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

[capediver]

New Pleney lift cars going on. The lift can take up to 2800 skiers an hour in the winter so come summer expect the queues to be very short. Also no more annoying stairs to push your bikes up.

 

Faaark that's a long way down from there!

[Guest Omega Man]

My Alps bike ready to roll on her first test outing.

 

[Guest Omega Man]

Faaark that's a long way down from there!

Ja it's almost 600m from the top lift station to the bottom one. There's no earning your turns there.

Edited December 7, 2013 by Omega Man

[beanz]

Hey go ride your new bike and tell us what it's like!

[Guest Omega Man]

Hey go ride your new bike and tell us what it's like!

 

My Morzmachine

[hayleyearth]

Whats the size of your rear disk?

Dont you think that chainring will be toooooo small for Morz?

[Guest Omega Man]

Whats the size of your rear disk?

Dont you think that chainring will be toooooo small for Morz?

Both rotors are 203. That's specifically for France. What chainring the front 30? I don't think so. I might take a 34 and 38 over just in case tho. But they aren't narrow wide. You need to remember when you are over there it's nothing like here. You aren't trying to carry speed or pedal out of corners cos the trails are flat.

 

The trails are steep so pedaling is very much a secondary thought. All you have to do to go fast is let go of the brakes. If anything you are trying to slow down not speed up.

 

BTW I spoke to a few guys on the weekend who have done trips on single crown bikes and their feedback was pretty much what I expected. They reckon the braking bumps are the only real problem and that's easily remedied by not riding the Les Gets main line. Some guys reckon it's more fun on a single crown bike cos the tracks feel more rowdy on single crown bikes. I am going to try to source a coil shock just for the trip tho. So good news for you and I.

 

For you I'd recommend getting 203 rotors front and rear for the trip and if you can source a coil shock then that's always a good mod. Especially if you ride local DH races. You can whack in the coil for the races.

 

Then make the little mods i recommend like brake lever reach and angle and maybe some fat grips.

Edited December 9, 2013 by Omega Man

[Guest Omega Man]

So Um.....

 

There's 2 spots available in our Chalet. Anyone get an unexpected Xmas bonus and want to make the trip? Just a thought.

[Guest Omega Man]

Pleney lift is Up And Running. This is a VAST improvement over the shonky old thing they used to run on Pleney.

 

Hopefully the local trail builders will pop in some new trail for the summer.

 

 

Edited December 24, 2013 by Omega Man

[ibruegge]

So Um.....

 

There's 2 spots available in our Chalet. Anyone get an unexpected Xmas bonus and want to make the trip? Just a thought.

 

when..? :-)

[Guest Omega Man]

when..? :-)

We leave here 27 July and leave there 10 August. That's 12 full days on your bike in the biggest mountain biking area ON THE PLANET!

 

The trip will cost you 11 days of leave and 22k ALL IN.

 

Includes.

 

Flights

Accommodation

Breakfast & Dinner (for lunch you'll be out on the trails

Lift Passes for 24 ski lifts

Airport shuttles to and from Geneva.

 

The only extra's will be a visa, insurance and spending money. I budget on R300 a day and that's more than enough.

Edited December 24, 2013 by Omega Man

[ibruegge]

We leave here 27 July and leave there 10 August. That's 12 full days on your bike in the biggest mountain biking area ON THE PLANET!

 

The trip will cost you 11 days of leave and 22k ALL IN.

 

Includes.

 

Flights

Accommodation

Breakfast & Dinner (for lunch you'll be out on the trails

Lift Passes for 24 ski lifts

Airport shuttles to and from Geneva.

 

The only extra's will be a visa, insurance and spending money. I budget on R300 a day and that's more than enough.

 

 

wow. I think I spent that on a week in Knysna with the then in-laws. let check my calendar post Christmas, when the bosses are back...

[Guest Omega Man]

wow. I think I spent that on a week in Knysna with the then in-laws. let check my calendar post Christmas, when the bosses are back...

Yeah. We're planning on doing it every year so even if you don't make the 2014 trip there should be 2 trips in 2015.

 

You'll be amazed at how cheap it actually is. There's 3 reasons why I've managed to keep the costs down.

1. I'm not doing it to pay my bond so I'm not trying to make a profit out of it. I am financing my trip out of it tho.
   
2. Economies of scale. The bigger the group the stronger our bargaining power with the Chalets. 17 people have already booked and paid. I've booked flights and paid deposits at the Chalet already.
   
3. The chalet we are staying at is somewhat budget. It's not a backpackers but it's not 5 star. It's what they call seasonaires accommodation. Everything you need with none of the stuff you don't need. Including a half pipe just in case you want to hut yourself without venturing out on to the trails. You can spend 500 euro a night on plush accommodation but we are going for the amazing trail not amazing hotels.
   

[Guest Omega Man]

Some more pics of the new Pleney 10 seater. A friend of a friend is there right now and he reckons there are no queue's at Pleney at all. The lift is taking 2800 skiers up the hill an hour. Apparently the snow conditions are pretty dire tho.

 

 

 

[Guest Omega Man]

So to the Cape Town based guys making the trip I've organized a training session with Multiple SA Champ, World Cup Pro and all round nice guy Johan Potgieter.

 

The training will be at Tokai on the 31st at 3-6pm. I've messaged all the guys I can think of. If I've forgotten anyone please message me.

 

I've asked him to focus on getting the guys prepped for the Alps ITO bike setup. Riding Position etc. Should be good.

Edited December 28, 2013 by Omega Man

[Guest Omega Man]

http://www.pinkbike.com/video/344523/