Coping with Change

I did one of my standard mountain bike rides today. I think the last time I did it was in June with my son. At one point there are a couple of small rocky drops where the trail descends to cross a 4x4 track - but you don't really need to slow for it.

Well,that was then - you need to slow now. Someone has dug a drainage ditch along the side of the road and the ditch can easily swallow up a mountain bike. Fortunately I was able to stop in time, but it was a nasty surprise...

A different kind of mountain biking

Today I headed to Allos for a bit of mountain biking. Many ski resorts use mountain biking as a way of generating some business in summer. It's a much more leisurely operation than 'normal' mountain biking - you and your bike ride up on a chair lift (a bit of a relief in the current heat) and come down prepared trails. 

The mountain bike trails are maintained to give a fairly constant challenge - lots of corners. But the challenge is never overwhelming - no dangerous drops and every corner is conveniently banked. The trails are designed to be ridden fast by good riders, rather than to provide huge technical challenges. Little wooden bridges, ramps and jumps add to the interest. Altogether more user-friendly than trails in nature!

The riders were a bit different too. Full face helmets and body armor were the norm. Lots of kids. It was great fun - each ride (chairlift up and ride down) took about 20 minutes, so you can get a lot of riding in during a morning.  

   

Mountain Bike on the Crete des Serres

One of the nice things about St Andre (and the southern alps in general) is that it's pretty quiet. You can go for a long hike or mountain bike ride and see no-one all day. Things are also less 'documented' than elsewhere - there are fewer books on hikes and fewer recorded mountain bike rides. This all adds to the sense of adventure and you sometimes have to 'discover' your own hikes or mountain bike rides.

Today was such a day. I found a decent route up the Crete des Serres on my mountain bike  - it was a bit of a slog but almost all of it could be done on the bike. The ride down was via the standard hike down from Serre Gros - much more fun on a mountain bike than hiking! Of course, lots of people will have done the ride before, and I hope everyone else has had the same sense of adventure I did!

Looking forwards and backwards

At the top, looking down

I had a nice mountain bike ride today that involved climbing up a mountain (the Lieye) then descending it via a nice trail under beech trees. The trail was a bit hard to see sometimes, hidden under the leaves. Anyway, I took a picture looking down from the top and one from the bottom looking back up.

Looking back up from the bottom

Discretion versus Valour

At the col, looking East to the Lacs de Lignin

La Baisse du Detroit is a narrow, high (2500m) col on a hiking trail that can be crossed on a mountain bike. It's about 5 hours walk from any road. Today the temperature was just above freezing and the wind was very strong - I'd guess gusting to 100 km/h when I crossed the col. The route down is tricky and goes over huge boulders - if you fall, the only thing you'll hit will be rocks. I was by myself (though I had a SPOT locator and mobile phone) and fully aware the situation was as serious as soloing a climbing route in the Alps. 

If you fall from your bike and can't get up, you can't be rescued by helicopter (the wind is too strong). You'll have to wait at least 5 hours for assistance, and possibly overnight. If you're too injured to put on every layer of clothing, overnight survival is far from certain. Hmm...

Getting back on my bike after the tricky bit

Not a difficult choice. I walked my bike down the tricky part of the descent before resuming my ride.

Corradour Mountain Bike Ride

I'm slowly gaining competence on my mountain bike and going further into (and higher up) the local mountains. Sometimes this involves following an established mountain bike route, sometimes it means using existing paths and forest roads to make your own route. Sometimes it all works smoothly, sometimes you find yourself pushing the bike a lot. Today things went pretty smoothly - I was able to use a forest road to climb up to 2000m, then follow a relatively flat hiking trail to join the Transverdon (a long distance mountain bike route) for a ride through the mountains and a tricky descent back to valley level. 

Some pics

My New Toy

I've got more free time and I've bought myself a mountain bike. It's a new experience for me and it feels a bit strange. I've been cycling for ages but that doesn't help so much when the trail gets technical. But learning is a big part of the fun...

Today I took my toy up a mountain I've flown over many times (and hiked and hiked+flown a few times) - le Petit Cordoeil. It took a long time to get up and I was down in a jiffy - a bit like ski-touring or hike and flies. I'm not sure if this is more or less dangerous than paragliding. In the meantime I remove my SPOT locator from my flight deck when I take my new toy out - just in case. A few more pics...  ...