off as well… Turns out it wasn’t long at all. About 30 seconds in total. Balls. We were on the side of the motorway and it was getting dark. Soon enough a highway security van pulled up and phoned a recovery truck for us. We got picked up and towed through a little gate off the highway to a garage in some random little farming town.
Still not totally sure where we were we bedded down for the night and got up the next day to find that the guys in the garage didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak very good French. It transpired that the van would take about 5 days to fix so we arranged with the breakdown insurance people for us to hire out a van and continue with our journey. On arrival at the hire place we discovered that our so called hire van turned out to be a Renault Modus: a tiny little matchbox car. Half the contents of the van were squeezed into the boot of the midget mobile and we were on our way again.
By the time we arrived in Alpe d’huez it was late and we had nowhere to sleep so we started trying to break into the abandoned lifty sheds that were dotted across the hill side. Eventually we got lucky with a little shed, or chalet as I liked to call it, next to the bins on the edge of the village. We lay down the foam bedding and made ourselves a wee home that any real hobo would be proud of. At 7am we were woken by the laughter of a delivery man who had found us in the shed. He dropped off some cheese and meat for a local business and left us to snooze as he closed the door behind him.
When we woke up for real, the sun was shining and it was time to get our lift passes and get some practice done for the Vaujany Enduro in 2 days time. The course was awesome. Four hours of proper alpine adventure along walkers’ paths, over open hillside and down a few flowing sections of bike specific trails.
Seeding took place on Sunday afternoon on a stage which was to be used as the last stage for Monday’s race. It started above town and took riders along a rocky, wall lined path between some fields and down into Vaujany itself across closed roads to the finish in the village square. Joe Barnes took 3rd place and I was just 0.3 seconds back in 4th.
That night, the landship crew of Joe, Liam and Ruari joined us down in Vaujany. Emma and I decided to sleep, this time, in the tourist info hallway in a corner next to some cupboard doors. The next morning we were rudely awoken by an angry looking cleaning lady who wanted access to her equipment inside said cupboard. Up bright and early we were ready for some serious racing action.
The start of stage one was at the mid-station of the only gondola out of Vaujany. It was a fast section that made use of a long downhill fire road with bits of bike track that cut off and rejoined again. The 2nd stage started off quite flat and then dropped steeply down the hill side with some tight switchbacks at the end. Riders cycled back to the gondola where they ascended to the very top this time. It was a long traverse to the start of stage 3 and due to bad timing with the gondola most people missed their start times and the stage was cancelled. It would have been a good one though because the course was set so that you could pick any line you wanted across a rocky open hillside.
Stage 4 was the longest stage. It started with a fast land rover track which took us onto a walker’s path that descended all the way down to the start of the last stage.
I finished 1st place senior and 2nd overall behind Joe. Liam had a big crash in the first stage and came 11th. Ruari should have been 7th but he managed to pick up a mysterious 1 minute time penalty which dropped him down to 15th. Emma rode well beating Lyndsey Carson to first place. After a successful day it was time for rest. We set up our beds underneath Joe’s easy up outside his van and got some shut eye. The next day we got a phone call from the garage and the van was ready to be collected.
That evening we set off in high spirits looking forward to a good night’s sleep in the van. When we arrived, some 3 or 4 hours later, we found the van locked up inside the garage compound. With no way in we were forced to find some temporary accommodation for yet another night! It was a warm, clear night so we drove out of town and found a nice little field. Sleeping under the stars was a unique experience. I think Emma was pretty fed up with recent sleeping arrangements by now but I rather enjoyed it. I slept really well until the rain woke me up at 5am! Luckily, the rain wasn’t heavy and I continued to doze until opening time at the garage. We transferred our stuff back into the van, dropped off the car and headed back for the Alps.
On Thursday, all five of us did a team practice of the full Mega track. In the scree at the top, I got a bit out of shape and ended up riding with a foot unclipped and with my bum sitting on the top tube. The front wheel then found a conveniently shaped hole which sent me flying over the bars and put an end to my riding for the day.
After a healthy dose of painkillers I set off for my qualifying run on Friday morning. I was in one of the early races and I set off in good time. Unfortunately I was greeted at the bottom of the lift by an enormous queue of super keen idiots who weren’t due at the top of the hill for another few hours! I pushed my way past the majority of the crowd but still ended up missing my spot on the front row. My bad start was made even worse by the fact that everyone else seemed to jump the gun by a good 3 seconds or so. Never the less, I pressed on and worked my way to 6th place which put me on the 2nd row for the real thing.
Sunday soon came and my ribs were still a bit sore. The girls told me that the snow was soft for their race on Saturday so I lined up for the race on the rocks on the right hand side of the track. However, the sun was hidden behind the clouds on Sunday morning which meant the snow stayed hard and fast. Therefore, my tactics didn’t pay off and I got a bad start. I also rode on the cautious side because I didn’t fancy having another crash. After the first few corners I had already lost a whole load of positions and found myself stuck behind a queue of traffic on the single track traverse. All the way along I could see Liam on his bright yellow bike not far in front. He had also had a bad start with someone taking him out in the first 5 seconds of racing. It was pretty good fun following him down as we cut our way back up through the pack. Although the race didn’t go according to plan, I still enjoyed it and finished 47th out of approximately 1800 male entrants.
On Tuesday I hung out with Mark, Lyndsey (who came 17th with a broken arm) and Emma by the lake in Allemont. Emma was standing in the water up to her knees but was complaining about the water being too cold for a swim. Being the comedy genius that I am, I thought it would be funny to try and splash her with a big stone. As I let go of the rock, some of the muscles in/around my ribs also let go with a satisfying pop. With my freshly acquired cripple status it was a good time to move up the valley to Les Deux Alpes. For the rest of the week I hung out by the lake whilst the others played on their bikes and raced the Mountain of Hell.
I am now back at home writing this ridiculously long report/story as I wait for things to fix. I might go for a gentle road ride tomorrow and hopefully I’ll be back on the trails again soon…
The last couple of weeks have been a mixture of good and bad with some racing, hot lines, comedy euros and breakdowns.
After the Vaujany enduro we drove round the hill in the landship to the Mega. The race tracks were slightly different to last year and always have pretty slack taping so some good practice was needed. We practiced the top of the mega a couple of times as this is where the deciding part of the race takes place. It was pretty gnarly this year combining snow, ice and scree. I had managed to fit my 5ive and Patriot into the van and went with the theory that if I got a good start I would be better on a bigger bike on the rough top section with a clear run in front of me to get a good lead.
First off was the qualifier and on a equally fun trail, this time mostly bermy and loose. I got a pretty good start and after the first minute got into 1st in my heat. Winning this and also getting the 2nd fastest time of the day, this put me in a prime position for the Mega.
What is the deal with the early start at there races? We got up at 5 staggered onto the lift and got ready for the big run. I managed to drink some tropical juice, a caffeine drink and a GO gel. I was pretty wired for the race but then exploded the sugary goodness all over the snow. I felt much better afer a good chunder. You learn something every time and this time was to not over do the sugar at 6am. Lining up on the start beside (Remy) Absalon and (Rene) Wildhaber with an empty belly and a lovely taste in my mouth wasn’t good.
The tape went up and the carnage prevailed. A chief (read professional weapon) beside me took a tumble on the snow taking me out and several others and once I got going could only watch the leaders pulling a lead as I was stuck behind folk. I waited patiently and got past a few with an entertaining cross scree dash to Alex Stock's amusement who was following. With a few more overtakes I equalled last years effort of 10th. I was pretty pleased and have gained some good experience for next year. Team spirits were pretty high with Liam in 41st and James 47th and a little celebratory mini golf session took place. Ruari’s disastrous non seeded quali ment he raced a later final but put in a good time for a overall position.
After dropping Ruari off for a flight home we went for a cruise about Grenoble with the hope of finding a scooter to relieve the feet from all the walking about. We soon got raging of the city and left for Les2alps with no scooter (we now have a pedal and pop on route to Morzine with friends from the more scooter rich Deutschland). Les Deux Alpes is a funny place full of kids with massive t-shirts and tight jeans. There is skiing all year so it was pretty mobbed with ski chiefs cruising about on micro scooters.
We are in Chamonix now with a van with no water pump pulley. Its stranded in a lovely carpark outside town unable to move. The lack of riding bikes has gotten slightly annoying but the part is on order and we should be on the road on Monday. We have resorted to filming random “dudes” action, buying bangers and xc rides to the garage and back.
Hopefully in next blog we will be in Morzine and trucking after hitching a lift to the Maxi(avalanche) in Cervinia this weekend.
"Cunego is the main athlete, but I think that the whole team will be very competitive" sport director Vicino said "In fact, at the start of the race there will be many our riders that took part in Tour de France and are in a top form".
