Our next adventure was to stay in a chalet in Chamonix and ride with guides daily. 1050 was the tour company and at first I was ambivalent of the whole tour thing because I always fear they wont go as fast as I want, or as far as Id like. This operation rocks and I totally recommend them. The chalet is great, they serve you breakfast, fix you a giant sub sandwich for lunch, cake and tea upon return from your rides each day, and dinner with wine each night. The guides are very good riders, in fact, several of them race the Grand Raid Cristalp each year and finish VERY high. They were always faster than me on the descents, and most of them climbed my pace or faster so I was stoked. http://www.10fifty.com/
Sunday we did a nice break-in loop that had a bit of everything. I didnt take many pictures because it was overcast and drizzly.
I would describe the riding as pretty technical with root and rocky sections everywhere. Lots of the climbs were fireroads with steep switchbacks, or singeltracks with challenging roots and obstacles. 1050 doesnt allow beginners and it was a good thing. This was some of the most technical riding I have ever done. We started at around 10:30 each day and didnt get back to the chalet until 4 or 5 usually, so these were full day adventures.
Monday was a big ride up to Lac Vert and then we continued up to where Derek and I added on the extra credit loop up to some tiny little village that I cant remember the name of. This is at the base of that climb which was very very steep. Granny gear climbing for 30 minutes at least.
The descent after that was downright dangerous in spots and then opened up into a rip roaring section that was truly a blast. It was overcast again and dark in the forested sections so I didnt take many riding pictures.
I know this one is a bit blurry, but it at least shows what most of the descent looked like. Obviously it is steeper in real life
We named the new section of trail we took that afternoon McSketch. It was a steep twisty leafy descent with plenty of rooty fun that everyone loved. As we neared the valley floor it broke out in a downpour. That was the only day we shutteled back to the Chalet.
Tuesday was really a very difficult day. I dont know that Ive ridden anything that demanding in quite awhile. I have no idea how far it was, only that it was an all day ride with a large portion of the time spent climbing. Once again we couldnt see any of the surrounding mountains through the fog really just glimpses here and there. We rode up out of town towards Montroc on a series of fun singletrack sections, then took a fun little trail around and down into the next valley to the base of the climb. Here we started a climb to the climb. Haha The real climb was an all out, serious incline. It switchbacked up and up and up, then more up, steep sections, more switchbacks and then finally to a lift.
This was only the halfway point but we stopped to regroup. At this point it started drizzling and the wind kicked up a notch. Perfect. We climbed some more and some more, some really steep pitches and of course more switchbacks. We arrived at another lift where I ducked under the building to eat a sandwich and wait for others. At this point a few people decided they were too cold and didnt want to go any higher or climb any more and turned back. The rest of us pushed on for more climbing. I kid you not, this is the most climbing I think I have done in several years and I have done a lot. It was a brutal grind to the top where I thought we would start a decent, but we climbed on some singletrack even further around to the other side of the mountain. HAHAh we had to descend soon. Sure enough, we did. It was completely fogged in and raining so I got no pictures, but the singeltrack was really cool. It was a rocky little ribbon with switchbacks slashing down the mountain. We were above the treeline but soon descended into it and continued the fun descent. We ended up popping out on the road up the valley from Chamonix and rode furiously for the cake and coffee/tea that awaited us every evening upon our return. It was really the hardest day of riding I have done in quite a while and I would love to do it again and take some pictures. We all hit one of the local bars pretty hard for some cocktails and beer that night.
Sunday we did a nice break-in loop that had a bit of everything. I didnt take many pictures because it was overcast and drizzly.
I would describe the riding as pretty technical with root and rocky sections everywhere. Lots of the climbs were fireroads with steep switchbacks, or singeltracks with challenging roots and obstacles. 1050 doesnt allow beginners and it was a good thing. This was some of the most technical riding I have ever done. We started at around 10:30 each day and didnt get back to the chalet until 4 or 5 usually, so these were full day adventures.
Monday was a big ride up to Lac Vert and then we continued up to where Derek and I added on the extra credit loop up to some tiny little village that I cant remember the name of. This is at the base of that climb which was very very steep. Granny gear climbing for 30 minutes at least.
The descent after that was downright dangerous in spots and then opened up into a rip roaring section that was truly a blast. It was overcast again and dark in the forested sections so I didnt take many riding pictures.
I know this one is a bit blurry, but it at least shows what most of the descent looked like. Obviously it is steeper in real life
We named the new section of trail we took that afternoon McSketch. It was a steep twisty leafy descent with plenty of rooty fun that everyone loved. As we neared the valley floor it broke out in a downpour. That was the only day we shutteled back to the Chalet.
Tuesday was really a very difficult day. I dont know that Ive ridden anything that demanding in quite awhile. I have no idea how far it was, only that it was an all day ride with a large portion of the time spent climbing. Once again we couldnt see any of the surrounding mountains through the fog really just glimpses here and there. We rode up out of town towards Montroc on a series of fun singletrack sections, then took a fun little trail around and down into the next valley to the base of the climb. Here we started a climb to the climb. Haha The real climb was an all out, serious incline. It switchbacked up and up and up, then more up, steep sections, more switchbacks and then finally to a lift.
This was only the halfway point but we stopped to regroup. At this point it started drizzling and the wind kicked up a notch. Perfect. We climbed some more and some more, some really steep pitches and of course more switchbacks. We arrived at another lift where I ducked under the building to eat a sandwich and wait for others. At this point a few people decided they were too cold and didnt want to go any higher or climb any more and turned back. The rest of us pushed on for more climbing. I kid you not, this is the most climbing I think I have done in several years and I have done a lot. It was a brutal grind to the top where I thought we would start a decent, but we climbed on some singletrack even further around to the other side of the mountain. HAHAh we had to descend soon. Sure enough, we did. It was completely fogged in and raining so I got no pictures, but the singeltrack was really cool. It was a rocky little ribbon with switchbacks slashing down the mountain. We were above the treeline but soon descended into it and continued the fun descent. We ended up popping out on the road up the valley from Chamonix and rode furiously for the cake and coffee/tea that awaited us every evening upon our return. It was really the hardest day of riding I have done in quite a while and I would love to do it again and take some pictures. We all hit one of the local bars pretty hard for some cocktails and beer that night.
