Mega week started with a full strip down and rebuild of the steeds so they were ready to tackle everything that was about to be thrown at them. Practice week at the Mega is always a laugh; drinking, riding, skinny dipping in the local lakes and filling your lungs up with endless amounts of dust from roosting every turn in sight. This is the best way to do it as it makes you forget you are about to launch yourself down a glacier on the weekend.
Qualis arrived and the carnage started instantly with the mass starts and the brutal amount of loose rocks. Maurice landed a tidy 17th place and I grabbed 6th in my heat meaning we were both in Sunday’s main Mega event leaving us a few nights to get chill and nervously laugh at Saturdays racing carnage, in the full knowledge we had to bite the bullet and hurl ourselves down the same mountain the following day. 6th place in Qualis meant I was on 2nd row for the main race.
This meant getting up 5.30am to get on the first few lifts. However. on arrival at the midway station, a crowd of confused riders stood about as the winds and clouds rolled in. The inevitable happened and organisers decided call off racing from the top of the hill due to the severe weather so riders were forced to ride back down to the first lift station. There was another anxious wait trying to find shelter from the weather before we finally got lined up at a new starting point.
The first few rows are always flat out carnage. Maurice’s row was filled with the likes of Sam Hill, Josh Bryceland and most the 50 to 01 crew meaning his was going to be as equally wild as mine. Racing finally got underway and the first few turns in the top section were mental with huge amounts of riders fighting for positions bottlenecking into super tight flat turns.
The first big climb separated riders a bit meaning the only places to make moves riders in front were on the lung burning fire road and road sprints that were dotted throughout the track. I had an epic battle with a few of the Welshies & Irish down the track left me exhausted but still managed to pass the southern pansies on the final sprint . 36th overall. Maurice fought with the nutters all the way down the track to bag 161st overall.
Lift passes have been our biggest expense so far on the trip, so we’ve enjoyed the riding here in Tignes as they run free lift for riders. Shortly we’ll be heading back to Morzine for more chairlift action and meeting up with our homies heading over from dreary England.
Peace out.
