DHing in France

sich nich

sich nich

Likes Dirt
Bonjour! I am planning to go to France in May/June 2009 with my family for a gathering of some sort. For some of the time we are staying near a town called Cotignac, sort of in the middle southern bit of France, but we will travel around Europe abit as well. Its my first time overseas, and its Europe for 4 -5 weeks, so naturally, the downhill bike comes along.

Of the places I have researched, ie world cup venues, all the lifts open to riders a week or two late for the time i'll be there. Crying shame to say the least. I'd really like to do some kind of racing over there if I could, perhaps club or even a national race hopefully. Itll be too early for the Mega, plus i wouldnt reckon i'd be upto it.

Can anyone make any suggestions of clubs, people they know, race series, trails in the area, DH tours, anything really? Am looking, just thought Id ask too.

I will be quizzing you Nicho and Daver...

Cheers guys.
 
Incontinent

Incontinent

Crusty Juggler
Nich,

Nicho and Daver are over there at the moment so they know what's happening. Send him an email.
Thought the Mega Avalanche was last week but there are a couple of them in different formats.
Bert stayed in France for a while with the juniors and the ended up at Chammonix and were looked after very well by the crew at Le Vert Hotel and the boys at Zero G so naturally we are going to recommend a visit there. If you happen to end up in Chammonix speak to Dax and tell him the Aussie boys recommended them to you. The riding was good but there is no dedicated DH track, shared trials with walkers. (bit like Thredbo in summer). They had originally planned to go to Les Gets and Morzine but lifts weren't open as it was too early in the season.
As for the racing, IXS series races are all over the place, or French Cup races could be happening as well. You can check out all race dates on the web. Hope some of them line up with your time over there.

url for Le Vert Hotel
http://www.leverthotel.com
 
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O

Odissius

Likes Dirt
I spent a couple of months living in a town called Chatel which is part of the Ports Du Solei of which both Morzine and Les Gets belong. Some amazing riding in the area as not only do you have the french resorts but the swiss as well including Champery and Morgins.

Unfortunately I don't think the area opens up till the end of june, though it is worth checking when your there as they may decide to open for the weekends prior.

Champery opens earlier as it has the telecabine running nearly year round. When I left it seemed as though the WC track had an uncertain future but there are numerous other tracks, though they can be a little hard to find. The guys at the bike shop underneath the telecabine will show you around.
Hope this helps.
 
R

ride979

Cannon Fodder
Les Arcs (Above Borg St Maurice) is pretty good. It's not as busy as places like Les Gets or Morzine. Plenty of good trails. But, like Odissius mentioned, not sure when the areas open, depends a little on whether the snow melts I suppose. Verbier also comes highly recommended by some friends but I haven't been personally.
 
sich nich

sich nich

Likes Dirt
Hey!
Not been here for awhile. Thanks for all the replies!
Ive been doing alot of thinking, not much planning, in the middle of getting a new bike built, busy with work, and working out rest of trip.
Now our departure date is only 6 and a bit weeks away and I havent got much bike riding sorted yet. The only thing almost definate is going to the Andorra World Cup round, and hopefully getting to race in it. If I can scrape the UCI points up next weekend at Oceanias I'll go for the wildcard entry. That should be sick, but I'll be riding by myself, as in no team mates or team to help (just me and the missus, brother and maybe oldies), and don't really know any of the usual Aussie world cup regulars. Perhaps I can tee up someone to give me some pointers over there next weekend too.

As for our staying in the south of france, it will be too early in the season for the any of the alps resorts with lift accessed DH tracks, which is a shame, so I havent included any of those places on our list of stopovers.
Some places I plan to visit are Finale Ligure and San Remo, just over the Italian border, about 2hr drive. Those places were on Earthed 5 and look awesome. Have spoken to a DH tour mob in Finale, so hopefully get to hook some shuttles up there. The San Remo track looks devastating to wheels and suspension on the video, Ill have to see whats its like in real life.

For the first leg of our trip, we will be going around Norway maybe Sweden in a motorhome, after some trains and ferries, then back on the trains and ferries back down to the mainland to Holland. Seeing how I havent found much riding up that way, and we are doing heaps of train, ferry and taxi hopping, I'm thinking of just frieghting my bike to where Ill first need it, and not even have it in Norway. Are bikepark is there in Sweden, but it wont be open when we are there.

Keep the ideas coming people.
cheers
niche
 
Anypefep73

Anypefep73

Squid
Hello All,

Anyone been to anywhere in the Vendee in France. I have heard the area is fantastic but do not know the names of any sites. Can anyone help???

Thanks,

WILF
 
rgsupergrover

rgsupergrover

Likes Dirt
I woke up this morning with a clowns hand in my pants, thats what I did.~

Anyway, not sure about the riding, didnt see much when I was there, saw one dh bike in 2 months. Just had to comment on the dp


c-c-c yeah!
 
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