XC Racer Blog Post

Highdays and Holidays

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BY: Niall Frost

Published: 21st June, 2010


After a long period of racing and travelling during April and May I was exhausted and feeling quite ill.  In 2009 I'd trained myself into illness and I was keen not to repeat the episode.  2 weeks of sedentary life was a great way to break up the season and I will be forever thankful to my team mates and Mark Spratt of Cardiff Jif for allowing me to miss Bristol Bikefest.  Reading Matt's report seems like I missed an adventure!

Come the 2nd week in June and I jetted out to the French Alps for a week's mountain biking holiday.  I was joined by my former club Angus Bike Chain (including my dad) and a few other guests who may or may not have known what they were letting themselves in for!  Since we arrived early on Saturday a short blast up La Plagne in the evening was a great week opener.  The weather for the week wasn't fantastic but incredibly we managed to avoid any major rain showers and the slightly damp trails just made it all the more enjoyable. 

Everyone in Angus Bike Chain is involved in competing in some form or fashion so no climb was left uncontested and there was always a scrabble for first entry into the singletrack.  Banter was also heavily contested with no punches being pulled and a fall or dab being lorded to the group for hours after.

By far the epic ride of the trip was on Tuesday.  An attempt at a 2500m summit was made with a view to riding the signature trail of the Tarentaise, Sketchy Dismount.  The fireroad to the top was the fiercest I've ever encountered and quite possibly the longest I have ever spent in granny ring.  Having a 27t as my easiest sprocket perhaps not my wisest decision.  Near the top and we were trudging through waist deep snow only halted when a sudden avalanche sounded out around us.  It's impossible to describe the noise as they gain momentum.  Not something I wish to hear again.  Then the clouds starting closing in before we'd even made it out of the snow.  My former days as a mountain guide saw some warnings issued and the pace increased.

Fortunately the clouds receded and we were left to enjoy the beauty of the technical trail winding its way down to 1800m and warmer climes.  On our descent we were treated to close viewing of chamois and the shy marmotte but it's fair to say that most eyes were peeled to the trail and the perilous drop as the valley floor was only a pedal clip away.

After a "rest" day on the Wednesday I took to the road with my dad for a summit of the Col de la Madeleine.  The route is a classic Tour de France climb rising to 2000m from about 400ish in the town of Aigueblanche, and just to confuse everyone has a portion of descent in the middle of the climb.  My dad had previously climbed it in 3hrs when he had started cycling and 5years later we knocked an hour off that time.  A well deserved chocolat chaud and tarte myrtille at the top was deserved and put off the impending descent in freezing rain which left me shivering some 2hrs later.

Thursday evening saw a classic route re-energised by exposure lights.  We waited until after dinner and hit the climb up to Les Coches for a cracking dark descent back to the farmhouse.  Night riding in the alps really focussed the mind on the trail as you can't see the drop to the side and the speed at which shadows disappear means that you're always re-evaluating the upcoming features.  An added incentive is that the scared face i'd been practising all week can't be seen by anyone!

Safely back home now and with the focus on rest and recovery I decided this was the ideal time to visit Stainburn Forest for some fun north shore and general hooning.  With no focus on trying to better my aerobic system or smash my lactic levels I spent 15mins trying to clear a 5inch wide section of north shore, made harder by its 20ft length with a slight kink in the middle.  More satisfying was that I still had the saddle up and was clipped in.  Stainburn is created by www.singletraction.co.uk and is located just outside Otley in North Yorkshire, the technical nature of the trails provide a real challenge on an xc bike.  No Xc races here unfortunately.

Next for me is hopefully the Otley town centre race on Wednesday (although i'm only a reserve just now).  Hopefully that will be fast and furious.

Niall
Thanks to Gary Fisher, Accelerade and Exposure Lights.




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Niall Frost

Niall Frost is a XCRacer.com team rider

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This blog post was written by a third party and their views do not necessarily reflect the views of XCRacer.com

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