We’ve got our places to do our first MA later this year.

Anyone done the MA and have pics/tips? Any ladies done the MA and have tips I can pass to her outdoors?

Cheers,

Mike.

Some pics from 2007 here: http://gallery126268.fotopic.net/c1336945_1.html

(though I was more interested in riding than taking pics at the time)

Take the biggest bike you own and forget this meaga bike stuff that people seem to go on about. For the qualifier a full dh bike is faster and this determines which race/row you end up in for the main race. In the main race there are a few climbs but not that many and you’ll hvae more fun on a dh bike as you’re not going to win.

Apart from this get your 4x elbows ready for overtaking people and blocking others and do some practice of the full course. Tyres should be hard as pinch punctures are very common, full dh tyres with 35-40psi and big tubes. Oh and take an old jumper/t shirt with you to wear on the morning of the final that you then dump at the top so you don’t freeze. You can get them back in theory but it must be an awful lot too look through.

That’s about all i can think of. Steve 2 MA’s done, 2 main race /proper ma final reached. Both on my intense m3.

crashed practicing the 2007 qualifier – bar end in stomach causing giant bruise the size of a mellon on my belly button – **** that hurt…

beer garden at the bottom (note the top of the mountain, qualifier starts here)

closer piccy

qualifier queues

line up on qualifier no.3 (i was in 4, getting nervous now)

a few late people

glacier section of the mega

bring tough tyres

further down

Another Mega (and alps riding for that matter) virgin here – gonna be doing it on my Pitch. Any point swapping over to a double and bash?

I’d keep the triple and get an MRP xcg guide for about 35 from CRC. It’ll protect all 3 chainrings. I’ve got them on both my xc bikes.

In order:

Injuries – 5 stitches from a fall during qualifying. Was fully armoured but unfortunately a rock got me in the love handle. I now look like a victim of botched liposuction.

Pics – there are loads of the course out there and mostly it isn’t that photogenic, so here’s one from a trail over the other side of the mountain, heading down towards Villard-Reculas.

Tips – erm, enjoy it? Also, if you have a ski pass for Alp d’Huez you can use this to go riding over at Les Deux Alpes too. Allemont sounds like the most fun place to stay, but Oz Station is the quietest if you want to get your head down early.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/megavalanche/

One of the best pieces of trail in the world. Basically from the end of the glacier until it starts going uphill again while later. Better on practice days too as there are no queues ;0)

Ooooo I’ve done the Mega, recon I am in that que somewhere on the picture above!!

As said before DH bike for the qualifier!! Good pedally freeridey bike for the main race or a full DH bike – some dudes did it on hard tails and some of the crazy euro bikes you’ll see out there will make you wonder why you ever worried 🙂

Double ply tyres is a must, bash guard is also a good idea. The rocks you’ll ride over is crazy but fun.

As your riding it all the time whilst you are out there you’ll pick up the riding conditions and adjust pretty quickly. I must admit my first run out there I did think ‘wow I am out of my depth here’ but come the end of the week we were ripping it!!

Neil_Bolton (on here) last year got into the top 200 riders!!

I did it in 2007 and managed a 1hr 30min time which I was pretty pleased with as a virgin. Last year I crashed on the Thursday and dislocated my shoulder so sat the rest of the week out – bummer!!

Oh and arm pump – I suffered really bad with this. I had times when I took my hands of the bars and couldn’t straigten them!! People act differently though as others in our group were fine! By the end of the week though I coped better and was OK.

Great fun and certainly an event you’ll tell stories about for years to come!

(me on the left)

Have fun!!

Injuries:

None first year, last year was sore head, whip lash for two months and a smashed helmet.

As above, don’t compromise on tyre setup. Dual ply DH tyres, preferably tubeless. The quali course starts off with a 10min DH track. So 6″ coil sprung travel is good.

Single ring is fine, 34 or 36t. There are more flat bits rather than climbs. In fact, there is only one gentle climb on the quali course (easy on 34t ring) and one IMPOSSIBLE climb on the race trail that everybody pushes anyway.

The quali is the most fun. start is a good laugh. Get to lift stations early as you get **** NUMPTIES queuing HOURS before there starts. E.g. in 2007 and jsut made the start of quali 2 as there were loads of people in the queues from heats 4,5,6 etc. ****. Don’t be one of them.

vid of quali start:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV5wI-wbh7I&

Top tip about using your day’s lift pass in Les Deux Alpes. Well worth it, particularly the Vensoc descent

Second the comment on arm pump, it’s a killer. Or at least it was for me.

Both me + the missus did it last year. Is your other half doing it Mike?

I’d keep the triple and get an MRP xcg guide for about 35 from CRC. It’ll protect all 3 chainrings. I’ve got them on both my xc bikes.

Cheers – sorry for the dumb question but how do I know if I need a BB mount or an ISGC mount version?

Is it possible to ride the course any time, I would love to ride it but a. I am not remotely competetive and b. I prefer to ride on my own without millions of other riders around, the route looks amazing though

Grumm, does your frame have ISCG tabs, the three little mounting holes rounf the BB shell?

If not then you need a BB mount version. There are also a couple of different standards of ISCG mount so it might be worth checking your frame manufacturer’s website.

Loddrik, you can ride the course any time in the summer season, assuming the weather’s OK on the glacier. I don’t think all of it is marked out all year round though.

Loddrik – Last year I had similar feelings, fairly apprehensive, not a competitive person, didn’t want to slow faster riders down.

I found there was plenty of space for everyone on the hill, 99.99% of the riders were extremely tolerant whatever we were doing and I surprised myself by just how up for it I was come race day. Last years mega was my first race ever and I have already booked again this year – there were so many different skill levels going on that I was not as I feared going to set the record for the slowest run ever, in fact I found it a real confidence boost and it opened my eyes as to what my old 04 Trek Liquid with Fox 36’s could handle.

Book the Mega and you will not regret it!

Take the biggest bike you own and forget this meaga bike stuff that people seem to go on about

I’d go against that. I did it on my Heckler with Maxxis 2.5 tyres and it was absolutely fine. The top section of the qualifier is the most ‘gnarly’ if I remember: rocky chutes, rock gardens, loose rock, big rocks, small rocks… That said, its a fantastic course and really enjoyable, but I do remember being scared after the first time I rode it. Get it practiced (both courses) at least twice.

My tips;
1. Get all the info early on. There’s a lot of being in the right place at the right time.
2. Get some cheap waterproof trousers cut off into shorts for the glacier section and sit on the snow holding your bike. Faster, easier, safer (for your nuts).
3. There’s a bike shop at the bottom of Alpe D’Huez behind the dry toboggan run. The only shop worth bothering with for any abnormal / serious repairs – get acquainted.
4. Don’t get intimidated – everyone’s in the same boat despite some big egos floating about.
5. I’m not jealous I can’t go this year…

Yeah what DM52 said, too!

Thanks Mr Agreeable.

Yay can’t wait!!!

Sara from Flow usually organises a girls practice day with Petra Wiltshire. Get your missus in touch with her for the details.

Im signed up for this year. First time for me. Apprehensive? Very!

Is it just me or does chunkypaul’s pic headed ‘bring chunky tyres’ look, er, rather full-on? I’ve been thinking (probably dreamworld) about Mega, but that pic looks out of my league – the rest is stuff I can rationalise.

Sorry, ‘bring tough tyres’. Blame toughpaul.

Jimmy – I agree you can do it on any bike but for me you’ll be fastest and have more fun on the biggest bike in your collection. Both times I did it I had a heckler/6″ bullit with me but chose the dh bike as it was quicker and way way more fun.

Did it last year for the firs time.

Injuries? Broken wrist from my first practice run on the qualifier.

The course, whilst rocky, isn’t *that* technical. – I did a run down the main race course and then started my qualifier in a cast and was doing OK until I got a bit cocky and hit a 3′ drop at full chat shortcutting a corner and blew my wrist. 6″ bike is fine. (the fastest guys I saw all week – one was on an Ibis Mojo, the other a Cotic BFE). If you can pedal you’ll make up a LOT of places on the short climbs vs the guys with DH Bikes.

Big tyres a must.

One top tip – all you have to do is stay between the tapes. If there ain’t any tape, then you can start taking cheeky lines which can make up a lot of time.

The snow really did my head in – just couldn’t ride it (the wrist probably didn’t help). Either you tripoded and minced or you comitted full on, off the brakes 40mph stylee, and were prepared to wipe out big style. The snow this year was very slushy which didn’t help – the bike just sank straight in and stopped dead.

My missus is doing it for the first time in ’09 too.

Oh, and there are a LOT of (euro)numpties doing it…

Pics here

Oh yes – should also add:-

Atmosphere was awesome – everything that Mountain Mayhem has never been for me – especially down at the botttom, post race. The feeling of going full tilt into the first corner of the qualifier with 199 other riders was pretty amazing too. Not as ultracompetitive as I was expecting – friendly racing-yer-mates argy-bargy, rather than trail rage/foot through front wheel stuff. Certainly better mannered than the rush hour redlight grand prix in London.

If you want to do well, I’d recomend a gogo-gadget remote seatpost

A fantastic event and highly recommended.

Did it last year. No doubt the whole thing gets into your head before hand so can be intimidating. However if you think you can ride it then likelihood is you will be able to.

I used a 6 inch travel bike. I agree a DH bike could be quicker on the qualifier. However a French numb nut knocked me off before the first corner of the qualifier. At that point I was dead last in my heat when I managed to get up and started again. The smaller bike allowed a lot of places to be made up on the climbs / flats.

Reality is most burly bikes will be fine but big, strong tyres are a must. Tubeless DH tyres would be ideal I reckon.

I will be back though sadly not this year.

I did it with a few mates in 2007 (came 80th, 89th and 224th respectively)

Here are my tips:

1. Don’t spend all week practicing the Mega – a) the course changes so much there is little point b) you need to practice the qualifier course as that determines if you make the Mega.
2. Proactively try to find out the info, the communication is a bit poor and it is assumed you know stuff.
3. Befreind someone who has done it before and speaks French.
4. Get up early on race day and leave plenty of time to get to the top.
5. Make sure you have good insurance – ambulance trips are expensive 🙁

5. Finally, practice the top section in the snow lots its ace…

Anyone got any insurance recommendations?

I used Snowcard, who do specific packages for Downhill racing but i’ve never had to claim myself, it was my mate who had nothing at all that ended up in hospital.

Insurance: I went onto the British Cycling website and under membership benefits there is a link to a company that BC recommends that covers competition (you don’t have to be a BC member though to take the insurance). I also called and double checked. Used twice now. As I crashed, needed medical attention in Alp d’huez and then air lifted to the main hospital my E111 or European Health card covered 85% of my bill in hospital and as I said I had insurance I didn’t have to pay anything and was just given letters to my insurance company who paid the rest. My friends had to pay my bill for the help in Alp d’huez which came to about 150 euros which I got back no problem as well. For some bizare reason the state sent me a cheque just before Christmas as they messed up my E111 charge and I had a 2 quid refund!!

One other thing you do need is a letter from your doctor to say you are fit to race(unless you have a race license). First year I did it it cost me £20 from the doctor but haggled with him as he wanted to charge £50!! Second year I wink wink changed the date on the letter. Not that I advise fraud AT ALL but as you are in a different country no one checks up and it’s just a tick in the box for them so ALOT of people just wrote letters from DR Jones or Smith or what ever saying said person is fit to take part in said race.

You can ride the course all the time (certain race week). However if you don’t qualify you can still do the race but at your own lesuire. Turn up within a 2 hour time slot and just ride the course. You get timed and placed but it isn’t really a race. I got a flat during qual so didn’t make any of the groups and found the race really good fun – actually caught up with some of the racers who’d were struggling!!

Oh and riding down the black ski run on your bike in July with thin mountain air and hot sun beaming down is the best fun EVER on a bike.

I used Snowcard, who do specific packages for Downhill racing but i’ve never had to claim myself, it was my mate who had nothing at all that ended up in hospital.

Bet that was expensive, isn’t the cost of an air lift off the mountain a couple of grand.

Bet that was expensive, isn’t the cost of an air lift off the mountain a couple of grand.

Lucky for him he managed to fall off not too far up the hill so they where able to get him down to the Docs in Alp D’ Huez using an Ambulance. There was some worry when the docs in ADH where contemplating an air lift or Ambulance to Grenoble hospital. Luckly it was the latter.

” higgo – Member

Top tip about using your day’s lift pass in Les Deux Alpes. Well worth it, particularly the Vensoc descent “

That’s a fantastic video 😀 Those guys know how to ride too !

Vensoc is in Deus Alps is it?

Its Venosc not Vensoc innit?

Its Venosc not Vensoc innit?

Yes, it’s Venosc.

Sorry – I can spell (even in French) but I can’t type.