A friend got through 3 sets of superstar kevlar pads in a day doing the Passportes Du Soliel this year in the wet. Put some hope sintered bought from hope at the morzine show half way round, just as good power, and still going at the end of the trip.

I was guilt of the odd walk, only because I couldn’t be bother raising my seat or tyre pressures lol.

My spectacular over take of about 5 people off a 5ft drop onto rocks on the way down to Les Lindarets makes up for it though… defo not guilty of moaning about mud though, stuck it to the end on minion, also known as slicks.

No news on the rider that was taken away no :-( they were concious, looked like hip/pelvic injuries which can be quite bad.

Gate crashed the Mountain Style party in Chatel on Friday night… that got very messy, between 3 of us we managed to spend £200 each, and each ended up with a bottle of Champagne on our debit cards lol… was amusing rubbing shoulders with Brandon Semenuk, aggy etc another USA Freestyle MTB elite.

They were saying we were the crazy ones by the end of the night.

Our group finishing the PPdS in Chatel… thankfully they still had free beer and sausage left at the revitalisation point.

and to offer a complete contrast… two days later.

and a fail during mountain style practice demonstrating why you need decent insurance out there.

Just got back from 10 days out there.

We did the passportes on Sunday, we found it really tame, I expected a lot more hard stuff but most of it was on fire roads etc, it even seemed to want to take you down fire roads when there were decent other route, like in les gets. Some bits were very much like rising the peaks, just longer, lots of very slow people… The weather Sunday was horrific though, temperatures ranged on my garmin from 36c down to 6c at the end.

We did the Torgon loop on the Saturday, that was interesting, nothing quite like having to hold your bike onto the longest highest lift on the PPdS route.

Morgins downhill runs were very very good, steep, rooty and rocky. Chatel bike park was very good, avoriaz was quite good, the decent down from the chatel side was very good.

I don’t think I’d do the PPdS again, quite boring.

One thing is for sure, the grades are totally different to here, the greens have bigger drops than most blacks here.

Most nights I’ve hit 54mphdoentge hill from the centre of chatel back to the campsite on a MTB, onthe actual trails my testicles stop me at 45 according to my garmin all week.

Road gap has been removed in chatel, relegated to attempting the river gap instead :-(

I recommend taking something to do when it rains if going to the portes du soliel area… Utter bog fest

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

Easy business though I guess, in it solely for the money. It’s a shame because imagine what these business could be like if they were as good as a decent LBS… Infact I wonder why more struggling LBSs don’t just move out there lol

Weather is not looking good for the PPdS :(

I’ve used them loads now without an issue, a lot of the time (with tyres) if it’s not on the site and you ring up they normally have the size you want anyway.

They have always been good even when I’ve used the car side demon tweeks

I have evo m4s on my orange with 203 rotors, they are mega, very progressive.

I have the r1x on my cube race bike, they are silly sharp compared to the hopes.

I prefer the all round feel of the hopes.

From experience, the shed drop was much like the Chatel road gap, in that peer pressure in a group of wobblers caused people to have delusions of grandeur resulting in a number of people doing things they really shouldn’t & ultimately spannering themselves.

That’s me and my buddies right there lol

Hoping by the end of the 10 days I can give it a go, quite happy doing biggish drops, they always look smaller in the videos though, so when I get there I’ll probably just say not a chance.

I guess you have to spend some time search away from the usual tourist routes to find the smoother trails.

Can anyone recommend a guide in chatel that can do short notice, and just for one day or two.

Poc VPD2… Tried everything, not much compared. Money no object get poc

Nice, we keep joking about staying out for the summer to try and get jobs as guides… then learning to ski and doing winter too lol

If your going fast your not using the brake… if your going slow, then your having to use the brake ALOT so need the bigger brakes… thats what I have been told, and as I plan on going slow I need all the brakes I can get :p

arrive chatel 29th :D

I was debating going for a 200/205 on the front, but not sure i’m really worth it.

Not worth it because you don’t go fast enough?… or not worth it because you go fast and don’t use the breaks.

To go slow I understand you have to use the brakes ALOT… then you need the 203s to keep cool

What tyres you running on your five by the way… size and make etc

I’ve found nothing that lasts more than a 15mile dry ride before the chain starts sounding shocking… getting sick of having to take the lube out with me.

Nice :-D Makes me miss the beatings I use to take running big drop… many close calls though

I’ve seen non UST tyres pop off stans rims quite a bit… they go with a right bang… strangely only ever at 2 or 3 mph, not seen one go at high speed but can imagine it wouldn’t be nice.

They binned it because of accidents, surely not… bearing in mind there is 50ft gaps and much bigger drops.

Get there on the 28th for 10 days… it’s nice to see photos of sun when the forecast is shower… I guess they are just random downpours?

£600 a year to insure just a bike… Your looking in the wrong place.

My buildings and content is £38 a month… So yes £450 a year, but insuring a £5k orange and £2k cube only cost an extra £16 for the whole year. Do you not have ANY house insurance? I guess it depend what valuables you have in the house, but I can’t imagine not having it.

No help now admittedly :-(

I’m local so will keep an eye out

The organisers themselves recommend a 140mm light trail bike in the zesty 514.

Schindlers list was somethingi managed to watch when I was very young somehow… Something I always remember to funnily enough.

Neon Yellow for me… Took a while to make the decision as the colours on the website and example sheets at the LBS look nothing like the final colour…

It’s buried as hazardous waste in proper locations which are then noted and monitored.

Burying it in your garden, or as above for someone to find in a few years time is not acceptable.

Yes, illegal… it needs to be disposed of correctly.

The panels them selves are asbestos cement, and fine to handle, they don’t need to be removed by a licensed contractor.

If you bury them in the garage floor concrete base, and someone comes along years later with a pnuematic hammer to break up the floor, or drills the floor to fit a ground anchor, then they risk being exposed, and you could be liable.

Impressive, I dont think I have even ever seen a policeman in DK, not in the west anyway… perhaps I should slow down on those lovely straight roads.

I used to be sponsored by Fitness First and got free access to the local one, not all of them but was still handy.

I also used to be sponsored by YAK, they manufactured kayaking kit, they used to give me £2k+ worth of kit every race season.

Poc… Best by a long way.