Because I was watching rounds 3 and 4 on the Extreme tv channel today and it looked pretty impressive. Seemed to be pretty long downhills taking in a real variety of terrain. Maybe the cameras flatten things, but they were the sorts of downhills I'd love to have a go at with the right kit. Excellent coverage I thought and who cares if it was from 2008 as I sure as heck wasn't taking note back then so it may as well have happened last week! Amazing stuff really. Sorry to be a bit out of date but it was excellent. That Scots bloke even managed to do the commentary as he was racing!

2008 was THE WORST WEATHER EVER experienced for the race…

Significantly more than 1/2 the riders entered ended up not racing in the end. I know cos I was out there, and my mates qualified, but gave up and came home after spending almost 3 hours freezing their asses off waiting for a decision about the race to be made.

I understand every year before the weather, and therefore probably the racing, was much better!

Yeah – they showed one where they had to re-route the start of one of the races. I wish I had paid attention to the articles in the mags around then. Is it an annual thing then?

Also, are they pure DH bikes as there seemed to be quite a lot of pedalling involved, maybe more so than your normal DH type race.

I did the 2008 race. Was crap weather but after hours of hanging around in the freezing rain I think we eventually started from the top of the qualifier. I did it on my Heckler and used a gravity droper which made a huge difference on the climbs. Wouldnt recommend a full DH rig. It is an annual event. Would love to do it again in better conditions..

Annual race indeed.

Second Elsa's thoughts on wanting to do it again, 2008 was crap weather and I also didn't qualify either!

Full on DH bike would be fine for the qualifier, but not so great for the main race. Something with about 6" travel both ends, 2 chainrings and a proper MTB cassette, and height adjustable seatpost is about ideal. Full on DH tyres are advisable though still, anything lighter is likely to lead to lots of punctures or not enough grip. The uphill bits are short and sharp anyway, so not too bad to deal with in the grand scheme of things.

Well full respect for anyone doing it as it looked knackering! I wouldn't want to race myself but would love to ride some of the routes.

2009 weather was glorious! Dust dust dust! Do it you'll love it.

The qualifier track's a good route, the main race track less so. (by alpine standards). The best trails I've ridden staying in ADH weren't on either race route…

i was there* man! – it was pure nasty…

(*i woke up at 6ish, took a look at the storm outside, looked over the road at the un-moving que at the bottom of the DMC lift, and went back to sleep. About an hour later my pal Nick phoned from a lift station halfway up the mountain "there's 500 of us huddled under a hand-dryer, what's happening? – tell my mum i love her")

and i went to the cafe for breakfast.

(5 mins before the start of the race, the sun came out, and it was a beautiful day, oh well)

I was one of those who stood up there freezing for three hours before pottering back down for a cuppa and a trip to Les arcs for some sun. Booooo. Good week though.

I was drinking beer in my accomodation at 8am on race day.

guilt made me go up the mountain when the skies cleared and in the end watched the promo depart only to get a 10 min penalty for not turning up for the promo (!)

great fun racing down and catching the tail end of the promo, jumped the fun box in the park on the way down (no one was there to see it, they seemed more interested in folks sliding on the grassy bit before the park)

good fun in the end, won't do it again (did 2007 and 2008) as every rider is now from the UK. If I want that I'll ride some sh!te 24hr enduro on some muddy field in middle england.
Fortunately there are plenty of races in switzerland\france of which stw has no knowledge (yet)

dasnut – what races?!

elsa, theres all the euro rounds of the maxi that no uk riders go to for a start

mountain of hell is still fairly brit free too, and franky a must do race

most resorts have some kind of race you only hear about them when they are in dirt, then the masses see them in mbr and mbuk then its time to move on.

I mean, passportes selling out in a day, whats all that about? I am going to count orange 5s this year…..(5th passportes this year for me)

I was with Elsa that week. She beat her heroine, Tracey Moseley, you know.

Professional racer? Moseley? It was only a bit of rain…

I was with Elsa that week. She beat her heroine, Tracey Moseley, you know.

Professional racer? Moseley? It was only a bit of rain…