Have I turned into a downhiller?
Errm, no.
I've been mulling over what to write about Morzine. Friends have been asking how my holiday went and I always think it sounds bad if you complain. It was a great trip; relaxing, amazing food, good chat, nice people, lovely chalet and these are all really important. The weather was a bit disappointing, Yes, I know I'm Scottish and should be used to that but that's sort of the point, it would be nice to go away for once and have some sunshine after weeks of death by drowning, mud and icy hands. But saying that, I would normally have agreed that I'm fairly waterproof and unlikely to let a spot of rain spoil my holiday.
Except I wonder whether it did a bit? The trails in Morzine are really steep and all the rain meant they got seriously eroded and quickly worn away by the sheer number of riders. So even the green trails were really difficult to ride. Not a lot of whooshing downhill on those. I'm not even sure I really like downhills all that much anyway and I struggled a bit to get my head round the idea of putting a bike on a chairlift and not really doing much pedalling for a week. And how heavy are those bikes? I'm not surprised downhillers are pedal-shy.
I'm glad I've been there but I think in future I'll leave ski lifts for skiing (or boarding!). I'm definitely a convert to body armour though. A week of biking and barely a bruise on my legs, I even wore a skirt on the last day!
I very much enjoyed my 'rest' day where I went for hill run across to Switzerland and also the last day, where, looking like a very implausible roadie (under the layers of mud and camelbak) I swapped bikes and tried to pretend I was in the Tour, taking on the Morzine-Avoriaz climb and scanning the names painted on the road for mine. If you squint your eyes, maybe that's an Adams?
I've been mulling over what to write about Morzine. Friends have been asking how my holiday went and I always think it sounds bad if you complain. It was a great trip; relaxing, amazing food, good chat, nice people, lovely chalet and these are all really important. The weather was a bit disappointing, Yes, I know I'm Scottish and should be used to that but that's sort of the point, it would be nice to go away for once and have some sunshine after weeks of death by drowning, mud and icy hands. But saying that, I would normally have agreed that I'm fairly waterproof and unlikely to let a spot of rain spoil my holiday.
Except I wonder whether it did a bit? The trails in Morzine are really steep and all the rain meant they got seriously eroded and quickly worn away by the sheer number of riders. So even the green trails were really difficult to ride. Not a lot of whooshing downhill on those. I'm not even sure I really like downhills all that much anyway and I struggled a bit to get my head round the idea of putting a bike on a chairlift and not really doing much pedalling for a week. And how heavy are those bikes? I'm not surprised downhillers are pedal-shy.
I'm glad I've been there but I think in future I'll leave ski lifts for skiing (or boarding!). I'm definitely a convert to body armour though. A week of biking and barely a bruise on my legs, I even wore a skirt on the last day!
I very much enjoyed my 'rest' day where I went for hill run across to Switzerland and also the last day, where, looking like a very implausible roadie (under the layers of mud and camelbak) I swapped bikes and tried to pretend I was in the Tour, taking on the Morzine-Avoriaz climb and scanning the names painted on the road for mine. If you squint your eyes, maybe that's an Adams?
Comments
Will you be at relentless?