[buckoW]

I am bored at home on the couch with the flu while my friends and family are out skiing and snowboarding so I thought I would share some pics from some of my favorite spots. Christophe Margot took the photos and you can see more of his stuff at www.photomargot.com

These shots are from Loschentaal, Switzerland where you ride up in a tram and then it takes 2 hours to get down some buffed singletrack.

These next photos are from a place called Malcesine, Italy on Lake Garda.
You take a tram to the top and then have lake views all the way down. These trails take easily 2 to 3 hours to get down depending on if you are pinned or fully pinned. The Italian military made these "mule grade" trails and they are perfect for no braking most of the time.

I am very lucky to live in a place with so much lift accessed terrain and have a friend that is a great photographer. If you guys have time, check out his site. There are a lot of cool summer and winter pics. Oh yeah, and ride the alps if you ever get the chance. There are way too many great spots!
-Ben

 

[buckoW]

and one more from my favorite home trail that I have been building for 6 years.

photo by John Wellburn

 

[buckoW]

some I Phone pics

Train shuttles get a bit hectic when we have a big crew not to mention that the other passengers don't know what to make of the smell.

Getting ready to drop in on one of my favorite trails in Verbier with 4200 vertical feet of elevation from Ruinettes down to La Chable.

 

[jonKranked]

looks epic!!!! How much lift access terrain is in the area? a lot?

 

[William42]

Looks like its time to take a trip to the alps

 

[buckoW]

looks epic!!!! How much lift access terrain is in the area? a lot?

Switzerland has a lot of mountains and a lot of public transportation so most of the year we ride trains and gondolas to access the trails. If you know how to read a map then it is a gold mine of unheard of spots. Every fall I go exploring new mini trams with sweet trails and because everything is so close in Europe compared to the US that a 2 hour drive can offer new unexplored territory depending on the direction.

Trams like this aren't even for skiing but are perfect for biking.

This trail leads back to my house.

 

[IH8Rice]

not to mention that the other passengers don't know what to make of the smell.

so mountain bikers smell?



awesome shots though....looks like diablow...jk

 

[CBJ]

Great pictures they don't even need more shimzzzz - you have been rep'ed.

 

[vinny4130]

i think i hate you. some friends of mine were in a similar area earlier this year. seeing your pics reminds me; i hate them too. i like the bridge over the water pic.

 

[Fool]

This, is a far cry better than the 20-second ghetto run through the crackhead, transient and sodomite-enthusiast infested City park up the street from my apartment, although there is a 20-foot stepdown over a sticker bush here.

Fun stuff. Thanks for the pics.

 

[boogenman]

everything here sucks. That look snice

 

[WestCoastHucker]

this is a really dope picture...

 

[sethimus]

These shots are from Loschentaal, Switzerland where you ride up in a tram and then it takes 2 hours to get down some buffed singletrack.

do you mean http://www.loetschental.ch/ ?

 

[Sam B]

Hell yeah!

Verbier was so much fun... dang... everything was! Thanks to Ben, his brother, Dan, Sergio, Lo Lo and anyone else I got to ride with - awesome time. Hopefully I can do it again!

BTW - Dan e-mailed me but I was having a hard time with his e-mail address. Let him know I tried to reply thanks!

 

[Horror Business]

Wow, that looks awesome! Thanks for posting, it is great to see the riding in other parts of the world.

 

[Damo]

Lose your gloves Ben?

Up up for a Lake Garda trip sometime.

Get better soon mate!

 

[buckoW]

Hell yeah!

Verbier was so much fun... dang... everything was! Thanks to Ben, his brother, Dan, Sergio, Lo Lo and anyone else I got to ride with - awesome time. Hopefully I can do it again!

BTW - Dan e-mailed me but I was having a hard time with his e-mail address. Let him know I tried to reply thanks!

Yeah, that was fun. Are you guys coming back next summer?

I will let Dan know.

 

[buckoW]

do you mean http://www.loetschental.ch/ ?

Haha, yes, I meant that one. My Swiss German is not so hot but my French kind of makes up for it. Have you ridden there?

 

[buckoW]

Lose your gloves Ben?

Up up for a Lake Garda trip sometime.

Get better soon mate!

I only like to wear gloves when I crash.

Yeah, let's do it. The local guys I was riding with have now started building a bikepark and it sounds like it will make a great spot greaterr.

 

[Ian Collins]

i was pretty happy living in southern california......after seeing those pictures i want to go light my local 300 foot ant hill riding area on fire.......you're lucky

 

[moegocanes]

amazing

 

[buckoW]

I am spending another day on the couch with a fever so I figured I will post some more pics.

Another small relatively unknown spot is Streza, Italy. It is all underground builders and the wine crate construction techniques add to the technical factor of the stunts. Oh, and they have a sweet tram for bikes.

Riding through the small streets at the bottom of the trail to get back to the tram. Sometimes you can find cool wallrides if you are looking hard.

I stumbled across this diving board that was super rickety and decided to take a big breathe (to make myself lighter) while I was on it and luckily nothing broke. It has a sniper tranny to add to the sketch factor.

Another shady wine crate diving board

There are all kinds of cool old buildings hiding in the woods. A "bike in bike out" shack with tram access would be fun to have....

Little snack on the beach before heading up for another run. I never did manage to do more than 3 runs in a day. I tried but they are long runs. This is in Garda, btw.

Beers at cool little MTB bars on cobblestone streets after some of the best riding of my life. Doesn't get much better and it's very hard to not get hammered.

all the above photos by Christophe Margot www.photomargot.com


A little more action to go with the scenics. This is Julein Fournier. I was his BMX coach since he was 11 yrs. old. Now he is 17 and doesn't need anymore help from me.. He is on a 6 in. travel bike there, btw.

 

[buckoW]

This shot is from Malcesine, Italy. Me hitting the "Il Droppo" with my new Italian friends. We can hardly communicate but thanks to the bike we rode together for a week and drank like pirates every night. (there was even a drunk 80 year old guy that thought he was a pirate, the joke is, that he has only been out on the lake and never on the open sea) Check the wine crate construction I'm talking about. It actually is wine crates!

 

[Steve M]

You bastard. Soooo jealous!

 

[djamgils]

I stumbled across this diving board that was super rickety and decided to take a big breathe (to make myself lighter) while I was on it and luckily nothing broke. It has a sniper tranny to add to the sketch factor.

That is on mount mottarona in stresa Italy right?
There is another track, its called the Toblerona (I think) that one is more of a dh race track.
In the movie Re-focus the part of marco and claudio is also there.

 

[buckoW]

Yeah, that is in Stresa. I rode a couple of trails there with some Italian locals and we couldn't communicate very well so I didn't get the names of anything. I will have to check out Re-focus. I liked the trails there. The leaves were covering up the wet roots and slick rocks so you had to stay off the brakes and drift around everything, it was good fun. I especially liked the super old roads that are now pretty rough rock gardens where if it gets too hairy you can ride up on the sides and hopefully find a better line later.

 

[jackalope]

Criminy...More great ride pix from abroad...Place looks just fantastic!

Thanks for posting - hope you feel better ASAP.

 

[John P.]

Great looking stuff man. Ridebig.com offers a couple of trips each year to that area, and I used to think they seemed a little over-priced. After checking out your pics, I've got to start saving my money!

--JP

 

[dhmike]

great pics buckow !

 

[sethimus]

Haha, yes, I meant that one. My Swiss German is not so hot but my French kind of makes up for it. Have you ridden there?

no, just interested. which tram did you take there? only seen a cable car on their homepage.

 

[buckoW]

In english a cable car can be called a tram. I am stuck between languages these days.

 

[buckoW]

Thanks for the props guys. I am back to healthy and Sven Martin just sent me a couple pics, so here is me tabling a drop on my oldest trail in Morgins, Switzerland.

if anyone goes to ride Morgins give me a call. I would love to show you guys around.

 

[-C-]

You're a lucky guy with all that on your doorstep Ben

Next year we will be taking the trip out to Morgins & further afield. Hopefully my girlfriend won't nail herself 8 days into a 3 week trip like this year, kinda limited our riding for the rest of the time...

How long does it take to drive from Morzine to Morgins? I drove to Chatel this year (to collect her from hospital) & it was a nightmare, loads of roads closed made the journey twice as long it should have been!

 

[buckoW]

Hey -C-

Morgins is only 5 or 10 minutes farther than Chatel. Send me a PM when you come and maybe we can get in a ride or two.

 

[-C-]

Willdo, it's going to be a long 7 months until July though. I've still got your number from this year, just with the crash we never got out that far again...

I need to get me a job out there I think! :biggrin:

 

[RTG]

Very cool pictures buckow.

I will hopefully be going to Arco (lake Garda) next year but also might go somewhere near Morzine. How busy are the trails in your local riding area? Seems very natural, I like that!
Those trams easily allow bikes, etc there?

 

[Sam B]

Yeah, that was fun. Are you guys coming back next summer?

I will let Dan know.

I hope so.... too early to tell. I've got a busy schedule this year... definitely doing to try and make it happen though.

 

[dondon]

i want to see the shots with the worlds heaviest helmet!

 

[buckoW]

i want to see the shots with the worlds heaviest helmet!

Sounds good, I will put them up after I get home from riding (snowboard) today. There are some cool shots in there, thanks again.

 

[buckoW]

Here are some shots from Morgins, Switzerland from this summer when I follow cammed Romo for the upoming Kranked movie. Thanks to Sven Martin aka dondon for the photos.

I forgot that my fork was tuned for my weight and not my weight plus 10 kilos extra on my head.

I bottomed especially hard on this drop.

It is a mini 16mm film camera with a huge battery on the other side to counterweight. If it was any heavier I think I would need a neck brace to hold my head up.

Here are a ouple other riding shots from that day.

Thanks again for the pics dondon.