Megavalanche 2011

Lazarus

Sorry guys if this has been posted before ( but i cannot find it ) but i was wondering what you guys get up to when I'm cycling up Alpe D'Huez on my road bike :twisted: and found these.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebTcu-l05zE&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfwTlTxhbG0&feature=related

only linked the first part of each one

To me the video quality looks awesome and so does the riding......hope you enjoy.

felix.london

yeah good vids - gotta do it one year. Looks like a right laugh

ilovedirt

Watching those vids and that looks (pun partially intended) mega! I'd really love to do the mega one year, maybe in a couple of summers time, once I'm a little fitter and better on a bike. I've only been riding downhill a few months, and while I'd consider myself competent, I don't think I could ride that sort of thing quickly while riding most of it blind!

kinmofo

that is freaking AWESOME! the qualifying looks fun, he smashed it on qualifying! must be anoying trying to nail it but get caught in all that trafic lol

i'd like to have a go at that! but it was a 1hr race. that would be killer on both rider and bike!!!

Northwind

It's on The Big List Of Things To Do for me along with the Mountain of Hell the week after... Though presumably I'd **** it up and crash instantly or puncture on the very first rock. Probably makes a lot more sense just to go for a regular alpine holiday but this sort of event is awesome

(if you fancy something sorta-kinda-similiar-ish but a little cheaper, then check out the No Fuss Endurance Downhill at Fort William next year, it's fantastic... Doesn't cost that much more than a regular uplift day either but what a blast)

felix.london

@ ilovedirt - see you there in a couple of summers then!

ilovedirt

felix.london wrote:

@ ilovedirt - see you there in a couple of summers then!

haha maybe mate

@northwind - I think before i attempt something like the mega, i'd want to do an alpine holiday first anyway, to get an idea of what the riding is actually going to be like, before i chuck myself down a mountain blind in a race!

I would love to have a crack at that no fuss endurance though, thinking about having a go next year maybe.

Welsh_Tom

Great vid's, would like to know where he come in the end

kinmofo

Welsh_Tom wrote:

Great vid's, would like to know where he come in the end

at a guess (he was pretty close to front) i'd say between 20th and 50th. this is a complete random plucked outta the air guess. so dont take it as gospel lol

paulbox

Great vid's! But I was knackered just watching them... :oops:

Welsh_Tom wrote:

Great vid's, would like to know where he come in the end

Do you mean in the race? He qualified in 10th.

Hob Nob

kinmofo wrote:

Welsh_Tom wrote:

Great vid's, would like to know where he come in the end

at a guess (he was pretty close to front) i'd say between 20th and 50th. this is a complete random plucked outta the air guess. so dont take it as gospel lol

He was on the same row as me for the main race, although he qualified a couple of places ahead of me (no rear mech for the last 1/3 - thankfully it wasn't flat at that point).

He was well down in the 100's at the end - unless you start on one of the first 2 rows (not the 5th row like us), you haven't got a hope in hell of doing well, as the start is like a warzone in the pack.

Bit more training for next year. Aiming for top 5 on my quali (excluding mechanicals again!) so I will be on one of the first 2 rows to hopefully have half a chance of doing alright in the main event.

It's one of those events everyone should do though. If you want to do well in the qualifier absolutely bury yourself for the first 5 minutes or so, until you hit the singletrack off the fireroad, because if you hit that in the main pack you don't stand a chance. There is a huge disparity of riding standards and all it takes is one mincer to stop on a teccy bit and you have a 100 rider traffic jam with very few overtaking chances.

Welsh_Tom

it looks great fun... sadly for me i have only just found rideing by the time i get any good i will be to old to have a go, but there is alwasy hope

miss notax

We are planning on doing this next year :shock: :shock:

swift_wraith

my mate tried it this year, but managed to break himself during practicing : alp duez


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r_paIrTh ... re=related

Hob Nob

There are plenty of women who do the race, so you won't be alone, just the quali & race days, if you are riding with partners/another bunch of guys.

Impressive crash there to go out the front door on that bit - the roller wasn't even steep :shock:

wobbem

Looks like perfect long travel fs 29er territory to me

kinmofo

i like some of the music off the main race videos, but fcuked if i can find out what it is, so if any one fancies helping me it'd be much appreciated. the one i have no clue, cant find no artist anything is part 3 of 4, and its from 8:15 till just near the end of the video. cant find no info on it what so ever. and then the firsts track in part 4 of 4, i know its dirt off your shoulder by jay z, but... the version played in the video is a different version to that which is all i can find. please please please help

miss notax

Hob Nob wrote:

There are plenty of women who do the race, so you won't be alone, just the quali & race days, if you are riding with partners/another bunch of guys.

Apparently 55 this year (out of 1000's of blokes!)! :shock: :?

The thought of it absolutely terrifies me - but then most things worth doing are a bit scary, right?!!

Hob Nob

Yeah, that's about right.

It's not scary really (women's race is very civilised). My Mrs did it, but then she rides and races a lot of DH.

The quali track is harder than the main race, but neither of them are what I would consider DH quality hard. They are more what I would call singletrack with an obvious gravity bias.

Funnily enough, we're from Southampton too!