28 days in Morzine!

How's the Orange 5 holding up? Tempted to get one myself.

I actually saw a bus here in Scotland with bike racks on the back the other week, great idea if you ask me

jonnyboy666 · Aug 24, 2014

Re:

so yesterday and today have been quite chilled out, yesterday was the guys last day riding, matt was a bit broken so decided to leave it for the day, so i went out with just adam, we headed over to the Chatel bike park and had some fun on a few of the downhill runs. after that it was back to Mammo's for food, then some runs back into Morzine.

today the guys were leaving so i have decided to have a rest day, my 2nd off day in 3 weeks, they were leaving at 12 so we chilled out french style with some coffees after doing a little shopping, now i'm back in the chalet watching the grand prix!

oh and the 5, Matt has been very happy with it, not one issue, no mechanicals and no punctures, seems to roll very well and as far as i can tell he's been happy on 27.5 wheels, his first time using them coming from 26".

Mindmap3 · Aug 24, 2014

Good stuff. What a way to deal with redundancy.

I've only been to Morzine once in 2005 on a big bike but I loved it apart from the bloody braking bumps. After two weeks my arms were battered...I remember doing one offshoot of the Pleeny that was really steep. I couldn't brake let Alston hold onto the bars and there as a crash mat on a tree by a corner so I just ride into it!

Super Morzine was great fun as was the old swiss national course. We spent a fair amount if the in Chatel and Led Gets bike park too. I bottled the old shed drop. I just couldn't deal with not seeing the landing....just the other side if the valley.

The bubble run was fun too as were some of the very steep unofficial tracks round there.

Fond memories of the Mutzig too.

There as an interesting article in Dirt about Morzine and the advent of AM / Enduro bikes that are super capable but can be ridden uphill. Morzine still seems very DH orientated compared to some of the other resorts.

jonnyboy666 · Aug 25, 2014

Re:

over the last few years i have noticed alot of people reverting back to all mountain bikes, DH bikes can be so limiting, and i think alot of people have noticed this, also some of the best trails require you to climb to them, so the DH boys don't bother with them, they all seem to have their race heads on "must do another run, gotta get that jump right, need to shave some time off" etc yawn. :roll: in real terms the all mountain bikes and riders are just xc riders picking a bike suitable for the area which makes sense.

the braking bumps are as bad as ever but again only on the courses the actual trails are just normal all be it extreme trails.

anyway on to todays mission(s)

i had yesterday off so i wanted to get out today and give it some beans, i definitely felt better for the day off, i had sort of got to the point where i was on auto pilot with some of the trails and as a result i was becoming complacent, which out here is far from ideal!

so today the plan was to do the port du soliel route, although i knew the champoussan lift was now closed, this meant a climb, not an issue but i decided to take the ST4 instead of the Patriot, so off i went at about 9.45am. i went up the Super Morzine lifts and smoked a whole bunch of downhillers on the traverse to the first trail head, being it was my first day on my own and after the day off i was going well and the downhillers just sort of grind along on this section! i hit the first trailhead and spanked down there and continued straight into the next section at speed, surprised a few people who were standing with their bikes at the natural stopping place i think! i went towards the Mossette lift but cut back on a downhill run and headed back to Linderet, straight up the Chatel lift and headed for the Panoramic descent, i really like that descent, it's rough but not too rough and quite flowy.

i then headed up the climb to the nice singletrack route to Chatel itself, then it started raining :? knowing how bad the rain could be i decided to sort of abandon! so from Chatel i needed to get the bus back to the bike park so that i could then head back to Linderet, i headed straight through Linderet, avoided the stinky goats and all their poo! launched myself unpoiltely down the trail to the lac du montriond blasting past people like i was on a mission (Prodigy on the Ipod will do that!)

i got back to the Chalet and it was only 2pm, i'd managed to avoid the rain but by the time i got back the sky was getting better, i felt i'd cheated myself a bit by not completing the route i had planned.

so by 1530 i had got cleaned up and headed out on the roadbike! up and down to Avoriaz from Morzine, it's afair old climb, taking about an hour for someone like me, i love the descent though, it was sort of part ruined by a rear puncture but thanks to my CO2 pump getting the tyre to a good pressure it meant i could still nail the rest of the descent.

anyway, here are some pics!

after the first climb

P1130889 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

getting near to Chatel, there is a big drop the other side of the fence

P1130892 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

P1130893 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

P1130896 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

P1130897 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

this part of the trail used to be alot narrower with no fence

P1130901 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

at the lake in Chatel, the ripples in the water is rain

P1130902 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

coffee time

P1130905 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

waiting for the bus in Chatel

P1130906 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

P1130907 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

P1130908 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

P1130909 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

this is the mountain i rode round, the left one

P1130910 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

i have no idea!

P1130911 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

only 14 degrees!

P1130912 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the bus is biker proof!

P1130913 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

looking through the back window to check on the bike, it's safe but i still worry

P1130914 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

puncture 1 of the day!

P1130915 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the descent into Chatel

IMG_2662 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the second ride, the road climb to Avoriaz

IMG_2664 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2667 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2668 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2669 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2670 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

puncture number 2!

IMG_2671 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

jonnyboy666 · Aug 28, 2014

Re:

ok so the last 3 days i have started to die a bit, being honest i think my body has had enough of being battered on the trails! :shock: i'm not moaning but i think my body is, the last 3 days have been much the same as before riding wise, but i feel physically bruised, i don't really mind but i have found myself dozing off in the evenings!!

anyway here are some pictures to tell a story!

this is a pic from the day of rain! utter misery when it's like that here, in mere seconds you get sodden wet!

IMG_2673 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

got the van back from the garage, feels spot on, clutch, dual mass fly wheel and a few more clutch related bits, £1800! :cry:

IMG_2676 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

they were also working on this old beastie

IMG_2675 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the micro brewery, it was like chewing worn out maxxis tyres!

IMG_2677 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

today on the Chavannes lift.

IMG_2688 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the Patriot has been the main workhorse for me this month, i have been on the ST4 only i think 3 or 4 times which means this beastie has been battered maybe 20 times on hard trails, it's only needed pads front and rear and a rear gear inner/outer, epic machine.

IMG_2690 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the view from the top of the Les Gets bike park

IMG_2691 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the Nyon traverse, technically a walking trail, no one seems to mind me being here, very technical riding in places, a little walking/pushing aswel but worth the effort to do it.

IMG_2692 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

after the main descent, this pic is from the side of the mountain you can see in the above pic

IMG_2693 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

spot the Patriot

IMG_2695 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

once in the trees the trail gets muddy and slippy

IMG_2697 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2698 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

NAHBS socks!

IMG_2678 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

looking at Super Morzine from the Gravelanche trail

IMG_2680 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2681 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

IMG_2683 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

4x4 jacked up golf

IMG_2684 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

last night i drove up the mountain to Mammo's restaurant, they have a film night, we watched the Rocky Horror Picture show, it was pitch black and driving on hairpin bends my lights were never pointing where i needed to see! and the drops off the edge of the road can be huge!

IMG_2686 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

the phone couldn't cope with the darkness in this pic, it's of the giant inflatable cinema screen at Mammo's, i was sat on the veranda of the restaurant and could see everything perfectly, also it has a 600watt speaker system! so the timewarp was loud!!

IMG_2687 by Dr. Branom, on Flickr

jonnyboy666 · Aug 28, 2014

Re:

not sure if this link will work but i'll try it

got nominated for that ice bucket thing, wouldn't really be my thing, but i thought i'd aim it at the Ride for Michael fund, if you feel like donating to it that would be great, for those that don't know what it is well Michael Bonney, one of the main guys at Orange had a bike accident and was paralysed from the neck down, this is a fund to help him, every penny counts. chances are if you ride an Orange he'd played a massive part in what that bike was for the last 25 years.
you can donate here:-

http://rideformichael.org/

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10 ... tif_t=like

28 days in Morzine!

jonnyboy666

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Mindmap3

Senior Retro Guru

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