28 days in Morzine!

[jonnyboy666]

so for those that don't know, i got made redundant, whatever . . .

i had already decided to do another Morzine trip this year so i decided to extend the trip for an extra 2 weeks giving me 28 days in Morzine!

so i left on sunday evening for Newhaven to get a ferry to Dieppe, here's the drive pics!

the white cliffs of Dieppe? by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the drive down was wet in places!

pissing down! by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

van stop!

van damn! by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

only the english would have the top down in this rain!

only the english would have the roof down in weather like this! by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

less than a 100miles to go!

when you're on a road trip and the milage left is down below 100 that's a good feeling! by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

loving the roads here!

these roads are amazing to drive on by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

only 30km to go!

P1130442 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the view from the hotel

IMG_2365 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the frst day riding was with Heathy and his mates and brother, yes, that's the Heathy! the legend himself!
this pic is from the top of super Morzine

IMG_2367 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

heathy always says "granny ring is for losers" so here's a pic of him pushing up a hill!

IMG_2369 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

lunch stop at the Chatel bike park

IMG_2371 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

overlooking Les Linderet

IMG_2372 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

apres ride beer at Bar Robinson! "respect the Mutzig!"

IMG_2373 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2374 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

bike parking outside the bar

IMG_2375 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

pics from the last couple of days riding

simon on Super Morzine

IMG_2394 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

top lads, Adrian, Simon, John, and Heathy

IMG_2397 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

chilling at the bottom of the Pleney downhill apres ride

IMG_2398 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Adrian, heathy's brother

IMG_2384 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Simon

IMG_2387 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

John

IMG_2388 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Heathy, including his fractured rib!

IMG_2389 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

on the chairlift, pads on today as i cut up my right shin the day before!

IMG_2391 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr


the Tailwhip competition was awesome aswel!


Tail whip competition on the Super Morzine trails, loads more pics/vids to come, this is a taster! by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

tail whip video! hope the link works!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=67 ... =2&theater

so far the holiday has been great, i'm glad these boys are here other wise the first week might have been a little boring, unfortunately my hotel is at the top of a mountain so no internet etc. currently blagging wifi at heathy's place! i am moving to a better place on monday so after that i intend to do daily updates as and when various people turn up!

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

the whip comp video from Morzine!

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/374280/

 

[highlandsflyer]

You enjoy it mate, you deserve it! Great pics as usual!

 

[jimo746]

Re:

That is super-cool 28 days, why not!

We need an update at the end as well "28 Days Later....".

 

[ollie540]

Re:

Love it. Morzine is a mecca as far as I'm concerned, and I'm mighty envious of anyone spending time out there.
Enjoy!
O

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

cheers guys

going for 4 weeks instead of 2 doesn't knock the price up that much as it's only extra accommodation and food costs. the traveling price doesn't change.

anyway, i'll continue as i have a bit of wifi.

this first week has been good and bad, good because Heathy and the boys have been here, bad because the first week i am staying at the "hotel inferno", don't get me wrong here, they've been good as gold but the location is rubbish for the summer, it's half way up a mountain in the middle of nowhere, for the winter there is a lift that drops you off 50metres from the hotel but at this time of year it's not running. this has meant that to ride with the boys i have driven down into town, gone for the ride then returned after the ride to get cleaned up then gone back down for food etc. the problem with this is that the mountain has been hard on the van, and it looks like my clutch is dying as a result, if i hadn't of been here the van wouldn't have moved all week so even if the clutch was on the way out i wouldn't have put it through the harsh abuse of this steep climb twice a day for 4 days, for anyone who knows the area it's the Col de Joux Plane, the pedal doesn't always come up completely when i change gear, currently i have left the van at a friends place and it doesn't need to move now until i leave so hopefully it will be ok for the drive home, have also contacted an english mechanic but haven't heard back yet. it's insured for the return trip so worst case it gets taken home and fixed there.

riding wise it has been more of the same, the guys are more downhill riders than i am so we've been hitting the bike parks and downhill runs in the area, i freely admit this is not so much my style of riding but i'm happy to do what the group wants to do.

last night was the guys last night though so we hit the beers pretty hard, i then stayed at there place so i didn't have the long trek back up the mountain while drunk! it was an epically funny night! the internet here is pretty poor so i may wait till monday to post more pics as the hotel i'm going to has better wifi etc.

tomorrow i intend to do the guts of the passportes du soliel route, it's lift assisted XC/freeride style riding so should be a good ride, there are a few climbs but nothing too major that lasts that long, after the battering my body has taken on the DH courses i think this will be a good days riding.

also bumped into a few faces from the past, Pete aka "Pedro" is here working in a shop, he's been a seasonal worker here on and off for about 10 years, he's also done winters down under to avoid winter! sounds like a great life! have also met up with a french lady i met the first couple of times i was here as her husband owns the local bike shop and she was in there, i have such an ugly mug she recognised me! :facepalm:

anyway, i'll try uploading some pics in a minute to see how the internet is doing, if it's ok i'll post them

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

ok got the pics uploaded, a few from the night out last night and a couple from the ride up to the hotel earlier today

Heathy, John, Adrian, me and then Simon, top lads

the morzine crew by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the shot menu!

IMG_2407 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

playing with the panoramic option while drunk!

IMG_2413 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the bar was empty to start with, mainly because we started very early!

IMG_2412 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the view looking back towards Les Gets

IMG_2424 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

letting the chairlift take the pain out of climbing!

IMG_2420 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

ok so today was the first of 2 days on my own, i decided i'd do the guts of the Passportes Du Soliel route. so i left the hotel which is on the Nyon mountain about 1/2 up and descended off road in to Morzine, stopped at the van (with it's dodgy clutch parked at Ride Morzine) and got some bits sorted on the bike. then i headed off up the super Morzine bubble lift and then on the chairlft, this gets you to the top of the mountain, from here there are a couple of ways to get to the next lift as these trails tend to be seen as a means to an end but even so it's like doing a descent in coed y brenin! this trails drop s me out at the Mossette lift which goes to the highest peak in the area which is also the border with Switzerland, there are many trails to choose from at this point and i headed for Morgins, it doesn't take long to get there as it's mainly a rough gravel track but crikey it can be fast in places! once at Morgins i then climbed out of town to pick up some dowhill trails in to Chatel at which point my belly was screaming for food. so faced got fed!!

after lunch i got the Super Chatel chairlift out of Chatel and then carried on climbing, Orange Patriot, 1st/2nd/3rd gear! climbing here is hard! this then throws me out on some nice flowy trails back down in to Morgins. i then got the chairlift out of Morgins and headed over to Champoussan (spelt wrong i think!) hit another chairlift and rode round a great little trail on the edge of a mountain with a big drop to my left! looking at the time i then realised i needed to get a move on so i hopped on the Mossette lift from Croset and then descended "Puncture Alley", does that need explaining? i didn't puncture bit i did have a little off! slightly too fast approaching a little water crossing, managed to slow the bike enough that i sort of just walked off it! i waved at the french guy i had passed on he carried on his way, people tend to make sure you're ok out here. i then headed up to Avoriaz and then down to Morzine via a couple of cheeky trails. then getting back up to the hotel was the challenge, you can just ride up the Col de Joux Plane (the mountain that Landis was caught doping on a few years ago after he blew the day before on the alp d'Huez stage) but it takes ages and it would just have been a grind on the patriot. so i got the lift up to the top of the Pleney mountain, downhilled to Les Gets offroad, got on another lift, the Chavanne lift and got to the top, did a down hill run got another lift which is the highest i can go which means that i mostly downhill to the hotel except for a 2 mile 1st/2nd gear climb!

all in it has been about 85km today in the hot sun, i got quite dehydrated, my piss was orange and i was drinking as much as possible!

here's some pics

the trail down to Morzine from Nyon

IMG_2426 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the cut on my knee keeps opening up!

IMG_2428 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

will upload some more later, the internet is on a massive go slow!

 

[jonnyboy666]

Re:

ooh it's sort of back on,

the chairlft on Super Morzine, in this pic if you look where my back wheel is, there is a patch of grass to the right, that's where my hotel is, the middle od nowhere!

IMG_2434 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the legendary Puncture Alley

IMG_2437 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

GET IN MA BELLY!!

IMG_2438 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the lake in Chatel

IMG_2439 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

great little place for munchies!

IMG_2440 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

chilling in the Chatel lift before a climb

IMG_2441 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

about to descend into Morgins from Chatel

IMG_2444 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

Morgins town

IMG_2446 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the mountains behind Champery

IMG_2447 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr