Post by Mary on June 9, 2022
Last weekend Jamie participated in his first enduro race for over a year at the velo vert festival in Samoens. After a week of rain, including heavy downpours during the event, conditions were wet, slippy and tough. Unfortunately Jamie’s race preparation of no beer for a week and 1 speed session on the turbo trainer wasn’t enough to get him on the podium this time. He was disappointed to finish in fourth place in his category but conditions were such that just finishing in one piece was achievement enough. He had some bad luck with a puncture on one of the timed sections that cost him vital minutes but these things happen in bike racing.
The festival itself was a great success. There was a huge variety of stalls, races and events to cover all mountain biking disciplines from enduro to gravel riding. There was a pumptrack challenge for kids (Cameron got the record time :), a big air bag for tricks, bike testing, shows and music concerts. We understand that it will be back in Samoens again next year and we would highly recommend it as a weekend destination for any mountain bike enthusiast.
We had a great family trip to the small village of St Jean Montclar in the Alpes de Haute Provence at the end of May. It has a small bike park, with a really good mix of man-made and natural trails. We were all very pleasantly surprised by the good quality singletrack. The trails were well-maintained and very well designed. We rode the blue descents together as a family and Juliet got her mountain biking mojo back. Then Jamie and Cameron rode some of the harder trails. Cameron’s skills are improving with each outing and he’s asking for an upgrade to a full suspension bike. Jamie is on the look out for a frame. Once he gets it I’ll never be able to keep up with him on the descents! There is also a fantastic network of cross country trails around Montclar with varying degrees of difficulty. One day when the kids were horse riding Jamie and I rode a fantastic loop including some outstanding technical singletrack. None of the trails we rode were over-ridden, it’s quiet and the scenery is beautiful. Definitely worth a visit.
This month our first guests of the summer season arrive. We have a family from Australia coming over for some enduro and alpine singletrack riding in our valley and one of our regular groups of lads from Wales who are over for the Passportes du Soleil event. It’s definitely going to be our best season since 2019 but we still have some gaps to be filled. If you haven’t yet got your two-wheeled adventure planned for this summer we have availability 2-9 July and 21-28 September. Please do get in touch if you’re interested in riding with us this year.
