Charles Mountford has been riding a Transition Blindside over the past few months thanks to Keith from Max Bikes PR. Here’s his review after plenty of fun down the allotment (both), and some epic riding at the Megavalanche and Avalanche Enduro… (click on the image to go to the full review).
In the run-up to the Megavalanche this year I’m racing to raise money for Re~Cycle.
Re~Cycle reconditions unwanted bikes and sends them to Africa to provide cheap, sustainable transport which improves the lives of people living in some of the poorest communities.
So far the money raised amounts to £325, but there is still a long way to go to reach our target for this worthy cause.
You can help and make a difference by clicking here;
www.justgiving.com/megavalanche2010
Thanks for your support,
Charles Mountford
This year we’re taking 2 test bikes to the mega courtesy of Max Bikes PR. It’s gonna be ace!
The Marin Quake XLT 180 7.9 and the Transition Blindside with their long travel, considerable seatpost extension, single crown forks and double ring + bash set-up are aimed squarely at those doing the Mega or any other all day alpine riding.
So, anyway, before throwing ourselves down any massive mountains we thought we’d take them down the Allotment for a thrash about and some pics… (click ’em to make ’em bigger)
As most of you will probably know a group of us from the club will be attending the Megavalanche in l’Alpe d’Huez, France this summer. This is a mass downhill race held high up in the Alps competing against hundreds of other riders – sounds like fun!
If that wasn’t enough I thought that it would be a fantastic opportunity to raise money for charity as well. The charity that I – and we as a club – have chosen to raise money for is Re~Cycle who ship unwanted, second-hand bicycles to Africa for the people there to use.
The reason I feel strongly about this is that the work that Re~Cycle does helps to empower people by providing them with transport that is low-cost and easy to maintain, and this gives them the chance to raise themselves out of poverty – all through something as simple as a bicycle.
It goes without saying that all of you reading this love your bikes (maybe a little bit too much!) and the sense of freedom that they can give us, so by competing in the Megavalanche we are using the thing that we get so much enjoyment from to give something back and make a difference to someone’s life. We get to use our bikes for fun but for some people what a bike actually means to them is the difference between spending half a day collecting water going by foot – or – a considerably reduced journey by two wheels. Or it can mean the difference between not going to school – or – being able to go and get an education with all the benefits that entails. I think you get the idea!
So how can you help? Well I have set up a JustGiving page, this is a really easy way to donate money to Re~Cycle and they give a 100% of the money to the charity plus Gift Aid. Please take the time to visit the page and make a donation.
http://www.justgiving.com/megavalanche2010
I’ve set the bar high with a target of £1000! However I think that you will all agree that this is a worthy cause and there should be no limit set on ambition. So dig deep, raid the piggy bank, look behind the sofa for those pounds and pence, make a donation and do something amazing!
Thank you for your support and generosity.
Last night a group of 8 of us huddled around a table at the Horse and Groom to thrash out some ideas of how we can all get to Alpe d’Huez to race “The Mega”.
For those of you who didn’t manage to get there, or are still waiting to be convinced that it’s a good idea, this is a summary of our estimated costs and arrangements thanks largely to the past experience of 4 time Mega veteran, Simon ‘Big Burd’ Truelove:
£75-100 per person
We’re planning to take a number of cars and vans over the channel and drive the 787 miles from Somerset to Alpe d’Huez. This will cost approximately £300-400 per car (including fuel, tolls and ferry/tunnel),vans may cost a bit more, but the total travel costs will to be shared between everyone. Flying was considered but this is typically far more expensive (~£200 per person) and would also include the faff of organising transfers, hire cars and a sedative laced burger to get Ben Irons onto a plane.
We have 2 vans lined up for sure (taking up to 5 people and ~10/12 bikes), but we’ll obviously need some cars too. Driving will be shared so that no one person is left having to do a non stop death-grip challenge the whole way.
£15-20 per night
Based upon 4 sharing a small self catering apartment. Some may prefer to stay in slightly more swanky surroundings, and this will certainly be possible, but the std accommodation need not be very expensive. Once we’ve got a firm idea of numbers, and lengths of stay, we’ll be able to book this up (April ish).
During “Mega week” there are actually 3 events:
The program for the week is as follows:
Monday July 5
Avalanche Enduro Vaujany (Seeding run)
Tuesday July 6
Avalanche Enduro Vaujany (Race)
Avalanche Cup Oz en Oisans (Practice)
Wednesday July 7
Avalanche Cup Oz en Oisans (Race)
Thursday July 8
‘Bike Speed’ (we don’t know what that is either, but it sounds very french!)
Megavalanche (Free practice)
Friday July 9
Megavalanche (Qualifying races)
Saturday July 10
Megavalanche (Mega Ladies – Mega Challengers – Mega Amateurs – Mega Affinity)
Sunday July 11
Megavalanche (Mega Affinity)
Some people are keen to take part in the full weeks program of events while others are more focused on the Mega but are keen to go and have a taste of the Les Gets and Morzine trails too. So, we may go out in two groups, some going from Saturday 3rd July to Monday 12th July and others going from Wednesday 7th July to Wednesday 14th July (including travel).
£64-119
This is obviously dependant on how many of the events you choose to enter (prices converted from Euro’s and are subject to currency fluctuation).
We’ll add to this as and when we get any more information, but the Mega discussion will be on the club forum here: http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,201995.0.html so do check it out if you want to get involved.
This year we’re planing to go over to France and do the Megavalanche, there’s already 14 of us who’ve signed up (that’s a lie, we haven’t actually entered yet, but will be doing so really soon) and hopefully some others who’ll join in along the way.
Those who’ve done it before will know it as being epic; a race that puts you through almost every emotion and spits you out felling like you’ve been chased by (french) vikings down a mountain (starting somewhere nr the sun) over the course of some sort of weird 1hr period where the world has gone through all 4 seasons. Oddly, when you do get to the bottom you want to hug/high 5 everyone in sight (even those french people) because you’ve shared the same traumatising ordeal. That said, it’s amazing and will leave you smiling and talking about it for ages afterwards.
We’ll be traveling and staying together so its bound to be a good crack , if you fancy getting involved check out the forum thread here: http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/index.php/topic,201995.45.html
For any further information see the official website: http://www.avalanchecup.com/mega-avalanche.html
Here’s a pic from the 2008 (or is it 2007?) race, you can see Neil in the red circle (riding his old red V10 with white Boxxers), you’ll notice that just like at this years SPAM Winter Challenge, he’s about to take a wrong right turn.
