Two things that you may not have heard of is Reunion Island and the Megavalanche. The first is a small island in the Indian Ocean, the second is a mass-start downhill in which 450 riders all set off at the same time and the first one to the bottom wins. The connection between the two is that the latter takes place on the former.

Someone you probably have heard of is Team Kona Clarks rider Fabien Barel. His part in the equation is that he just won it on a Kona Dawg Primo. Unusually for a downhill race the Megavalanche course contains some fairly substantial climbs, hence Barel’s decision not to use a full-blown DH bike. By his own admission Barel “struggled with his fitness” and dropped some places on the climbs, but he made them all back up on the technical descents, overtaking the last rider in front of him just 200m from the finish to win in a time of 42 minutes.