18th August 2008: It all started so well....

I knew this would happen.  

The sun came out, the people arrived, all the trails opened, the tyres cut through the dust, the BBQ was lit, some cold ones were cracked, it rained, coffee was drunk, it dried, we drove, we rode, we crashed, we repaired, we tinkered, we cleaned, we lubed, we explored, we built, we destroyed, people left, people came, we didn't sleep nearly enough and the computer was forgotten and so was the Blog.

Needless to say much has happened at The Search since the last update!

Firstly thanks a bunch to all the people that have come riding with The Search since the start of the summer,  I can say hand on heart that I haven't had a bad day's riding with anyone so far!  Even when someone drove into the trailer full of expensive bikes...while it was attached to the van.... and the van was in motion full of people on a windy mountain road....!

Other moments so far this summer:

World Cup Racing in the pub:  It was always a little dream of mine to be able to watch the UCI World Cup in the pub with everyone shouting at the telly!  Well, it happened...twice.  Chez Roger has been this summers hang out, everytime I drive past and everytime I'm sat there with a coffee I see someone I know and it's become the unofficial meeting place for apres riding beers or rainy day coffees.  

The timing of both the Canadian rounds of the World Cups fitted in nicely with traditional 'let's go to the pub' time, so I knocked up a poster, plugged in my laptop to the pubs TV screen and hoped some people would show up! The pub was soon buzzing and the atmosphere built up as we watched the world's best in action and by the time the top 10 came down the hill everyone was shouting at the telly....!  It has to be said that the live internet coverage broadcast by Freecaster and the others is going to do wonders for the sport.

Two things I still don't understand: Loads of people booing Sam Hill?  And cheering Barel's puncture?  Two of the most misunderstood racers in mountainbiking I reckon....

The Portsmouth Uni crew: I'm still not sure how many of them there were, hundreds perhaps... They all road their socks off, had the beers out when we got back before the bikes were even unloaded and had some absolutely indestructible members of their group, a couple of them walked away from crashes that would have put a lot of people off riding bikes for a long time! 

South West C*nts!:  Any bunch that turns up calling themselves that are either going to be a liability or a damn good laugh.  Luckily it was a bit of both!  You can check out a video of their antics here: http://www.pinkbike.com/video/31991/  beware, contains mankinis!

The Injury Club: Thankfully I'm not a member (although joined temporarily by virtue of a broken bike) but if you're interested in joining you must conform to some or all of the following criteria:

Current members include: Aston, Mcknight (thats The Search Team down and out then..), Irish (biggest ankle ever...!), Belter, Seb, Six Motion head man Romana, Callum Swift, Uncle Nige (although he's technically left as he's been spotted on a bike recently and Andy (he never stopped riding but probably should have at least once!)...

You might have noticed from some of the other pages on the website that The Search is also now working with Six Motion clothing!  So for all (both) of you requesting T-shirts you'll have to wait a bit longer but the Six Motion/The Search collaboration T-shirts should be pretty epic...

As for the Portes du Soliel, the tracks are holding up pretty well I think, probably helped by the fact there are a few more of them.  Avoriaz has been on a mission, all of a sudden a hill that had two tracks on as got half a dozen, all knocked up in a week or so!  There's also several awesome new singletracks that have sprouted up here and there.  Maybe people are starting to get over the 'who can build the steepest, gnarliest singletrack' phase thats been prevailing over the past few seasons because the current trend is for fun, less steep, flowing trails which is a lot better in my opinion! Right now pick of the lifts has to be the top half of Super Morzine.  

Well, theres not too many weeks of riding left (in Morzine at least...) so I'd better get on with it!

2nd July 2008: Passporte to planet dust

Still dry.  Everywhere is bone dry and bikes fly past with streamers of dust coming from their wheels.  Its so good after the weeks of rain to be able to wear the same riding kit even two days in a row! 

Its been a busy few days at The Search as the season as started proper now and suddenly Morzine is full of bikes and people.  

First up, The Search was really pleased to welcome 2007 Junior World Champion Ruaridh Cunningham and Matt Simmonds from the Chain Reaction/Intense team.  The Search took them and filmer Callum Swift to Dorenaz to get some shots for Callum's debut movie 'The Uprising'.   Ruaridh and Matt are both still young guys but their experience on the bike and professionalism shone through as they nailed lines first time for the camera.  It was incredible to see how fast they could ride but also work out what lines look the best on film.

Inbetween some mint trips with some super-motivated clients was the Passportes du Soliel event.  The annual tour of the Portes du Soliel is always a cool way to start the season...except I never bother to actually enter, get the number, buy the t-shirt etc.  Its just as good and a bit cheaper to go out riding with all the crowds and soak up the atmosphere a couple of thousand riders hitting the trails at the same time.   The Passportes also brings out the darker side of mountainbiking as all the cycling clubs bust out their 'team' lycra!  We saw all sorts while we had a break for lunch, from ski helmets and ice hockey pads to a bloke with an elephant on his head....It's all good stuff though, there's so many people riding a lot of whom probably don't normally on every kind of mountain bike you can imagine, you can't help but smile.  There were a few classic machines out and about too, I saw at least one original Orange Clockwork and anyone remember the Klien Mantra?  Cool bike....

We rounded out the week with a trip to La Clusaz for their opening weekend.  It was a full team trip Paul, James and myself and two customers Roy and Joe.  Roy was on his second trip in a week with The Search, after going on one daytrip he signed up immediately for another!  La Clusaz was in absolutely perfect condition; the ground was so soft, smooth and dusty that the bikes barely broke a sweat.  The only problem was that it was impossible to ride close to each other because of the dust!  We had a multi-rider pile up in one corner as everyone overshot it in the clouds of the Astonators roost!  Day of the season so far for me,  perfect trails and stoked clients...

22nd June 2008: Hot hot heat.

Sorry still camera free.......

The old mercury has been climbing steadily the last few days, the sun has been blazing and I've been able to make some real headway on this summers 'pad tan'.  The braking bumps have also been baked nicely into shape. Riding Pleney main line at the moment makes you think that your suspension has broken and that your bike is about to disintegrate into a fine aluminium powder and settle with the rest of the dust in the little troughs between the bumps.  Theres always somewhere to ride off the (heavily) beaten track though and some of the singletracks were in perfect condition, so I could get away from the hordes of euro=flouro's that are in town at the moment with their crazy bikes, kit and riding styles!

I should recap on the midweek BMX mission, as promised.  We headed off to Aigle later than planned but with plenty of time in the bag only stopping in Morgins to stuff our faces with Swiss chocolate!  I know its a stereotype but these things have to be done! Aston had already located the track on a previous mission and was quick to point it out as we turned off the main road.  I couldn't see it, just the UCI building containing its Velodrome, indoor BMX gate facilities and a weird blue building out the front.  As we got nearer and approached from a different angle I realised that this blue building was in fact the start ramp!  It must have been ten metres high!  This dropped riders into the sweetest BMX track I've ever seen, tarmac berms and manicured jumps with loads of variety. The pro line even had its own covers for the jumps to keep them fresh!  Luckily (for me, Aston was up for it though...) a chain was over the start gate, so we couldn't hit the first straight too hard.  I haven't been on a BMX track for a couple of years so contented myself with pumping round and just trying to stay smooth while Paul was having a proper go at couple of the straights... This is when we met the Legend.  A few other people were about, inlcuding a guy on a Lopes replica 4X frame who obviously knew the place pretty well, we got chatting and he turned out to not only work for the UCI but to be in charge of track building and event management for BMX!  He'd just got back from the Worlds in China and was enjoying a bit of time on his bike before heading to Woodward Camp (for an 'out of office UCI meeting'!!) and then onto Whistler to stay with Travis Pastrana for three weeks and go riding!  He explained that elements of the track at Aigle were scaled down versions of the Olympic track in China,  apparently the Olypic athletes will be facing a 18 metre triple when they race there!  The more we chatted the more our jaws dropped as this guy reeled out anecdotes from his previous careers.....8 years racing yachts around the world.....10 years pro snowboarder....now pretty much running the UCI BMX tour and riding MTB's, roadbikes, track bikes etc etc etc...what a life!  After another hour or so at Aigle,  Matti (I've got no idea how you spell his name, he was swedish and although it sounded like Matti he pronounced it in some crazy way) offered to show us another spot a few K's down the road.  

I'm keeping quiet on the location of this place but its on the list for The Search because as we pulled into the fireroad that accesses this little spot a group of riders rolled out the woods on freeride bikes...  I turns out a little haven of DH tracks is on the hill and they finish in the same area as a great little BMX track! Oh, and there is a funicular railway to carry your DH bike to the top!  We were already knackered from riding at Aigle but on seeing the fun that could be had here we were straight back on the bikes again.  This track was more up my street, it was a lot less racy and much more enjoyable with roll-ins to many sections so you didn't have to sprint like mad to do the jumps.  By the time we stopped riding the sun had set and our arms and legs were like jelly.... 

The valley from lake Geneva to Martigny has to be one of the best places in the world to ride bikes, not just mountainbikes, all types of bicycles.  The number of people we saw cycling was amazing, from a few families out for a gentle ride to gaggles of roadies belting down the tarmac, downhillers BMXers and we were told there was a huge trials park further down the valley.  It doesn't get better than this, and the Swiss make the best chocolate in the world....

18th June 2008: SUN! 

Finally! Sunshine!  Summer has not forgotten us!  To celebrate we're headed to the UCI BMX track at Aigle...I'll report back later...

There might even be pictures, I'm off to reclaim the camera soon..

17th June 2008: When it rains....

....go to Chamonix!  For those of you basking in the English tropical summer, the rains normally destined for your shores got diverted this year.  It has rained constantly for a month here in Morzine, seriously non-stop, I haven't seen the top of a mountain in weeks everything has just been grey.  Even those riders born with gills who permanently run spikes in the hope that it might rain have started to lose enthusiasm, the relentless washing of kit and scrubbing of bikes is getting everyone down.

I haven't ridden as much as I wanted to at all in June so far,  the weather, some odd-jobbing and a few stitches have all taken days away from me but sometimes the days off make you appreciate the days you get on the mountain so much more.

Today we headed to Chamonix after hearing that the Vallorcine DH track was open early.  It wasn't, the lift was standing lonely and empty on the mountain weathering the storm and waiting another couple of weeks to open.  Undeterred we nipped back down the valley to another lift that was running and a track we knew well already, "SICK TRACK!"

Standing in the cold under the steep sides of the Chamonix valley we layered up with kit and armour, putting on long sleeved tops and trousers ready to get covered in crap... But after the first run, the shorts were back on and the bikes looked remarkably clean given the amount of rain we had.  The mountains had come through for us, they drain so well due to the rocks, sandy trails and trees that after riding in the bog that was Morzine  riding in the rain was actually fun again!  Sick Track itself is pretty technical to say the least and normally the kind of thing I would stay off of given the weather record but its a trail I absolutely love and was surprised to find it so rideable in the rain.   

The day was cut short by a mechanical, so we headed into town to get some grub and stopped by to check out the digging  progress at Chamonix trails (no, I'm not telling you where they are!)....

14th June 2008: Pleney of time to get things ready:

Sorry no pics at the moment, my camera is locked in a mates room for the next week. 

Finally got out on the bike again.  Pleney has opened it's gondola early this year and Les Gets is open from this weekend so there are runs to be done!  Pleney was riding more like Weston beach race the first day I hit it, massive ruts in every corner and the wooded sections were pretty much underwater.  Needless to say the track is absolutely shot already.

With so many proven techniques now available for trailbuilding I don't know how a place manages to get it wrong time after time.  Morzine decided that the Pleney needed a spruce up and a bit more variety so set to with the Bobcat and spades, but doing all this the week before the lifts opened is not the time!  Nothing had time to settle or bed in before it was torn to shreds on opening weekend... Despite the rumours flying around there are no major alterations or new tracks just a bit of tweaking to the old one.

That said some of the changes are for the better and there is a new right-hander after the tunnel that is just awesome, especially with the great big stinking rut in the middle of it at the moment.  Everyone is railing this one with their heels on the floor!

I rounded off my first weeks riding with a trip to the Cabinet medical for a bit of embroidery to my leg following a tumble.  It was a classic mud crash, the front wheel spins up and starts drifting and then hits a rut flicking round to full lock and pitching me over the bars....the pedal snagged my leg and took a few strips of it away leaving me with 11 stitches and an enforced day off.  

There's a big road race in town this weekend,  Le Dauphin.  It's  like a mini Tour de France from what I can gather.  It's pretty incredible to see how pro the road cycling world is compared to MTB, they took over the whole of town with enormous motorhomes and hospitality areas, every hotel had a big fleet of team vehicles outside and mechanics beavering away.  In downhill were impressed with a few E-Z ups and a workstand, to us thats a pro pit area, occasionally someone has a promotional vehicle but generally thats it.  The trucks these guys had had laundry's and kitchens in the back, some unfolded into little cafe's for selected big-wigs and they all had at least two support cars prickling with spare wheels and bikes.  The whole circus was packed up again in hours and dissapeared to the next stop on the tour...

Incidentally the riders themselves were racing on the streets of Morzine for about 15 mins.

10th June 2008: True or False?

Anyone else remember "true or false?" in Dirt Magazine?   I think I'm going to re-surrect it for The Search Blog...no names though to protect the not very innocent:

The Search True or False:

Is it possible to burst blood vessels in your eyes when your sick? 

Downhillers vs. Roady: A pro roady must drive a car at at least 30mph to dislodge a downhiller from its roof?

You can "Make a scene" in less than 5 seconds?

All downhillers are horrendous lightweights?

A drink is available by the name of 'Paint stripper'?

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May 2008