A wonderful weekend in Chamonix...
Discussion
Had my second ever trip to the Alps this weekend (Les Arcs last year) and had a ball! Chamonix is a lovely town to be based in, with lots going on. Sadly the train which usually transports you between the various lift areas is closed this summer and the bike buses don't start until the 7th of July so we did rather more pedalling than anticipated (including a fairly horrible 45 minutes of a gentle but constant climb up to Le Tour where the body armour and super tacky tires didn't help!).
Mounted my GoPro on my helmet for the first time and think the footage is better than my previous chest footage as it's so much smoother. Made a quick crash compilation on the plane home but don't have the time or inclination to edit anymore so will just upload the full clips!
Crash one is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-4fp7qO8d4&hd=...
and the full Vallorcine run (with my high speed crash at the end) is here. In my defence, the guy I am following down the last section from 6m onwards used to be an elite racer who rode for Lapierre amongst others so I am quite pleased with myself for keeping up for as long as I did. It was amazing to see how smooth his lines were and how light he was on a 150mm bike, skipping over obstacles like a gazelle!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgiJKXFeYiA&hd=...
No broken bikes or people although we did see one poor sod airlifted off the mountain after slipping off some of the northshore stuff in the wet.
Mounted my GoPro on my helmet for the first time and think the footage is better than my previous chest footage as it's so much smoother. Made a quick crash compilation on the plane home but don't have the time or inclination to edit anymore so will just upload the full clips!
Crash one is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-4fp7qO8d4&hd=...
and the full Vallorcine run (with my high speed crash at the end) is here. In my defence, the guy I am following down the last section from 6m onwards used to be an elite racer who rode for Lapierre amongst others so I am quite pleased with myself for keeping up for as long as I did. It was amazing to see how smooth his lines were and how light he was on a 150mm bike, skipping over obstacles like a gazelle!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgiJKXFeYiA&hd=...
No broken bikes or people although we did see one poor sod airlifted off the mountain after slipping off some of the northshore stuff in the wet.
I haven't been to Morzine, but did Les Arcs last year. There is certainly more pedalling involved in Chamonix so unsure I'd fancy being on anything bigger than a 160mm trail bike. There is plenty of super steep and techy downhill stuff there but not as much of the mega fast flowy stuff. I really enjoyed it for a 4 day weekend but am unsure I'd go there for any longer.
I did see plenty of people with XC lids and no body armour, but I wouldn't fancy doing the sort of stuff we were doing at speed without the protection. Most crashes we had out there were due to fatigue - a relatively tame downhill run becomes much harder at 3pm on a wet sunday when you've done 2 full days in the saddle previously.
Will probably head for Morzine next year and see what that's like, although Tignes/Val appeals apart from the long transfer.
Another clip uploaded now - this is one of the red runs down from Le Tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iOAMdBQAtM&hd=...
I did see plenty of people with XC lids and no body armour, but I wouldn't fancy doing the sort of stuff we were doing at speed without the protection. Most crashes we had out there were due to fatigue - a relatively tame downhill run becomes much harder at 3pm on a wet sunday when you've done 2 full days in the saddle previously.
Will probably head for Morzine next year and see what that's like, although Tignes/Val appeals apart from the long transfer.
Another clip uploaded now - this is one of the red runs down from Le Tour
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iOAMdBQAtM&hd=...
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