Report
by: Aidan Bishop
Pictures
by: Barbara Sztyk
Wet Wet Wet (and
I’m not talking about the pop band!) would be what springs
to mind when I think about this race! With Andorra hosting RD1
of the Maxiavalanche cup the previous weekend, it was now the
turn of Samoens in France. A pretty small and picturesque village
closely connected to popular riding destinations like Morzine
and surrounding towns and resorts.
The format for this round was slightly different to other as
normally qualifying would be a race run on the full maxiavalanche
course to seed you for the finals on Sunday. Here they decided
to run an enduro event to determine the seeding. When I saw
it would be like this I was expecting a couple of more DH biased
stages and others being more pedally....I was in for a surprise!
There 4 stages in all, two starting from near the first lift
and the other two being a pedal across the mountain to reach
the start points with the finish ending in a town down the road.
Stage 1 was pedally at the start then was mainly fast single
and double track approx 10 mins long for the top guys. Stage
2 would be used as part of the avalanche track for Sunday and
was very technical, due to its steepness but mainly as there
was lots of off camber and it was extremely muddy, making it
very very tricky to ride without falling at least once. Stage
3 is best described as riding down a rocky stream (I’m
sure it would be a fun trail in the dry, thank god my neoguard
was on!) Stage 4 was a fast route mainly barrelling down a natural
gully, but again wet mud and roots required bravery to ride
fast. Due to pretty much non stop rain on the Saturday spiked
tyres were the choice for most (I was glad I packed my years
old ones!). Absolutely essential for stage 2 but not ideal for
when the tracks got rocky and sped up.
Waiting
for the start of race 1
Winner from round one Remy Absalon, was riding the number 1
plate so was first off in all sections. Second in Andorra was
Andre Simon following Absalon, riding what looked to be a prototype
Sunn bike with titanium back end. I was riding with No 5 plate
so was riding amongst the top flight. Simon won the enduro with
Absalon in 2nd after the four stages were over. I rode way too
steady in the conditions and had a big spill on the last stage
putting me just outside of the top twenty in 23rd place, luckily
still qualifying for the front row for Sundays Maxiavalanche.
Notable performances from the British contingent out there was
Martin Ashley and Alex Stock both placing in the top ten, good
work.
Making
my way to the front!
The Maxiavalanche course at Samoens was literally unknown! Due
to the rain Saturday and through the night, it meant it was
snowing at the top of the mountain...in JUNE! Therefore the
second lift wasn’t open to the able to practise it! As
it unfolded on Sunday all riders were sent up the first lift
and decisions had to be made as to what, where and how to start
race 1. It was eventually decided to start the race a bit above
the first lift. So the start was on a damp tarmac car park slightly
downhill for about 80 metres into a large 180 right hander (sketchy
on spiked tyres!) then sprint back up and along to the start
of what was stage 1 on Saturday and then join onto the technical
stage 2. It really was a battle to get down the course in one
piece, with muddy grass like ice to try and traverse and deep
muddy ruts in the woods with plenty of roots and rocks to catch
you out also. Once out of the woods there was a bit of road
then a few turns on some muddy and rocky double track before
you had the final road section to the finish line by the base
lift station, the winners completing the course just under 15
mins. True to form, Absalon was on top again, Floriant Golay
from France pushed him hard though to the line. 3rd place went
to Alex Stock of Britain, I had a good start this time where
I went into the technical in 4th hot on the heels of Sunn’s
Andre Simon until he washed out in front of me on that cambered
grass! I was then in 3rd for a while until Alex passed me showing
some impressive speed in these conditions, closely followed
by another French rider. So I was holding 5th position confidently
until a little patch of rocks decided to bite my old spikes
and take the air from the rear tyre. I knew carrying on would
be a fruitless exercise and so pulled over to replace the tube,
this took a while in the mud and so watched the whole field
pass me by and so I eventually ended two from last in 78th position.....gutted!
Race 2 in the afternoon
and the weather had been brighter so far, and so the decision
was made to go for it and open the second lift up and start
from the top...in the snow and ice!! After a very cold chair
lift to the top, all riders lined their bikes up on the line
and then huddled in the lift operators hut until the 10min briefing,
time to line up! A motorbike showed where we had to go off the
start as no one had ridden the top of the course yet! The top
section consisted of a firetrack start then a series of corners
cut across and back ski pistes having to deal with some large
rain ruts and some powder snow. You then followed a firetrack
until you met up with the start of race 1 on the car park and
then onto the technical steep lower half. I didn’t have
the best of starts probably just in the top 20, having a good
little battle with fellow Brit Ian Austermuhle but when the
track hit the wider tracks I put my head down and pedalled hard
. By the time the track headed into the technical stuff I had
managed to join the leaders Absalon and Golay again. Not long
into the technical section and the speed slows up and my glasses
completely steamed up so i had to ride with them in my mouth,
Alex Stock once again was too quick for me in the mud and passed
me halfway down the woods. I made it out of the woods without
crashing or flatting and holding strong in third place, I closed
in a little on Alex but the end result was Absalon pushed hard
by Golay, Alex taking third place again with myself in fourth
and Barelli in fifth. I was really happy to get a result that
had looked possible. With the poor first race it placed me 19th
overall and 6th in Masters Category. Alex finished 3rd overall
so well done to him and Ian Austermuhle finished 15th overall
and made the podium for Britain in the masters.
Bottom of the course before the road to the finish.
Time for
the clean up before heading home!
It’s now only a couple of weeks till the Megavalanche,
so time for last minute preparations and training and then join
the masses of other British riders in France to take on the
infamous race down Alpe D’Huez. I’ll report back
with how that goes, fingers crossed.
Gummy's
always on hand for team support!