Megavalanche!!!!!
Well well well..... My first megavalanche week. It was awesome. Forget Morzine & Les Gets, go to Alpe d'Huez for a week of real riding. No braking bumps, just proper tracks. How about a 40 min dh which covers every aspect of mountain biking - rocks, roots, woods, singletrack, wide open, snow, rubble, whatever, its all there. It does have a little climb in the middle, I admit, but its worth it.
So Tuesday was practice for the Sprint race at Oz en Oisans. That's like a normal DH race to you and me. Did four runs and the track is realllly good. Wednesday was the day of the race and you didn't get any practice. Wierd or what. Having to get straight into racer mode - first run of the day is your first race run. It was a little more slippy than I expected it to be in the corners, and I crashed in a silly place. But I was leading after the first runs and knew I could make up time. By the second run the track was starting to cut up a bit more, getting a bit rougher and washed out, but I took 21 seconds off my first run time and my first win of the week.
We then had a couple of days off from competitions, so I took the time to familiarise myself with the mega track, and the qualifying track that we would ride on Saturday. My main concerned was the mass-start. I didn't want to get caught behind people who weren't confident to ride things which really weren't that difficult. So I needed to be out the gate quickly.
The MC guy at the start was really good, he explained what happened, basically they have boards like at a moto-x race which they hold up - 10 mins, 5 mins, 1 min, 30secs, 5 secs. THey also play music which has a wierd alarm noise in it and when you hear that you know you have 5 secs to go. Then they lift the tape, derby style, and you go. So you get a rehearsal of the music so you know what you're listening for. So I heard the alarm, I knew it was soon, I focussed on the tape.. It went up, I snapped out the start. I don't know who else was that quick out, but I slipped my right pedal about three bike lengths in, allowing Ophelie David to pass me, but I was still in second. I passed her a few minutes later and led the race til the mid-point climb. I was passed by her again, and by Anje Kramer. I was happy enough to be in Third, although Hannah Hannah wasn't far behind, so still no time to dilly dally. I eventually caught Ophelie and Anje in the switch backs and pulled some sweet but kinda crazy inside line moves on them to regain the lead. I ended up winning the race in 37 mins dead. I was stoked. 2 wins out of 2 so far, and now the pressure was on to perform in the big race on Sunday.
At the start just before the mens race began... Cheers Billy Trailstar for the pic!
I watched the guys start on the snow and saw that Rene Wildhaber, who's won it four times (now five), was starting far right, so he could pin it across some rubble before hitting the snow. So I put myself in the same place for our start. Got the snap good and proper, got some good cranks in on the rubble, hit the snow and fell off. And fell off again and again!! As did everyone else! I hit some more rubble on the inside of the turn at warp speed, totally on the edge of control and fearing sudden death... got it under control and suddenly I was on smooth nice snow and in the lead. Woo hoo!
Anyway, lots more falling off and being overtaking happened before the end of the snow, but by the time I got to Alpe d'Huez I was in 4th place and pedalling through the town getting heart and lungs back to normal, with the prospect of a nice smooth slightly uphill traverse round the next mountin. But then my bike broke. Or more particularly, the jockey wheel fell out. I had time to think about the options, look for the jockey wheel and return to my bike before 5th place rode by. Then eventually 6th place rode by. I'd put a fair bit of time into them then I suppose. I couldn't pedal up the climb and would have lost a ridiculous amount of time walking so I decided to pull out. I walked back to Alpe d'Huez still looking for the jockey wheel as people rode by, all asking if I was ok. I was pretty gutted, but yeah I was ok. There's always next year... and what an experience this year has been.
So Tuesday was practice for the Sprint race at Oz en Oisans. That's like a normal DH race to you and me. Did four runs and the track is realllly good. Wednesday was the day of the race and you didn't get any practice. Wierd or what. Having to get straight into racer mode - first run of the day is your first race run. It was a little more slippy than I expected it to be in the corners, and I crashed in a silly place. But I was leading after the first runs and knew I could make up time. By the second run the track was starting to cut up a bit more, getting a bit rougher and washed out, but I took 21 seconds off my first run time and my first win of the week.
We then had a couple of days off from competitions, so I took the time to familiarise myself with the mega track, and the qualifying track that we would ride on Saturday. My main concerned was the mass-start. I didn't want to get caught behind people who weren't confident to ride things which really weren't that difficult. So I needed to be out the gate quickly.
The MC guy at the start was really good, he explained what happened, basically they have boards like at a moto-x race which they hold up - 10 mins, 5 mins, 1 min, 30secs, 5 secs. THey also play music which has a wierd alarm noise in it and when you hear that you know you have 5 secs to go. Then they lift the tape, derby style, and you go. So you get a rehearsal of the music so you know what you're listening for. So I heard the alarm, I knew it was soon, I focussed on the tape.. It went up, I snapped out the start. I don't know who else was that quick out, but I slipped my right pedal about three bike lengths in, allowing Ophelie David to pass me, but I was still in second. I passed her a few minutes later and led the race til the mid-point climb. I was passed by her again, and by Anje Kramer. I was happy enough to be in Third, although Hannah Hannah wasn't far behind, so still no time to dilly dally. I eventually caught Ophelie and Anje in the switch backs and pulled some sweet but kinda crazy inside line moves on them to regain the lead. I ended up winning the race in 37 mins dead. I was stoked. 2 wins out of 2 so far, and now the pressure was on to perform in the big race on Sunday.
At the start just before the mens race began... Cheers Billy Trailstar for the pic!
I watched the guys start on the snow and saw that Rene Wildhaber, who's won it four times (now five), was starting far right, so he could pin it across some rubble before hitting the snow. So I put myself in the same place for our start. Got the snap good and proper, got some good cranks in on the rubble, hit the snow and fell off. And fell off again and again!! As did everyone else! I hit some more rubble on the inside of the turn at warp speed, totally on the edge of control and fearing sudden death... got it under control and suddenly I was on smooth nice snow and in the lead. Woo hoo!
Anyway, lots more falling off and being overtaking happened before the end of the snow, but by the time I got to Alpe d'Huez I was in 4th place and pedalling through the town getting heart and lungs back to normal, with the prospect of a nice smooth slightly uphill traverse round the next mountin. But then my bike broke. Or more particularly, the jockey wheel fell out. I had time to think about the options, look for the jockey wheel and return to my bike before 5th place rode by. Then eventually 6th place rode by. I'd put a fair bit of time into them then I suppose. I couldn't pedal up the climb and would have lost a ridiculous amount of time walking so I decided to pull out. I walked back to Alpe d'Huez still looking for the jockey wheel as people rode by, all asking if I was ok. I was pretty gutted, but yeah I was ok. There's always next year... and what an experience this year has been.
posted by Emily at
11:31 AM
2 Comments:
Pah, how long's the climb, I don't remember? You coulda run it surely! (I hope so anyway, that's my plan for this year, haha :))
Nice one EmUrLY!
(good new site too)
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