Cider, wine, food and bikes....

Yep... Dangerous Dave has been to France again.

I'm afraid I don't have many pictures yet as one of the guys has run off with them on his external HDD but we are working on "reaquiring them".

After last years disaster we were all hoping for fine weather and we weren’t disappointed – we arrived to the sight of everyone using wetscreams and thought, “Oh Sh**, not again!” Our fears were averted by bright sunshine the next day and the weather only improved as the holiday went on, with only another 2 days of half arsed rain to make the trails “more interesting”.

We stayed in Riders Retreat, with the idea that this year, we would make a holiday out of it rather than sleeping in a dump like previous years. Proper bedrooms and all rooms having en-suite meant that there was no queue for the shower and you had a place to hide if 11 other mad gits got on your nerves.

I’ve noticed this year that my riding isn’t as confident as it had been – I’m putting this down to realising I can’t afford to break myself but I have a cunning plan to get rid of this “fear” in the next year.

We rode some pretty awesome trails, and put some demons to rest (Morgins Freeride track – steep, rooty switchbacks of death down a ridge that we all slid down on our arses last year in the gloop). Also rode some pretty fantastic “singletrack”. When I say singletrack, I mean singletrack in the sense you can only truly fit one rider down at a time – but the similarity with the XC singletrack back here stops there… we are talking stuff so steep your arse is behind you back tyre, and your bars are lower than your pedals. AWESOME stuff.

Eating was well taken care off, having an awesome professional chef there to cook, many notable dishes were produced including the Pasta Monstrosity and the Brioche Mountain… Oh yes.

I’ve come back pretty poor but oh so glad I went. I’m now thinking of doing just one week next year so if anyone wants a lift…


Trails Ridden: Le Pleney, Yeah boy, “Carls Secret Trail”, Chavannes, Swiss National, Morgin DH Tracks, Morgin Freeride Track, Rutsville, Guepe, Chatel Freeride runs… many, many more.

Mechanicals: Only my pivot nut rattling loose somewhere causing me to spend £50 to buy a replacement kit.

Comedy Crashes: Several - many on Yeahboy, 1st of which down the first steep chute trying to avoid a rut and ending up facing UP the chute! 2nd got a bit too brave on my 2nd run and didn't make the turn at the bottom of another chute ending up with me riding straight into a tree. Other notable crashes include the over the bars on my 2nd run down rutsville when I stalled and then flipped over the bars but landed on my feet... the best one tho has to be as a result of the pic below!
I'll leave you with this pic: Yes I crashed and laughed very, very hard.