Mega Avalanche 2014: Jim’s Diaries – Part Two
BAR ACTIVITIES
Its 9.30am Thursday, I awake in a right mess to the sound of Doc and Vini getting up, oh my god what did I do last night. My head is throbbing, my stomach is churning, I’m sweating and my mouth is watering. Suddenly it all comes flooding back to me as I lie there sick as a dog, thinking about the previous night’s activities, with the harsh realization I may not be able to ride all day. The previous night all seemed a bit sketchy, we ended up in a real nice lively French ski-type bar, knocking down the gin and tonics enjoying the night with a bunch of lively Belgiums, reminiscing on the days riding. A large group of lads were causing trouble, they shot Vini in the arm with a staple gun to start with, then on leaving they decided to start trashing stuff outside the bar, just pointless vandal shit. The bar owner went out to confront them and was ganged up on and started to receive a kicking. I won’t go into details, but lets just say Doc and I went out and gave out a bit of Shropshire rough justice. We saw them off and ended up the most popular blokes at the bar, free drinks (weird shots included) were flowing, I was done in!
It was 4pm yesterday when Doc finally dragged me out of my pit, I had been throwing up all day, I really am not a drinker, when will I learn! I had been gutted all day, knowing I needed to ride the quali track prior to today, to say I felt angry with myself for getting so wasted was an understatement. After some ‘hard to stomach’ food Doc drags me over to the press conference, where I sit (head in hands) and listen to a mostly French world of boredom. They had the top pro riders all lined up answering questions, this included Karim Amour and UK’s Sam Dale. The only thing of interest I took in was the massive amount of UK riders in the riders graph, over 30%. One of the questions was to Sam –“why with so many UK riders has there never been a UK winner?” Sam’s answer was perfect “Because they like the pub too much!” I suddenly though that that record is gunna be changed this year, Sam is one quick beast of a rider, plus his team-mate Manon Carpenter was representing in the ladies.
NERVES
Doc and I have a mooch around the pits, some nice unusual bikes were present, but pits were pretty small really. We head back to the hotel and hit the sack early, I was still feeling it, pretty nervous about having to ride the quali track blind, oh well, what will be will be. Up today at 6.30am feeling a hell of a lot fresher than the previous day, but with a real feeling of apprehension and anxiousness about the day ahead. Finally we have nice weather, the clouds are nearly gone and the gorgeous mountains can be seen, things were drying out. Vini and I prep the bikes, numbers on, tyre pressures upped (I hope I’ll still be alright on the cut-down Michelin spikes) especially on the rocks up top. I ring Doc before I set off, as he’s up the mountain, Doc says we won’t need jackets. A Troy Lee Peak is duct taped onto my Oneal lid, replacing the one killed by the glacier. I head up to the gondola area and chat to fellow Brits about happenings of the last few days. I hear of 3 certain carbon team bikes all breaking and having to rapidly be replaced prior to racing. Also there was word of certain other top team’s requesting their riders ride the alloy only frames, it seems carbon may meet it’s maker at this big bike eating mountain. A quick coffee and I’m off up the track, the Carbine constantly attracting so much attention, I felt confident about my carbon bars, wheels, cranks, shifter, pedals, but best not dwell on it really!
RIDE IT BLIND
At the top I exit the gondola to see lots of riders watching the first few corners, with the start being a short and steep walk further up the mountain. I watch one bunch of 100 riders come through flat-out, it looked quite lairy, 100 at a time 15 minutes apart, I head up. It turned out there were over 2000 booked in, with rumours of nearly half having decided against it after practicing the tracks, it still seemed like a hell of a lot of racers in one place. I meet up with MDE’s Junior rider James Keen and we head over to the start. I have one of the highest front row numbers, so I’m in the front, but right on the edge, having to go over some bigger rocks to start, great! My nerves seem to have gone strangely enough, racer head taking over. The one-minute board goes up, I’m stretching my hands, suspension setting checks done and re-done, 4th gear selected, 10 second board goes up. I’m prepped for 10 seconds, then way to early (probably after 2 seconds) the tape is lifted and I get smoked out of the gate, not ready, 10 seconds my arse!
Sam Flanagan in hot pursuit of Red Bull Rampage back-flip man Kelly McGarry
I end up probably 20th after the madness of the first snowy corner, followed by the corners I watched by the cable-car. It’s mental but I feel ok, some dude two bikes ahead takes a crafty line, straight lining a corner, so I choose to follow him. The top consisted of rock section after rock section, each one I followed this chap down blindly trusting his judgment, we were doing ok but I was amazed to get through some of the gnarlier sections without going down. I had seen this double section of steep, rubber covered board-walk from the gondola, I hit it fast and nearly shat myself, amazed I came out the other end intact. I follow this guy like a sheep, occasionally taking a better line, now and then a worse one. I could ride lots faster but it was after a couple of minutes and a few pedally sections that the lack of oxygen hit me. It was horrific, due to us only having been here a couple of days, not acclimatizing (and maybe the hangover!) I literally was gasping for breath all the way down. The gasping and my massive hand-pump turned me into a passenger for most of the run, not being able to tap into any aggression, I was hanging on. Half way down the track I couldn’t believe how long it was, but I was slowly getting into it, knowing I had done all the gnarly stuff and that the bottom half was more like fast bike park stuff.
At one point I remember wondering why my seat was up, as I had just put it down, that was the start of my next dilemma! At that point the Thomson dropper had decided (after 10 months) it was not going to hold onto the post in the lower position, it was coming back up constantly, just as I hit all the miles of jumps and berms, oh fuck! It put me off so bad, although it took my mind off the hand pump. Every corner, every drop or crest I had to quickly sit the seat down so as not to get bucked, gutted. Riders started bunching up behind me, as I ended up trying to ride the (what seemed like hundreds) of steep berms to the end. I held the racing lines and didn’t let them past, with my arse going up and down like a nun in a cucumber field, they must have wondered what the hell I was playing at! It just seemed to go on forever, I was preying for it to end, swearing at Mr Thomson in my head! Finally I got to the last corner in 23 minutes, I was buzzing to have got down, sure I hadn’t qualified in the top 24 of my group to go through to the main race. “Well done mate” somebody said, “You’re through” No way, I had done it, come in in 15th position, cool.
BRITS ON TOP
I hung about to check out some results and wait ages for the return gondola, making the most of the free food and drink laid on by the organizers, the British qualifiers were so impressive. Fastest time of the day went to Martin Brooke (Whyte Bikes) and fastest woman was Manon Carpenter (Madison/Saracen). Other top results for the Brits were Charlie Williams (UKGE) 1st, Sam Dale (Madison/Saracen) 1st, Sam Flanagan (Hope) 1st, Chris Keeble Smith (Marin) 2nd, David Duggan (Davinci UK) 2nd, Joe Rafferty (Pro Ride Guides 2nd, Jon Stout 3rd, Josh Lewis (Santa Cruz/Stif) 3rd, Pete Lloyd (Whyte Bikes) 4th, Joe Harrison (Marin) 5th, Chris Archer 5th, Rob Carr (Ilkley Cycles) 5th, Matt Jones (Geizedale Bikes) 6th, Leigh Johnson (Marin) 7th, Oli Carter (Cube/Ride io) 7th, Andy Weames (MCMD) 7th, Ben Moore (Cyclepath) 9th, James Weames (MCMD) 9th, Andrew Walker (Conti Tyres) 10th, Alex Holowko 10th, Vini (SPS/Santa Cruz) 12th.
We headed back up to Alp D Huez eventually, chilled in our room, ate then went over to the signing on area to get our group stickers for racing on Saturday and Sunday. There was a huge queue for the non-qualifiers, who race tomorrow and no queues for the others who qualified and race the main event on Sunday, I have to admit Vini and I felt quite smug not having to wait in the big queue! Hopefully I will remain in one piece to bring you the final installment of my diaries on Sunday eve.
Words: Jim Buchanan Pics: Doc Ward
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