nickf – Member

Really? Looks fine to me, at least for Saturday and Sunday.

http://www.snow-forecast.com/resorts/Morzine/6day/mid

I cry a little bit inside when looking at this one…

http://uk.weather.com/weather/10day-Chatel-FRXX0468

so much planning and time gone into this trip, I’ll be gutted if it’s a wash out lol

Latest injury update – broken collarbone requires surgery, 2 months off work. Also broken wrist – 1 month in plaster, so can’t drive :-((.

So 2 out of 5 of us have fractured wrists. What can you wear to protect from this? Also, would body armour with shoulder protection help stop a broken collarbone? Just on the off chance I am ever allowed back to the alps???

Armour will only reduce the possibility of a broken collarbone. When I’m going for it in the Alps I always wear a pressure suit, full-face and neckbrace; land badly, however, and the collarbone will break, regardless. Maybe I’ve been lucky, though several dead bikes will attest to the fact that I do crash, repeatedly. And I’ve landed on my head/shoulder reasonably frequently.

Broken wrists? Nowt you can do about that, other than riding better. Sounds trite, but you have to stay on the bike more, and also learn how to crash properly/stop sticking your arms out. I’ve yet to break a wrist as I seem to have perfected the art of handing like a sack of spuds on my hip/backside/shoulder.

Finally, I tend to hang onto the bike at all costs. Even if it’s pretty much certain that I’m going down, I try to ride it out anyway. That works about 60% of the time……the others tend to hurt.

I cry a little bit inside when looking at this one…

http://uk.weather.com/weather/10day-Chatel-FRXX0468

so much planning and time gone into this trip, I’ll be gutted if it’s a wash out lol

I’m only riding on the Saturday, thankfully!

No armour will stop a collar bone breaking… wrist breaking is just bad crash technique, don’t try and stop your fall with your arms, try and roll.

As already said there isn’t much you can do to save your wrists, bad technique in crashing, you need to learn to rol when you fall over, that will also protect your collarbone. There are lots of ifs and buts, mr mc snapped the top off his knee due to not unclipping on the steep 10% shoot on le plenty. Heal soon though, remember we all ride harder and faster in the alps than the uk no matter what we think. Heal done.

Thanks for the healing Karma!! My mates wrist went in a front wheel washout on a dusty loose berm near the bottom of Chavannes. My fall, well, when I work out how, Ill upload the vid of it taken from my bars – I still haven’t got a clue what I did!! I seem to have got airborne on a tabletop and performed a front somersault!!

You are right about going harder/faster out there. I guess that comes from the length/steepness of the runs.

maybe I should be thankful that it’s may be wet and orrible when I’m there next week… to slow me down lol

i foolishly got some fast running dry tyres in for my trip next week

forecast is looking a bit moist from thursday

http://www.yr.no/place/France/Rh%C3%B4ne-Alpes/Morzine/long.html

spikes + swampthings it is then!

Kimbers, the forecast for our trip was for rain every day until about 5 days before. We had clear skies every day!! It was so dry up there it shouldn’t turn into a major bogfest.

In anticipation of mud, I bought these for my frontGeax Datura UST dual ply £17.99
and tried them in the mud at Bedgebury first. Great grip!

It seems to change daily to be honest… But with that much forecast to fall out of the sky it must be a big rain band coming in… Very depressing.

I’ve got minion super tacky front and highroller rear, won’t be changing them so hopefully they are up to some wet fun

Sunny and roasting here.

We’ve not found our apartment yet.

We have cold peroni for 4 euro

I personally think armour will help protect your collar bone. I broke mine playing football right at the shoulder end of the bone and if I’d be wearing my POC jacket (unlikely on a football pitch I know) I’m totally convinced it wouldn’t have happened. I had surgery too dantsw13 and it’s more of a faff but you’re more likely to be as good as new a few months down the line

Thanks Steve – it seems my surgeon is a good ‘un, so hopefully i won’t end up wonky!! I think its more of the impact on the family of me being out of action/not driving for 6 weeks that is the worry. The lads are all rallying round with offers of help, so hopefully it will be fine. Your thoughts on armour are about the same as mine – it won’t stop everything, but it must take out a little of the impact.

Weeksy – we had a bit of an apartment faff too, but cold beer fixes all!! For Brekkie in the morning Eds Supermarket doesn’t open until 8.30, so don’t bother with an early night!! Maybe I should have left you my Heckler out there, as I won’t be needing it for a while!!!!

It’s the mountains, the weather can change quickly and can be quite localised … I wouldn’t worry too much about the forecast till the day before / morning of the event.

Don’t worry if you’ve broken it on the non-gear change side or drive an auto you’ll probably be back driving much sooner than you think, maybe as little as a week after surgery, but you’ll definitely be a careful driver! Driving or not just make sure you do the physio

On the weather topic the sun out here is so strong and with the altitude it dries out so quickly it doesn’t matter if you get rain every day there’ll still be all the dust and sunburn you could want. It might stay wet in the trees but there’s a lot of exposed stuff that dries out really quickly

Armour will not prevent broken bones. It might help reduce grazes, bruises and puncture injuries, but not bones. Take a look at most mx riders, none of this pressure suit rubbish, just a lightweight roost vest. Broken bones are part life on two wheels.

I may be going at the end of August/beginning of September, although if the weather is likely to be that bad, I may go to Spain instead 😆

I do drive an Auto, but the wrist fracture means 4 weeks in a cast, so no driving for 4 weeks :-((.

I have to admit if I go back to the Alps, jumps will be off limits.

dantsw13 – Member
Thanks for the healing Karma!! My mates wrist went in a front wheel washout on a dusty loose berm near the bottom of Chavannes. My fall, well, when I work out how, Ill upload the vid of it taken from my bars – I still haven’t got a clue what I did!! I seem to have got airborne on a tabletop and performed a front somersault!!

I have to admit if I go back to the Alps, jumps will be off limits.

Book yourself (and your mates) a session with Jedi. FWIW I suspect he’ll be able to tell what you did wrong on the table top. If you go to the Nirvana Cycles website and look at Jackie’s crash (which broke her collar bone) Jedi debugged that one and commented here on STW.

Healing vibes to you.

I may be going at the end of August/beginning of September, although if the weather is likely to be that bad, I may go to Spain instead

I’ve been this week for the last 3 trips I’ve done to Morzine – it’s s great week weatherwize generally. I think I’ve had 3 days of rain in those 4 weeks but it’s the mountains so weather is unpredictable. Only thing to watch going that late is when the lifts close, I got it wrong last year and for the last week was confined to Pleney side and Les Gets – not the end of the world but I tend to prefer going on longer explorations over the SuperMoz side

Thanks, that’s good to know, although I appreciate the unpredictable nature of the weather in the mountains.

I understand that the Morzine and Les Gets lifts are opening a week later this year, and therefore I will be fine for these two. However, the other lifts in the area will be closed for my second week.

On the ferry, still crying about the weather for the next ten days.

Armour wont stop bones breaking as such but can help you slide out.

For those with collar bone breaks have a look at the magic laser guy in ipswich (Search old collar bone threads) recovery times greatly reduced.

Guy on our mega trip last year broke his arm and insurance said do what ever is cheapest to get you and car back so he flew his gf out to drive him home.

Would advise any first timers to get some skills training in first, would have saved us a few bangs and scrapes first year. Few pointers on setup and fault finding might help.

Lastly don’t get cocky or complacent no “last runs” and know when to go get a beer.

no “last runs”

TOP TIP! This is why I spent 6 months in a cast….

Just getting all my gear together ready for Sunday! Jeeze there is a lot of stuff to take!!!

Out of interest has anyone found a decent accurate weather website for Morzine, they all appear to be very different!!

Chamonix Meteo your best bet
http://chamonix-meteo.com/chamonix-mont-blanc/weather/forecast/morning/5_days_weather_forecast.php

Big low pressure coming through on saturday night/sunday

well ive fitted some fast rolling dry tyres so even if teh forecast says heavy rain from next thursday (when we arrive) im going to make it sunny by sheer force of will

http://www.yr.no/place/France/Rh%C3%B4ne-Alpes/Morzine/long.html

So, my dreadful jump technique at 1:0

youtube vid mk2

dantsw13 links not working?!

Try now?

Dan 😡 why did you run away?

That was the I’m in so much freaking pain I don’t know what to do so run….looks nasty

For bike repairs head over to Les Gets half way down the Chavanne turn left heading over towards the canyon. on the left there is a shop run by an english chap (john i think) he is a ginga you can’t miss him) been out 5 times now and he is the cheapest most reliable mechanic I have found.

Canyon is an epic decent clear it and you can feel good about yourself.
Ask someone about the secret trail back to morzine off the top of the 2 super morzines head back under the lift and follow the narrow left hand line its techy steep and rooty not for the faint hearted but a cracking run

Chatel bike park rides really well loads of progressive stuff and also some nutty french kids doing massive jumps also the sight of the road gap many many many stacks on that one!!

Swiss national DH course is the quietest of the full on DH tracks (off the top of the mosettes and turn left heading over towards boulder alley) not one for those with vertigo but very rideable

all in its an epic place with so much riding I have been quite a few times now and still find new stuff can’t wait to go again nothing beats the arm pump you get

Bad news on the crash Dan, at least you got it on video. I noticed that the lift was not running. Was fatigue a factor after full days riding? Healing vibes for a quick mend. How is the Heckler BTW after your off?

Edit: just noticed lift on the left was running so not end of day ride.

Heckler – not a scratch!! Far tougher than me :-)). In fact, the Heckler was great for the whole trip.

It was second run of the day, so fatigue definately not a factor. In fact, I was feeling in really good nick, which is why I tried the tabletop. Running away seems to be my natural reaction to a crash – done it a few times now!!

Had an epic days riding today, met frogleek off here on the way to the super chatel lifts. Glad I got a day of good weather riding, the rest of the week can do what it likes now.

Hit 44 mph on some of the trails, then hit 54 mph on the road back to the campsite.

Road gap has been removed in chatel, relegated to attempting the river gap instead 🙁

well that was awesome

felt my riding has stepped up a level too!

met some great people out there;
loved chatel good mix of gaps and drops and able to build up to bigger stuff, jumps and drops at les gets, roots at morzine, swiss dh track was awesome, lindertes valley- great flowing runs on both sides, morgins was well worth the trip, though thats one gnarly blue run!and champery was just steep greasy roots- back brake lost all fluid at the top so did a lot of it on my arse and had cramps from using the front brake all the way down

biggest shout out to seb and amy at progressive mtb, great hosts and chalet montanna was bargaintastic, cheers for the recommendation !