Hey guys..
I am going to do the mega avalanche next year..I think it looks mentally awesome
Any advice on what to ride…
Where to stay
Plane or car??
I’ve got an 2008 S Works .enduro (carbon) it’s a 150mm travel bike it’s awesome for what I do..but I’m guessing I will need a larger travel bike
Ie 90% of the trail centres in Wales and lots of riding around the south from bedgebury to Bristol.
Opbefore you say….I know NONE of that will compare..
I’m not really interested in the “race” eliment I just want to take part. And tick it of life’s goal list.

Cheers guys

Not done it myself but people seem to ride all sorts of bikes from hardtail to DH , a couple of people I know have done it on 150/160mm bikes , I was thinking of having a go on my 5 at some point as you say just to tick it off as one of lifes mountain bike challenges. 😀

I’ve ridden it 3 times as cannon fodder.

150mm will be fine, one of our group last year was on his non carbon endura and very happy with it. I rode on a 150mm Coilair with Lyriks. Your bike will get trashed over the week though – be mentally prepared for that.

Always stayed up in AdH in an apartment booked via their tourist info. Pretty simple, but always go for a place that sleeps more than you need – appt for 10 skiers usually involves pull out beds in lounges + hallways. Flew first year, now drive.

Course changed this year I believe, less climbing.

Loads of advice on STW forums for this and previous years.

150mm bike will be fine just make sure its set up for some abuse

essentials are
good tough forks
reliable brakes
dual ply tyres
-a dropper post is also a good idea

if you stay out there for the full week your bike and body will be getting a battering
imho unless youre set on placing highly a shorter travel dh bike 170mmish
is more fun and less punishing

flying is not as easy now they dont seem to fly to grenoble from the uk in the summer
have always camped in allemont, very cheap and its right at the finish of the race

If you’re not bothered about being competetive, then any bike will do. The mega track is piss easy, but if you want to race it then your bike actually sounds like the ideal one.

I did it this year, it was great fun.

The best advice i can give is find the thickest strongest tyres you can get, forget about weight.

Drive out there road trip style its great fun!

not sure I’d call the mega course piss easy. none of it hugely technical, but after 1 hour of full on riding just holding on to the bars is a challenge.
new qualifier course is pretty brutal to ride at race pace. far less climbing this year than when I last did it about 4 years back.

you will be ok on your enduro but a bit more travel might make it more fun. dual ply tyres good. next time I do it i’ll try and do a load of upper body exercises beforehand. Arm pump on the quali was unreal!

quali track is ace fun.

enjoy it

your bike will be fine

only advice you need isto get some super thick tape/tubes on your downtube as rock strikes are common

A few people have said that the best UK warmup for it is to nip up to Nevis Range and spend a day riding the red uplift trail as often as you can… Longest lift-assisted descent in the UK and supposedly fairly comparable in terms of technicality (haven’t ridden the mega, but that’s from people who have)

Do you need to be able to jump? My mates did the top section last year and had to walk a couple of the tricky sections, but apart from that they said the top section was fine.

I did the lower half and that was all fairly straight forward.

Both those were done on 120mm travel bikes. As already suggested, be prepared for the arm pump.

Suppose what I’m asking is – are the ‘locals’ a step up in speed and ability and I’ll end up riding down way off the back like Miss Daisy?? Or are there others pushing / falling / walking / trundling ??

It’s definitely on my list for next year. When does registration normally open each year?

I did it last year. Drove there and stayed in Vaujany which was terribly nice – not the best for access to AdH, but not exactly difficult.
I was fairly fit by that point last year and managed a respectable finish on a hardtail, but I wouldn’t try that again – much much more fun on a 160mm enduro bike. I reckon an Enduro will be fine.

As others have mentioned, you’ll have a better time if you prepare yourself for arm pump – get to an uplift day and smash out as many runs as you can to get a bit used to it. I always find the easiest way of reducing arm pump is by winding your brake levers right in to the bars, too.

I found the standard of riding has gone way up over the last 4 or so years. First time round I had 2 crashes within 100yards of the quali start line, losing loads of places, then overtook people all the way down to sneak into the main event.

This year was hoping to do better as I’m sure I’ve come on a fair bit as a rider, but even with the benefit of experience and as good a run as i could have hoped for I didn’t even make the main event(top 400), and seemed to be me holding the ‘locals’ up rather than t’other way round. Not that many dummies there anymore!

With such a big field though there are always going to be people of a similar ability though to make a ‘race’ of it.

We’ve always camped down in Allemont at Camping le Grande Calme: great chilled campsite, good bus uplift up to the first lift, warmer than up in Alpe d’Huez, and right at the bottom of the Mega course for a quick getaway on Sunday. Not a lot going on though if you’re after nightlife.

The standard on the whole was about average in my opinion. Nothing hard on the qualifier, or the main track, it only got harder because there were people all around you. It’s not ‘proper’ DH, except for a couple of very short sections.

I qualified for the main race fairly easily, even with a mechanical about 2/3 of the way down meaning no rear mech. I ride & race a bit of DH, usually mid pack at a national.

Fitness was the key, the locals wern’t so hot on the technical stuff, but they could smash you on the pedalling sections, due to the altitude.

I did it on my 5 this year & it was fine, i’ve got a Nomad carbon now which i’ll use next year. Wouldn’t want any more than that as it’s a long way.

Entries usually open in January. Staying in ADH town is probably easiest.

http://www.avalanchecup.com/newlang_2.html

thats their website which has dates and video of the race.. looks great but im no where near fit enough lol

To answer your Miss Daisy question, there are all levels there. Don’t worry about racing and enjoy yourself, many others will be.

There is nothing to the track other than the length, close proximity of other riders, altitude, and heat. There are a couple of technical bits that are made more technical by bottle necking; there’s one bit on the quali which has a piss-easy ladder drop that looks like the Llandegla car park at the top of it with lots of parked-up shiny Lapierres and Fives. 😆

Staying is AdH is good for the convenience on foot of everything, but as others have said the Allemont campsite is more chilled and doesn’t feel like the set of The Shining.

Yeah, I’m only looking to enjoy it. My fitness is fairly good, technical skills less so – struggling with drops that aren’t roll-able. As I say, ridden the lower half a couple of years ago with no real problems but when there’s a load of people around you, I don’t want to be the one where people are thinking ‘wtf is this fool doing on here??!!’

TBH what I have learned from racing badly is that no matter the race, in order to be the worst rider there, you usually have to be quite remarkably bad.