As ever the summer has flown by in a blur of sunny weather and lots of bike riding. It’s been one of the best summers weather wise since I have been here - August was particularly good. Of late a few more wet days have crept onto the scene but nothing significant, the skies are still predominantly blue.
This last weekend the Super Morzine lift closed and with it the links to the Chatel bike park and the other Swiss resorts in the Portes du Soleil. The Pleney is open full time for another week so it’s not quite the end of the season just yet. There is so much riding to do on the Pleny/Les Gets side of the mountain and this is the little prompt we need to go revisit some of the trails that have been a little neglected during the height of the season.
It’s also a prompt for some more big adventure riding which inevitable means more pedalling in the absence of chair lifts. It’s great to use the lifts and get 1000’s of meters of descending for free (well the cost of your lift pass) but there is something about pedalling up the mountain and earning your descents also. This inevitable means getting on to trails less ridden away from the made tracks and for me anyway can result in some of the best rides of the season.
There is at least another month of good weather to come, hopefully two before the winter starts to arrive. For sure, the nights are definitely getting cooler/cold and the mornings can be fresh but even late into October the midday highs can be reaching 20+ degrees – very pleasant.
The last major event of the season is this weekend the Mont Blanc Rallye. Already a few of the competitors are reconnoitring the route and making their pace notes. It’s a great event and really impressive to go and watch. I usually try and see the Joux Plane stage as you can access the top of the climb from the lifts and ride/walk back down again whilst the road is still shut.
There are lots of road closures but it is all very efficient and causes minimum inconvenience. I’m no petrol head but it’s great to check out all the cars in town between stages. You get everything from World Rally cars to privateers in little Peugeots and a fair number of older classic Porsches which look far to nice to hammer around the mountain passes.
Winter is still a fair way off yet and I’ll be squeezing in as much mountain biking and road biking as possible before the snow begins to arrive (and stick around) in November.
Bon route!
