terry
FreeRider
Posts: 1,212
Faster on: his latest bike
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Post by terry on Jan 26, 2016 23:29:44 GMT
Hi Richard Happy with whatever the group, your last post says self catering which is fine. Fishy was a great head chef.... Happy to do whatever. Let me know when you need the deposit. Cheers
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Post by Richard on Jan 27, 2016 21:09:16 GMT
22 weeks to go
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Post by pjk on Jan 28, 2016 12:08:56 GMT
I might join you for a day or so. Will be somewhere in the Alps that week(likely Oberstdorf, Tignes or Morzine) Will confirm closer to the time. Pete
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dave
Endurance Rider
Posts: 791
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Post by dave on Jan 28, 2016 13:06:03 GMT
I don't mind about the digs. Happy to go with the flow.
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Post by Richard on Jan 28, 2016 15:29:38 GMT
thanks chaps. come on Fishybob666, get the booking done and we can all start planning towards it
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Post by Fishybob666 on Jan 29, 2016 8:18:38 GMT
Sorry dudes, been away to da chermany ja. I emailed Hannah again to confirm availability and conditions.
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Post by Richard on Jan 29, 2016 8:42:10 GMT
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Post by Fishybob666 on Jan 29, 2016 11:48:10 GMT
Righty O, we are booked people! and with a hefty discount too which, i'm sure you'd agree, should give me first dibs on choice of room I'll start a PM group with my bank details for the deposit, no money, no ridey bikey ... Only 5 months to go!
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Post by Richard on Jan 29, 2016 12:06:24 GMT
Righty O, we are booked people! and with a hefty discount too which, i'm sure you'd agree, should give me first dibs on choice of room I'll start a PM group with my bank details for the deposit, no money, no ridey bikey ... Only 5 months to go! you are de bossman! Interesting location this time. Chalet 1080 is right up the top end of the high street near Bar Robinson so easy to drop in for some Mutzig (if we can ever find it open!) dave and James ( epic ), great to have you along. This sh*t just got real! Here we are last time we dropped into Bar Robinson (well, were were as wet as this anyway)
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Dandy Mole
Race Rider
[ss:Default][Mo0:0]
Posts: 722
Faster on: a fat one
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Post by Dandy Mole on Feb 1, 2016 8:24:10 GMT
I tried suggesting to Mrs Dandy that I might be away mountain biking on her birthday, and her reply was along the lines of "better stick to the easy descents then" as the less than subtle hint was I'd have no balls left for anything steeper
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Post by Richard on Feb 1, 2016 8:34:32 GMT
I would have taken that as a green light to go and hang the consequences
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Dandy Mole
Race Rider
[ss:Default][Mo0:0]
Posts: 722
Faster on: a fat one
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Post by Dandy Mole on Feb 1, 2016 9:52:55 GMT
I would have taken that as a green light to go and hang the consequences The "consequences" would've been hung from Mrs Dandy's left and right ear
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dave
Endurance Rider
Posts: 791
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Post by dave on Feb 2, 2016 10:17:00 GMT
Nice work chaps. Looking forward to it.
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Post by Fishybob666 on Feb 3, 2016 16:19:42 GMT
You've all been messaged
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Post by Richard on Feb 4, 2016 20:38:34 GMT
nice one - all paid now
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Post by deepmud on Feb 4, 2016 21:09:43 GMT
Another muddymole infiltrator here. Following my conversation with Richard and Dave I'd like to come. Sounds great as I've not been before!
Elliot
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Post by Richard on Feb 4, 2016 21:51:07 GMT
cool, welcome to the group. Well you obvs know Dave and James and I understand you have already ridden with Laurent so it's only me and Terry to go. We will organise a Surrey Hills ride as soon as the trails improve. How are we all travelling down there? ~Richard & Terry car sharing - we taking your car Terry? ~Dave & James car sharing? Are you taking Elliot ( deepmud ) with you too? ~Laurent - are you still flying? 21 weeks to go!
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Post by Fishybob666 on Feb 4, 2016 22:59:36 GMT
Laurent - are you still flying?
Hmm, at the moment I have absolutely no idea. Should see clearer in a few weeks Potentially could I squeeze in your car just on the way down?
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Post by Richard on Feb 5, 2016 6:43:16 GMT
Potentially could I squeeze in your car just on the way down? Yeah of course, only two of us at the moment
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Post by Richard on Feb 5, 2016 14:16:57 GMT
Sounds great as I've not been before! well, if you need any hints and tips then give us a shout e.g. what bike, tyres, body armour, should I full face or not etc.
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Post by deepmud on Feb 5, 2016 17:12:04 GMT
Yes I'm hoping to travel with DW.
I'm guessing my rigid 29er is off the menu!? But seriously I've got a squishy bike as well and will happily listen to any advice.
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Post by Fishybob666 on Feb 5, 2016 23:43:31 GMT
Elliot, the place is exhilarating but obviously rocky so it can be treacherous if you crash at high speed. I'd recommend a full facer (and goggles), decent heavy duty knee and elbow pads and a spine protection (armour or integrated in back pack). Some people ride without any protection to look cool but better safe than sorry. Dual ply tyres or enduro reinforced casing type. And a strong stomach for plenty of beer in the evening!
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Post by Richard on Feb 12, 2016 9:25:01 GMT
20 weeks to go, the riders are confirmed and the accommodation is booked and the sun is out. feeling good
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dave
Endurance Rider
Posts: 791
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Post by dave on Feb 12, 2016 11:36:48 GMT
Hello All. I did go a couple of years ago for a long weekend, including the Passeport du Soleil (more like Passeport du Pluie), so I have an idea what to expect. However, I'm not sure what you fellas do for riding -
Do you expect to do mostly uplift and the main downhill runs, or do you take in some ups and downs and singletrack / passeporte route / etc?
I found the downhill tracks hard on the bike (I took the famous green orange), but I plan to take my banshee spitfire this time, which should be a bit more robust. My only reservation is that I have nice light, fat chinese carbon AM rims, which should be plenty tough, but i don't fancy trying to get dual ply, wired, downhill tyres on those rims. I currently have Hans Dampf with the reinforced 'snakeskin' sidewalls, set up tubeless. Do you reckon these will suffice? Or should I get some cheap alu AM rims/dual ply/dh tubes?
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Post by Richard on Feb 12, 2016 15:22:19 GMT
A-hah! The old 'what tyre' question dressed up in some other clothing. But it's a fair question actually, what type of riding do we do? wobem asked me this last time we rode together. There IS a lot of riding the DH trail but there's also a lot of cross country type riding too. So a typical day might go something like: - wake up - someone strolls to the bakery and gets some crosssaints etc. - get ready and to the lifts by 9-30 am - take the lift up Pleney - take the next lift up to the top of the mountain - hit the blue run to warm up. we only descend as far as the bottom of the second lift - back up top and hit another blue or a red depending on how we are feeling - to the bottom of the second lift and back up again - decide which of the multiple lines we want to take again and hit it - back up to the top. decide we are bored with Pleney and so head over to les Gets for some more action - XC ride to Les Gets including some flat, a little climbing and some more descending - get to Les Gets and take the lift to the top - have a coffee in a bar - take a blue descent after coffee - back to the top and take a red descent or another blue - decide if we liked those or want to try another route we have spotted from the ski-lift - follow terry and end up at a totally different lift - back to the top and have some lunch - decide to head over to Chatel for more runs, another Xc type ride with some flat, sdowns and up etc. etc. so there are a lot of DH trails but the blues and reds are very well groomed (in the main) with some braking bumps but not many rocks (see the dusty yellow trails in my videos). there are plenty of tabletops that you can ride or avoid. There are much fewer doubles that I mainly avoid it's only on the XC bits that you encounter the really rocky sections. you can hit these as hard or not as you wish. They are much flatter so less prone to carrying speed into too many sections. What tyres? I have ridden many different types of tyres from full on dual ply 3 inch monsters to conti pro's. The last few years I have just ridden single ply. last year I just rode the single ply maxxis that come on the Capra, converted to tubeless by Fishybob666 and guess what, they were fine (I didn't let him touch the spokes). So it sounds like you will be fine on existing wheels/tyres. Let's face it, you weigh about half of what I do and are a much smoother rider. you will be fine on your current set up.
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dave
Endurance Rider
Posts: 791
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Post by dave on Feb 12, 2016 16:20:27 GMT
Thanks Richard. Last time I had dual ply, but on skinny crest rims - they really didn't want to seat, and the rims took a beating, but we survived. You've confirmed what I was thinking really.
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Post by Richard on Feb 12, 2016 16:49:57 GMT
cool, the beauty of driving is that you can take a load of spares e.g. tyres, wheels, lids etc that you (touches wood) will never use but can leave in the chalet just in case.
I think we had all the above last year and only used a spare tyre when fishy split one of his. (the stan's kept it alive and rideable during the day until he got home and changed it in the evening).
I took an open faced lid, rain jacket, tripod and loads of other stuff that I didn't use but it was there 'just in case'.
I just re-read your question:
- PDS route. We attempted this in 2005 and 2006 with @huey and @sue. It's a big day out especially self-guided (it's sign posted but still quite difficult to follow) and we never managed to complete it. We weren't really on appropriate bikes either. We were washed out in 2014 and having too much fun in 2015 to attempt it.
- the PDS tends to miss out all the really fun bits. It's a lot more XC with some long climbs. Fishy had a DH bike and didn't want to lug it around XC climbs at 2,000 metres altitude.
- But don't worry, if you see my last video when we went into Switzerland for the Swiss national DH course, there's a great couple of quite tough DH's but the return is along GR8 - Grande Route 8 (essentially a bridleway) but you really get the feeling of being out in the middle of no-where. We really were the only four riders on the whole mountain.
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Post by Richard on Feb 12, 2016 16:57:28 GMT
Ride On featuring the Swiss National DH trail (00:42 & 02:48) and GR8 (02:02). The rest is just a selection of the DH trails at Morzine and Chatel. www.pinkbike.com/video/435370/
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epic
New Rider
Posts: 9
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Post by epic on Feb 12, 2016 19:30:41 GMT
I'm quite happy to mix in a bit of xc routing including the PDS route, perhaps an optimised version if you're fancing giving it a go again?
Still debating which bike to bring (namely because I need to buy one).
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Post by Richard on Feb 12, 2016 21:08:54 GMT
Still debating which bike to bring (namely because I need to buy one). Happy Dayz. What you looking at?
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