Want to ride your bike in the biggest Mountain Biking area in the world? 2.0

[hayleyearth]

About morzine and PDS, I've been doing a bit of looking into this and there do seem to be two ways of doing it.

 

1. You go with full DH bike and kit and you smash the DH trails.

2. You take a AM or heavy duty trail bike. Use the lifts where you can and do more of the out the way trails. Some of the steeper downhill trails will be either not that much fun or out of your league completely, but there's still plenty of fantastic trails that are perfectly doable on a non DH bike.

 

Is this correct or an oversimplification? If it is the case, then what matters more is who you go with and what their riding style is. @OM, what's the split here?

 

I think most of the things there my AM can do (not including the big road gaps and the huge things most people from here dont do anyway).........it doesnt mean I can do them though

I guess a 'big bike' can add to your confidence too though.

 

10 months to go

[NicoBoshoff]

Well you see this is the crucial question - will I get bang for my buck if I'm not going to be smashing DH trails, but rather the Blue runs and general AM trails checking the fauna and flora?

[patches]

Well you see this is the crucial question - will I get bang for my buck if I'm not going to be smashing DH trails, but rather the Blue runs and general AM trails checking the fauna and flora?

 

hahaha! don't under estimate the "blue trails"... their colour system is a step up from ours and some blues include road gaps and such.

 

That said, unless you're on the black diamond stuff in Chatel... most trails have a sae B and sometimes C line around the crazy stuff.

[NicoBoshoff]

Well I'm comfortabl

hahaha! don't under estimate the "blue trails"... their colour system is a step up from ours and some blues include road gaps and such.

 

That said, unless you're on the black diamond stuff in Chatel... most trails have a sae B and sometimes C line around the crazy stuff.

 

Well I'm comfortable on most stuff in Jonkers and Tokai and enjoy those types of trails.

 

Enjoy a jump or two, but big-ass gaps and 30%+ gradients aint my thang.

 

So? Ok or oi vey?

[Guest Omega Man]

There's only one way to do it. Come with my group. Hehehe.

 

Seriously tho. I always tell people to take the burliest bike they have. Whatever that is. You'll have the time of your life.

 

The pictures I have posted up is all guys on dh bikes but that's cos that's what we took over. There's loads of guys on single crown trail bikes having a blast. The trails for the most part start and end at the lift stations. The riding is centered around them. They form an integral part of the riding. The trails are all color graded in terms of technical difficulty not lung hemorrhaging like they are here.

 

The emphasis over there is on gravity. Remember it's a ski resort in the winter time and ski's don't climb very well so even the linking trails go down the hill. There's 20 odd ski lifts to help you gain altitude. Even the xc trails make use of the ski lift system. You can ride up the hills but you really don't want to. Not even the hardest EPO'd out roadies can do that day in and day out. You can EASILY do 10km vertically in a day using the lifts.

 

There are loads of out of the way trails linking the various resorts but for the most part they run along ridge lines so you'd still make use of the lift system. I'd say all of the trails apart from the black trails (Scary gnarly) are doable on a 160mm trail bike and even some of the easier black trails are doable on a trail bike. Honestly for me some of the easiest stuff is the most fun. I really enjoy the rough rooty rocky stuff too tho. Massive gaps and drops not so much.

 

The easy stuff will still have MASSIVE jumps in them but they will be tables and fully rollable and completely safe. The nice part is you'll be able to work your way up to clearing them over the days. The gap jumps typically have little red flags on them so you'll know before you hit something whether it's a gap or not.

 

Who you go with and what their riding style is isn't really that much of a problem cos the trails all for the most part start and end at the lift stations. When we go over there won't be 20 okes doing trains all day long. the beauty of the place is that you can start the day with one group. ride. then decide at lunch to head over the hill to a completely different town and finish the day up there. You sort of naturally gravitate to the guys who want to do the same trails as you on a particular day.

[Guest Omega Man]

Well you see this is the crucial question - will I get bang for my buck if I'm not going to be smashing DH trails, but rather the Blue runs and general AM trails checking the fauna and flora?

In a word. HELLYESSSS!

[Guest Omega Man]

Well I'm comfortable on most stuff in Jonkers and Tokai and enjoy those types of trails.

 

The (old) snake trails would be a green and the DH trail at Tokai is a blue with some red features to put things into perspective.

 

The new stuff on Canary at Jonkers is a green by Euro standards.

 

But don't be scared off. The stuff is built well. so on the blue, red and green stuff there's no dodgy tree stumps to grab your pedals and none of the stuff is built in a k@k manner with rotting logs and the like. It's Europe. Stuff is done properly.

 

Even the road gaps and gnarly stuff is built in a safe way. No rocks and dodgy stuff in the landings.

 

If it isn't the best riding experience of your life I'll give you all your money back. (provided it isn't pissing with rain for the whole 2 weeks of course)

Edited September 18, 2013 by Omega Man

[Guest Omega Man]

In 2011 my bike never arrived and I rented a GT ruckus on our first day. Despite that and being very tired from the flight the first few runs down Pleney was the best riding experience of my life (at the time). I then proceeded to have the best day's riding of my life every day for the next 9 days.

[hayleyearth]

The (old) snake trails would be a green and the DH trail at Tokai is a blue with some red features to put things into perspective.

 

The new stuff on Canary at Jonkers is a green by Euro standards.

 

 

I havent been in Tokai and Jonkers since end 2011, I am deffo making a trip there this December. Lets call that my 'warm up'

[Guest Omega Man]

I havent been in Tokai and Jonkers since end 2011, I am deffo making a trip there this December. Lets call that my 'warm up'

Come ride the new stuff we are building in Helderberg. 10 tables in a row ek se.

[Nofearnofun]

Just how expensive is it to hire a bike over there? I am thinking that for a day or two I should hire a DH rig if I feel confident to tackle the bigger stuff otherwise I'll just be on my AM the rest of the time.

[NicoBoshoff]

The (old) snake trails would be a green and the DH trail at Tokai is a blue with some red features to put things into perspective.

 

The new stuff on Canary at Jonkers is a green by Euro standards.

 

But don't be scared off. The stuff is built well. so on the blue, red and green stuff there's no dodgy tree stumps to grab your pedals and none of the stuff is built in a k@k manner with rotting logs and the like. It's Europe. Stuff is done properly.

 

Even the road gaps and gnarly stuff is built in a safe way. No rocks and dodgy stuff in the landings.

 

If it isn't the best riding experience of your life I'll give you all your money back. (provided it isn't pissing with rain for the whole 2 weeks of course)

 

From what I see in videos of the blue runs, it compares quite a bit (perhaps not in steepness as this is lost on camera) to Neverending story (all the way from the top) and the trail in Jonkers through the saplings with the big rock/wallride and jumps on?

 

THAT's what I love to ride.

[patches]

Just how expensive is it to hire a bike over there? I am thinking that for a day or two I should hire a DH rig if I feel confident to tackle the bigger stuff otherwise I'll just be on my AM the rest of the time.

 

Last year it ranged from 60 - 110 Euro/day.

 

60/70 Euro got one a Scott Voltage FR or a GT Ruckus 7". 110 Euro got them a Santa Cruz V10c

[NicoBoshoff]

But frankly the thing I'm most worried about is fitness. Last week I spent three hours in Jonkers just exploring on my ace and I was smashed.

 

Had such cramps from the long periods of descending in squat position with dropper-post down. Kaput eksê!

 

So time to pull those kettle bells closer and start pushing the squats and lunges

[Guest Omega Man]

From what I see in videos of the blue runs, it compares quite a bit (perhaps not in steepness as this is lost on camera) to Neverending story (all the way from the top) and the trail in Jonkers through the saplings with the big rock/wallride and jumps on?

 

THAT's what I love to ride.

Ja pretty much except the trail isn't 5cm wide in places like on neverending. Imagine a steeper version of neverending. With some safe jumps. THAT YOU CAN DO 15 TIMES IN A DAY!!!! Oh and that's 3km of the 650km. Why people aren't bashing my door down to come with next year I'll never know. I guess it's one of those things you have to experience to truly understand how good it is.

[Guest Omega Man]

Just how expensive is it to hire a bike over there? I am thinking that for a day or two I should hire a DH rig if I feel confident to tackle the bigger stuff otherwise I'll just be on my AM the rest of the time.

The place we are staying at has Specialzed Status's that you can rent cheaper than at the shops. BOOM! Yes I have thought of everything.