Anyone done it? What would your advice be?
Anyone going this year, particularly any other ladies?

Do you want me to come up for cheering 😉
Big DH tires and big DH tubes seems to be the norm. You need to have a bike that is tough enough to go down, and light enough to go up.

I can try to find one of last year VTT mag when they present on of the pilot/journalist’s bike and make a brief translation if you want

Mucho love

Pin it.

Mind out for the guy in the cow costume…

I too will (hopefully) be there and due to budgetary contraints will be doing it on a hardtail.

I have no advice except that i suggest you avoid the scared looking Brummy as be minces his way down (it will be me)!

DH tyres, but not too wide.
Don’t let the short up hill bits get the better of you.
Don’t just sit there behind someone, be adventurous with your lines to get past.
It’s all ridable, and most of the time faster is smoother.

Consider going tubeless and get some kind of chain device (if you haven’t already got one)

At present I’m deciding between my Bullit with Lyriks and putting the Lyriks on the Titus Motolite (6ins rear travel) for something more pedalable on the flat/ups.

On another forum I saw someone saying take a more DH bike for the qualifier and a lighter one for the main race.

I’m happy with the ‘speed is your friend’ concept 🙂

I’m nervous about being in the right place at the right time for stuff like qualifying runs etc as the translations on the website of information doesn’t inspire confidence and my French is not good enough to understand the necessary detail in the French version.

Juan, I’d love you to come and be my pom-pom boy! 🙂

My Foes FXR 2:1 is perfect for the mega! Could be yours for £1500 😉
Here

Jeez, I’m having enough trouble choosing between the two suitable bikes I already have! Dinnae confuse matters more 🙂

Which DH tyres would people recommend then? I currently favour High Rollers, any other contenders?

I’ll 2nd that. Got to be High Rollers IMHO! Or maybe MountainKings 2.4s

Jojo, use high rollers, its a bloody great event, I cannae afford it this year!

mail me the stuff you don’t understand I’ll translate it to you the best I can
Mucho love
X

JoeBones, although I’m going over with people, I’m the only one entered, are people friendly and helpful, eg: during practice and on the start line?

are people friendly and helpful

Considering how macho mtb I am sure they all will be helpful to a nice girl like you.
If you want an ex of mine is working for ewdards organising his MTB events. I can drop her a line if you want so you can see with her directly. She spend 3 years in London and 2 in OZ so you can speak english with her.

Bullit with Lyrics sounds perfect. It’s exactly what Joanne used last year. She coped better than most! I don’t think she is doing it this year though.

2.35″ dual ply highrollers are perfect. Don’t be too worried about bikes/tyres etc. Best bet is to go tough/long/heavy if you have the option. Don’t even think about two bikes!! Will be my third year.

It’s reasonably well organised so you’ll be fine on your own. The girls quali/race separately anyway so you’ll feel comfortable enough on the start line. Most will be brits/irish. What are the other people going with you doing? Are they going all the way there and not doing it?? Fools!!

Email me if you want more info.

Jojo, they are as friendly as you and Hairyscary at Learnie 🙂

I would work on upper body strength,after ragging it down Helvellyn lat year,The Mega must be very tiring on your arms.I have heard its quite pedaly in places so overall fitness is key i think.

good luck!

am thinking of doing the one in Åre, Sweden

the one in France next year

by the way, on my Bfe hardtail

I want to do this, this year hopefully, I’ve ridden with a guy that did it in the past and he reckons I’d be fine. It’s the mass start that worries me, that big pile up on the first corner, I’d be at the bottom of it.

Any comments/advice on the start?

yep, reckon an ideal bike for the mega is a 6″ FSer with lyrics/fox36s up front, the qualifier is a shorter race but a more technical ride, go for the week and practice the mega course and qualifier (you can get a weeks lift pass when booking your entry) – recommend that you do the mega course practice as early as possible in the morning just to ride down the glacier when it’s frozen – it’s mental fun!!!!! it melts too much in the afternoon and gets a bit too cut up by all the riders practicing

Donk…

Go wide, brake late, cut in. Aim for where there are fewest riders.

It is true the upper body strength is important. Infact more so than fitness in some sections (e.g. the start). The thing that slowed me down the most was arm pump, not tired legs. There is very little pedalling, it’s just any pedalling is sprinting!!

Thanks Conor. My boyfriend is coming to ride, but doesn’t want to do the race, and the others are my children and sister who are doing their own thing. I might drop you a line for more info.

JoeBones, pretty horrible then? 😉

*starts doing press-ups*

Being in the right place at the right time is a swine, there’s quite a lot to take in. We stayed in the little village at the end of the course which meant a lot of planning to be in the right place for registration / results / race starts etc. If you’re there for the week before (which I would strongly recommend) it shouldn’t be a problem. Watch out for a big, dutch sounding guy – you’ll know who I mean if he’s there again. He couldn’t be more helpful and has been the race compere for years as far as I know, so knows his sh’t. He did come out with a few horror stories on our first day, but make your own mind up once you’ve ridden the course – it is technical, but enjoyable. The biggest thing you will need to be concerned with is avoiding other riders… Just get the qualifier and the race course ridden at least twice before the real thing. There isn’t a massive amount of other trails around Alpe D’Huez anyway so you’re not missing much else by practicing just the courses.

Also, get a cheapo pair of water proof trousers from the market and cut them off into knee length shorts. Great for the glacier bumslide and the quickest way down.

Don’t try sliding down the glacier on your bum, it hurts! Slam your seat and do the “tripod” with your legs so you can’t fall over.

**** that, pedal!

And when you come to a corner? 😯

Any bike will work, something light will give you a chance on the short climbs, something heavy will mean you can take really daft overtakes on the downs. Tyres don’t matter too much, you want reliable puncture proof. There are few places where you’ll be using full grip like on a normal dh run. Narrow dh tyres of choice at VERY high psi is the way to go, (40psi +).

Reliability matters more than having the right kit.

Biggest way to make places is to respect the fact you can go anywhere within the marked track. Don’t be a sheep, cut corners and take the rough lines. At the start there are a couple places you can cut huge parts off the track but still within the tape.

The standard of riding is very poor, much worse than a typical DH regional race so you’ll do better than you expect.

Me and my girlfriend are doing it, she is keen to meet other uk females to ride with. email me on dnwsmith @ hotmail.com and we can arrange to meet up the week before. we will be there from the monday riding.

i did it two years ago, and you will enjoy it, promise. the only bit that got me was the arm pump, had to stop a few times to shake it out.

6″ is perfect. I did it on a nomad and lyriks and it blew my lyriks up (dodgy 2step from 06) had that replaced with coil / oil and should be better this time, was not the most fun racing on a 4″ fork!

bring it on!

As above.

Mid travel bike. Doesn’t need to be *too* beefy (but reliability is all), but slack is good (its fast). Tough tyres. You can make up a LOT of places if you can pedal the short climbs hard. Think about a gravity dropper/Joplin.

The course isn’t that hard, and the real hard bits get queues on so it’s faster to jump off and run them – being able to carry your bike is no bad thing. The snow (for me anyway) was a headf’ck

My missus is doing it. (XC/trail rider). She won’t be fast, but she will get down in one piece.

Oh and the atmosphere is awesome. 🙂

if its anything like last year – practise your queuing! I spent about half the race walking down the lower parts of the course due to the rain / mud and the shear number of riders in the way 🙁
from what i can deduce from the stuff on the website the course is being changed this year to make it more dh – I’m guessing they will be ditching some of the pedally bits lower down the course. If you are nervous about the tech stuff get a big bike and accept that you wont be fastest on the fireroad – who really cares about that anyway? whatever you do you wont win and you wont come last so take a bike that is going to give you most enjoyment/confidence on the rocky stuff.

I’ve ridden the Mega twice. In 2007 i was just outside the top 100 which i was chuufed with.

I was riding my DH bike which wasn’t ideal really. As long as you’re a reasonable rider you should be able to keep up with the pace on the downhills. You seem to end up with people of your speed anyway. Where i got nailed was the uphill/flat sections. I was probably top 40 after the snow but lost all my positions to fit guys on XC bikes on the ups. Partly due to a heavy bike, partly due to poor fitness (but i’m no porker).

Practise your snow technique a lot, you can make a lot of places up here and it sets your position for the first twenty minutes. Also, if you fall on the snow, you’re knackered. My mate fell, dropped hjis bike then took five minutes clawing his way back up the hill to his bike.

As far as a bike goes; rock hard tyres, 60psi in qualifying to reduce pinch flats (note however that pressures vary a lot at the top of the hill compared to the bottom), adjustable seatpost, single ring up front with a comedy 12T-34T cassette.

And finally, get a boxxers hand strengthening thingy. Squeeze this everyday for six months and you might be able to hang onto the bars most of the way.

Conor nice video, just makes me wanan do it more now.

Would a Spec’ Pitch with pikes handle it or would bigger forks be better?

Some useful info in here – I am doing ti for the first time this year on my Pitch. If you see a fat mincer on a brown pitch wearing a Giro Remedy then say hello!

edit: Steve my mate has done it many times and reckons the Pitch should be ideal. Some 36s might be better but I can’t afford them as well as everything else.

Grumm, how much is it costing for the whole event?

I’ve also thought about doing the one in Keilder as a bit of a taster

Steve_b77 Do the kielder one for a laugh but it’s no kind of taster at all! Nothing is prep for it!

The entry is about 60 quid I think – which includes 4 day lift pass. Think I will be out there for the whole week though so will need to top it up. Haven’t sorted accomodation yet but the people I am going with paid about 60 quid each for a week I think.

Not sure how much transport will be cos I’m driving down with a couple of others in a big RV type thing!

I am also gonna do the Kielder thing I think.

There is also the cost of all the stuff I’m buying too! Ordered a full face helmet and a KS i900 gravity dropper type thingy so far. Need some armour too.

Nice on phutphutend.

I qualied 50th last year after a big crash (would have been 40th or so :() but bike and body were too battered to race the main event. Gutted not to race the Mega! But happy the weather was Mega shitty!! Year before was 186th in Promo or something shit because I started at the very back and got stuck with the woofters in the queues.

Bronze entry package is £70.

I wouldn’t do the Platinum (sprint DH) unless you are a keen DH racer. I did it, wouldn’t do it again as it takes up two days of your holiday. The Dh race track is **** class though, give it a blast when you are there. Also to the Xc trail on the opposite side of the valley.

Tubeless tyres are about the best thing you can do. No punctures all week, 20psi MAX.