Lets Gets Sept 2002 XC (that turned into 95% DH) (& Road) Trip
Sunday 1st September 2002 saw 7 mountain and 3 road bikers meet at Luton airport for a one week biking trip to Les Gets in the French Alps, kindly organised by Chris Metcalfe (who was working in Morzine over the summer) and also by Martin Brand.
An uneventful flight followed, with all bikes successfully making journey much to the relief of their owners. Geneva airport brought meetings with Phil Rogers who had been cycling across the Pyrenees for several weeks and Rob Forbes who was our transport and chalet organiser. A surprisingly productive exercise in squashing bikes and people into an ancient Mercedes minibus ensued, and the holiday proper began with the drive to Les Gets. A sleepy but intriguing town greeted us, with our chalet located 5 minutes up the hill from the town centre, affording us fantastic views (weather allowing) up and down the valley as well as across to the World Cup downhill course opposite.
The rest of Sunday saw bikes unpacked (a major pipe lagging and bubble wrap unveiling exercise for some!), put together and taken down to their home for the week, a concrete bunker (for want of a better description) in town, followed by our first Frangalis attempts to acquire food and drink. Monday morning brought cloud across the valley, but 11 eager riders were still keen to explore the surrounding territory. Whilst the roadies set off to find some long and near vertical road climbs for the day, the rest of us set about getting kitted up for a ride of as yet unknown length, type, diffculty or location, led by Rob's mate Rowan Sorrel... a pro downhiller we were later to discover!
After a fair bit of faffing involving bikes, food and stupidly short seatposts (you know who you are!), we finally set off up the cable car and chair lift to the top of the nearest mountain. Incredible views greeted us at the top, as well as endless riding opportunities in all directions. Chomping at the bit, we finally set off on our 1st ride of the week. The trail ahead included grass, ruts, roots, and rocks, lots and lots of loose rocks. It was damn fast for most, those with full sus. soaking up the terrain with glee, whilst some of us tried to take it easy on our XC-orientated hardtails with lots of seatpost still showing. Despite huge beaming smiles at the bottom, those first few innocent bits of trail had reaked havoc among the group. 3 or 4 crashes had takenplace, including over-the-bar moments, bent brake levers and a trashed helmet (this doesn't bode well for the next 5 days I thought to myself on finding those cracks!). After some easier fireroad and even vaguely uphill sections, everyone started to find their feet until we headed back for some well-earned lunch at the chalet.
A similar routine followed during the week, with the roadies heading off to burst their lungs each day, whilst the rest of us became lazy downhiller(s / -wannabes!). The first day saw us ride the hardest trails in the area, including the semi-infamous 'tennis court run', a mix of super-steep, super-tight switchbacks, rocks, roots, off-camber-ness, mud and generally impossible (for some of us anyway) riding. Other trails saw yet more mud, increasingly muddy, steep and large drop-offs roots and rocks. Thursday brought a slightly different agenda, meeting up with Chris M. to do a more XC-orientated ride involving some pretty knackering climbs, albeit rewarded by some more awesome downhills. The first day saw crashes galore with some suffering more than others (esp. Roger who tried as hard as possible to skin both shins, knees, elbows and forearms), although these did gradually decrease in number during the week, despite (again!) Roger's attempts to up his score by going over the bars about 5 times in a row on the gulley run - many points awarded for guts ( / stupidity!) though. Bodies returned yet more scarred, bruised and battered at the end of each day, and our bikes started to suffer too. Whilst some of us escaped with almost no mechanicals at all (one ripped tyre each for Andy and Tom, one disc brake leakage for me, a few bits of missing disc rotor for Martin), others suffered more - notably Phil Rogers with a bent crank and chainrings, bent then snapped brake lever, bent bars, dented, wobbly and paint-less (Rolf) wheels and generally sh*te Judy forks.
On the social side of things, Les Gets began to stir as the Mountain Biking World Cup rolled into town for the final rounds of the downhill, cross-country and 4-cross. The once dead bars slowly woke up, even our haunt for the week, the Irish bar, cashing in on this increased custom for its 'acquired taste' Getoise home-brew! Tuesday night was a heavy one for most, with the opening of the one and only club, L'Igloo, at midnight.. Drinking alongside numerous famous MTBers at the Aussie bar, expecations for L'Igloo were mounting, a fever building (ish!)... arriving there just after midnight (the people in front having had to knock to get in!) we found ourselves in a totally different world, very surreal indeed.. The size of our chalet (at most), filled with wasted mountain bikers and bike celebs and serving £7 pints, we were stunned. Having eventually persuaded Phil not to buy a bottle of vodka for £65 ("it'll work out much cheaper overall" [slurred] ), some superb dance moves followed (notably Phil's sliding across the dancefloor on his knees up to some random bird!) and continued until the small hours. A winding route home followed, memorable if only for the misdirection of a certain baseball bat....
Saturday saw the World Cup runs begin properly, and a day of spectating was gratefully received by all now-knackered parties. With Steve Peat winning the round and the World Cup series on an incredible DH course that took us over 2 hours to walk down, followed by some amazing 4x action, the week was completed in style, just leaving a very hungover trip back to Geneva in the cool bus and onwards to Luton and well-earned rest.
Finally, awards for the week go to:
- Most mechanicals / trashed bits: Phil Rogers
- Worst injuries (biking related): Roger Cheng
- Worst injuries (non biking related!): Pete Thomas
- Fastest crash: James (approx. 10 minutes into 1st day!)
- Most faffing / random humour): Chris Barratt (parcel tape, seatposts &
photos of the ceiling). - Most balls award: Tom, refused to shirk at anything!
- Food quality award: Andy Robson (chocolate & yoghurts)
- Food quantity award: Martin (off the scale)
So, an awesome week for all; thanks to Chris & Martin for the organising and for all those who came along for making it so good. Hopefully just the first of many....
James D.