One thing that I remember about the UK at the time I left the island was that the seasons were becoming very blurred into each other. You could have a summer’s day in February or a monsoon for all of July and August. Or more the usual steady monochromatic grey overcast dreariness that always prevailed. As a rider I became indifferent to the conditions, I’d always assume the worst whenever I was packing my gear up to go riding and even if it had been sunny and in the mid-twenties for a week with nothing but sunshine on the weather forecast I’d always have an extra layer and a waterproof tucked into a corner of the car.

Raging waterfalls in the alps as the snow from the hills above starts its journey to the sea.
Photo © Soren Rickards

Four seasons 

Since I’ve been in the Alps I’ve reacclimatised myself to what I’d call ‘proper seasons’. Although the mountains are notoriously unpredictable, even dangerously unpredictable at certain times of my year, there are at least some guarantees: In winter it will generally be bloody cold and everything will get covered in snow; this then melts in the spring and flies down the mountain and off waterfalls; the place then goes lurid green as the temperature rises during the summer; then slowly cooling again as winter approaches once more. Sometimes these transitions are like a switch being thrown. There’s been more than one autumn when I’ve been out on my bike in shorts and t-shirt on dusty trails and then the weekend after I’ll have a snowboard on my feet. Instant winter. The seasons are very much part of life here, the tourist industry, farming and simple day-to-day life are all based around these distinct patterns.

In an earlier post that I pledged my allegiance to MTB at the start of the winter and vowed to keep the wheels turning through the snowy months. What I didn’t know at the time was that we were on the brink of one of the mightiest winters of snowfall for eight or nine years! Metres and metres of the stuff came down relentlessly all winter, making for some of the best skiing conditions I’ve ever experienced. However, despite this I kept true to my promise to keep riding. I’m good like that.

Snow? Pah

At the height of winter it was utterly pointless to try to get a bike out there. Fun as it was at the start of the winter to go and thrash about in 20-30cms of white stuff, when you start measuring the snow in metres it’s a different story. Besides, I’d prefer to be out snowboarding anyway! So it wasn’t until there was a bit of a lull in the snowfall in February that I decided to get the bikes out again, shuttling some of the summer haunts with varying degrees of success with a number of other hardcore bike riders. If someone had been out on snowshoes and left a trail this would freeze up and leave a nice crust on the top of the snowpack, which would support your wheels enough to ride reasonably normally. Should you stop concentrating for a split second and let your front wheel stray from this tightest of singletrack a very swift exit over the bars would be your reward! As someone was inevitably doing exactly this at any given point of the ride it was virtually impossible to maintain any levels of concentration in between fits of cruel laughter.

Fallen trees and tons of snow made for heavy going over the height of winter.

Other times you’d find yourself trudging for hours through heavy slush, feet soaked to the bone and dragging a clogged up and useless bicycle behind you as you’d ‘underestimated’ the amount of snow on a particular trail, caught out by the conditions miles from home. I call this ‘the spirit of adventure’.

Another sortie involved taking the car up the road to the middle station of the local ski hill before bombing back down the pistes. I still remember the look that a Parisian tourist gave me as I overtook him on a bicycle as he was doing his best attempt at a speed tuck! Riding on the pistes was amazing fun but we really thought we were playing with fire after that one go at it. Although we picked a quiet time to try it the reality was that you can’t exactly stop on a sixpence with a bike on snow and ice, no matter how good your brakes are. We thought it was only a matter of time before we collided with a skier, mowed down ski school or, even worse, lost our lift passes. We thought it better to retreat to the forests once again.

The big melt 

Eventually after one hell of a winter the thermometer started to creep back into plus figures much more regularly and the lower slopes of the mountains thawed bit-by-bit. By early April spring had well and truly sprung and the lower half of the mountain, including some of the bike trails, had dried out completely. Feeling dry, loamy dirt back under your wheels is such a great sensation after months of flailing around on snow and ice.

One of the gondolas took the frankly groundbreaking step of allowing us up the lift with our bikes (either that or the lifty was such a space cadet that he didn‘t notice we weren‘t his usual clientele, this is a highly likely possibility). That’s a funny scene when you have a cabin full of people wrapped up in ski gear and two blokes in shorts with bikes!

Needless to say we milked this opportunity for all it was worth for the last two weeks the lift stayed open, skiing in the morning until the heat turned the snow to mush and then after a quick change heading back out on the bikes.

Time to shuttle

Spring is not the time to be adventuring deep into the mountains though. For the last few weeks the sounds of avalanches and rock falls have been echoing around the valley as the mountains shake off the last of their white winter coats.

It’s time to re-find the old familiar trails, brush up the skills and get your head in gear. There’s nothing quite as intimidating as steep, rooty chute full of mud like chocolate and ruts as deep as your axles when you’ve been used to pristine white slopes for a few months.

Dodgy shuttle runs r us.

With just a downhill machine to play with at the moment the name of the game has been shuttle runs as the local downhill trails thaw. The amount of snow that fell over winter caused significant damage to some trees in the forest that couldn’t support the mass of crystals on their branches, so leading a group out can be quite a daunting experience as the trails are littered with fallen trees and branches. One second you’ll feel that flow again as you start to remember the contours and ripples of your favourite trail and the next you’ve both brakes locked up skidding along yelling ‘stop, stop, stop!’ to the guys behind you as you find yourself careering towards what looks like a giant sequoia lying across the fastest bit of the trail.

Spring greens. Well, onions actually. Summer’s just around the corner!
Photo © Soren Rickards

Which monster peak next?

This little taste of summer has awoken all the thoughts and plans I’d been making in the autumn of things I wanted to do the following summer with my bike, and places I’d promised myself I’d get to. As all the loam and leaves start to brush off the trails and the same old ruts and holes begin to form, that desire to get away and up into the hills begins to grow stronger. More and more I find myself pouring over maps and glancing up at the hills, watching the snow recede exposing another part of the mountains I haven’t yet reached with my bike. That’s just the hills I can see from my window, the lifetime of riding that the Haute Savoie contains is truly mind-blowing and sometimes the toughest choice I have is what or where to ride next….

There are quite a few plans nearing fruition that I’m looking forward to putting into words, it won’t be long now, roll on summer.

Nick Maher at home in the Alps. Stay tuned for more soon.
Photo © Soren Rickards

From Avid:

Enduro racer Curtis Keene has ridden trails all over the world. From dry, desert rock to deep forest singletrack, Curtis says it’s all about getting after it and experiencing what’s out there. Avid brakes help Curtis ride fast and win races—but more importantly they put powerful, reliable performance right at his fingertips every time he rides. So he can think less about his bike and more about Chasing Trail.

Top 5 results:

Men’s

1.MCCONNELL Daniel
2.MANTECON GUTIERREZ Sergio
3.KULHAVY Jaroslav
4.MAROTTE Maxime
5.FLÜCKIGER Lukas

Women’s

1.LECHNER Eva
2.WLOSZCZOWSKA Maja
3.LEUMANN Katrin
4.ZAKELJ Tanja
5.ENGEN Alexandra

For further information and a written report head over to RedBullBike.

From cross country to downhill and even 4X, there were established pro riders from every corner of the sport doing battle in one racing format that many are labelling a ‘true’ mountain bike race and above all, every one of them seemed to be enjoying the racing and general positive atmosphere at Puntala Resort.

We’ll have a big report coming this week but for now enjoy the official highlights edit from Rockinthemiddle.

From the organiser:

A film of this year’s second round of the British Cycling Nation MTB XC Series held at Wheal Maid Valley, Cornwall, The team at Fully Sussed, as well as co-sponsors Juice Lubes, were the first to bring a round of the National Series as far west as Cornwall. This film is only the second race of the day, highlights of the men’s elite, expert and sport categories. All of the categories were filmed and will be shown at a later date.

Click here for the men’s full replay and here for the women’s.

Racing’s done and dusted in Albstadt, click over to RedBullBike for the full replays.
Photo © Sven Martin

There are still riders finishing the final stage of the race but at this point none of them will be able to challenge at the top end of the results sheet.

Click over to the Superenduro (organisers of this round of the World Series) website for full results.

Anne-Caroline Chausson unfortunately had a big crash early in the day and is in hospital with one or two broken ribs, get well soon to her. On a lighter crash-related note, Britain’s Josh Bryceland had one of the strangest of the day on the first stage as he crashed over the bars and in the process lost a shoe in the bushes… Don’t you hate it when that happens?

It was exciting stuff watching some of the world’s most talented and proven mountain bikers battle it out with relative unknowns such as Martin Maes (who finished fourth overall and he’s still at school!) and more interestingly to see some of the sport’s big names suffer somewhat in a discipline which is unknown to them. Steve Peat was unfortunately one of those riders as was 10xWorld Champion Nicolas Vouilloz, both finishing outside the top 15.

We’ll have a full report later and a rider’s report coming this week so stay tuned.

Take a ride through the streets with Kona’s Alex Stock from yesterday’s prologue:

Seeing the pedal to the metal style of the full-time enduro racers, particularly Jerome Clementz and Alex Lupato, was not only inspiring but also an insight to their intentions on race day. Nicolas Vouilloz showed his almost scientific approach to downhill racing (which won him 10 world titles) as he was adjusting his forks mid-run. Fabien Barel proved his all-round prowess as he finished in runners-up spot and flamboyant Cedric Gracia scorched the hill to round off the podium, both are likely to be finishing near the top of the results sheet today.

Anne-Caroline Chausson took the women’s prologue and expect to see her at the top of not only her category but also the overall results today.
Photo © Superenduro

As a final note before we go chasing the riders around the four stages today, it’s worth mentioning that Steve Peat and Nicolas Vouilloz will spend the whole day (the race will take around 5 hours) riding together as they are seeded together…

UCI World Cup XC 2013 kicked off last night with the Eliminator race in Albstadt, Germany. Stay tuned for the main race on Sunday over on RedBullBike.
Photo © Sven Martin

Red Bull’s live racing coverage of XC World Cup round 1 starts at precisely 10.18 on Sunday 19 May.

If you want to fast-track to the results, click over to the UCI’s round-up of the racing here.