4 Dec 2011

23 Aug 2011

Full Length Film:




Riders: Thomas Genon, Dominik Raab, Hannes Klausner, Tanja Hendrysiak, Clemens Kaudela, Alfred Scholze
Locations: Spain, Germany, Austria
Sponsors: UMF Bikes, Velo, Marzocchi, Gravity

Seventh Week of the 50-50 Project



I began the week under the rain of Morzine. In 1998 I used to ride there all day long, with my 13cm travel bike. It was perfect. Now the trail is destroyed and the new one (DH du Stade) is absolutely not interesting. The worst thing is that you have to pay if you want to wash your bike near the gondola. I’ve never seen that. But don’t worry, Morzine has crazy unofficial trails to offer. They are steep and technical so don’t hesitate to open your eyes to find the entrances!


In Avoriaz the trails are well designed, but the maintenance is horrible. It’s the worst maintenance I’ve seen during the trip. Fortunately, the next stop was fun in Châtel. They work a lot on the trails and the new Air Voltage has good jumps. It’s just scary to ride when it’s wet! If you go there, don’t go to the Châtelane because there is lots of braking bumps and either to the Ric Rac because it is too muddy. The option I prefer is People to Fluid where your can find some huge jumps! Don’t go to the campground, it’s away from the lift and the employees are very unfriendly.

In the Swiss part of Portes du Soleil, Morgins surprised me with the very good maintenance of the trails. Ben and his team do a good job! They have 3 trails (steep-technical / DH / berms and jumps). The one I prefer has berms and jumps (Toboggane). In Les Crosets, you will find 2 trails: Grande Conche & Crosets 2. Grande Conche is a pure DH (very physical) and Crosets 2 (easier with some nice jumps). If you want a technical DH, you have to go to Champéry. The DH is absolutely rideable, even if it’s hard to go fast. The worlds will be held there in a few weeks, on this trail. Benjamin Rouiller (a junior without UCI license) showed me that the jumps are well build!

The last 2 bikeparks of this project are kind of special for me. First of all, Torgon which is not really a bikepark, but I love this place because you can find beautiful singletracks there! And the heat was back!


The last one was Métabief where the worlds were held in ’93, so this spot is just a part of the history of the sport. I also started there… You can always ride the DH of ‘93; they just changed the first 100 meters of the trail. It’s now an easy trail, but I always have fun taking some runs there. The most interesting trail is probably the Free Red, a rocky singletrail, very pleasant to ride.

50 days are over, I rode 50 bikeparks and I want to make a huge THANK to Véro, my parents, the shapers, the bikeparks and all the people behind the partners:

Cathy Baschenis, Pascale Ducrot, Sheila Fanti, Chrystelle Félisaz, Franca Grassia, Héléna Hospital, Lucie Lacroix, Laurence Rausis, Sabine Thielemans, Bjoern Adams, Xavier Bianco, Roland Breinlinger, Jimmy Erard, Reynaldo Ilagan, Hervé Marzin, Tyler Maine, Benjamin Mugnier, Simon Oppold, Pierre Savioz, Arnaud Viac et Roméo Volken, Matt Jeschke.


The Bike:

Frame	UMF Duncan
Rear shock	Marzocchi Rocco WC
Fork	Marzocchi 888 RC3 Evo
Handlebar	Syncros FR 31 750mm
Stem	Syncros FR 50mm
Grips	Velo
Brakes	Formula The One 2012
Headset	Syncros FBI
Pedals	Syncros AM Traverse
Saddle	Velo
Front wheel	Syncros FR 20mm
Rear wheel	Syncros FR 150mm
Seat clamp	UMF QR
Seatpost	Syncros AM
Front Tire	Syncros BH front 2.5
Rear Tire	Syncros BH front 2.35

Visiting UMF's European headquarters and the Marzocchi service center:

Sixth week of the 50-50 Project

The week began under the rain. No problem, I’m vaccinated.

During the 6th week I had some good spots and some less good ones. For instance, in Val d’Isère, the village is nice, the playground is huge, the campground perfect and the gondola is very modern, but MTB is not a priority for them. The trails are covered with sheep droppings, are not very fun to ride, not well indicated and potentially dangerous. There is no indication for the hikers that they are entering an MTB trail. But the work they did on the trails is well done, for example the jumps on the Red or the Blue singletrack which is the nicest I’ve seen during the trip (both on Bellevarde). But once in the bottom you have to pedal 10’ to reach the gondola…


I found the best trails in Les Gets, Tignes and Les Arcs. The latter has a wonderful DH (La Cachette) where I probably did the biggest jump of the trip. I called it Air Time. They also have a lot of possibilities with 10 lifts! But the resort is still developing. The other good thing in Les Arcs is Malgovert, the singeltrack that goes down to the valley and is open until 7.30 pm. In Tignes, they have a very original offer: the bikepark is FREE ! And the trails are well maintained. I enjoyed the tables of the kangooride and I found the best section in Kamasutrail with step-down, step-up, canyon gap, … This part is crazy to ride. In Les Gets, there is a lot of good things to ride in the area of the Jump Park. The Déjantée is cool to ride. On the other hand, Roue Libre and Dans le Gaz are totally destroyed with braking bumps. It’s almost impossible to ride. They probably will have to change the trail; because the big staff of shapers (8 in total for les Gets) can’t maintain these trails even when they are working a lot (I saw 4 people working). In La Plagne, if you expect a bikepark, you’ll be disappointed. They have good possibilities but it’s more some MTB trails and not MTB DH, even if they worked on some trails like Descente de Moi. You can use the full potential of La Plagne if you go there for enduro. The resort is connected with Les Arc. It’s the second biggest resort that I know after Portes Du Soleil. The only problem there is that every lift opens a different day. You probably need a computer to organize an enduro trip!


In Bardonecchia, they have 3 different spots: Biovey, Campo Smith et Melezet. I didn’t ride in Biovey (bus access) and I spent my day in Campo Smith and Le Melezet. There I found the best trail: the 25D. It’s an easy DH and it’s longer than the trails in Campo Smith. They could build more jumps to have a perfect bikepark. Last but not least: La Clusaz where we had the worst welcome for the motorhome of the trip (with Saalbach). They have a campground, but it’s far away from the gondola and it’s very expensive. But the trails are very fun to ride! They have 2 trails. The Loup is very fast and the tables are pretty big! The Ferriaz is slightly more technical, but you can play a lot with the trail. It could be perfect if the trails were better maintained.


Here is the program for our last week : Morzine, Avoriaz, Châtel, Morgins, Champéry, Les Crosets, Torgon and Métabief on August 21.

Fifth week 50-50 Project



What a week! Sun and good riding. It was my best week, for sure!

Les 2 Alpes, Chamrousse, l’Alpe d’Huez, Les Orres and Sauze d’Oulx all of them have good riding and each are really different. Chamrousse has the most different riding of all the bikeparks I’ve visited. They have technical alpine single-track with some nice north shore stuffs. I really liked the Tétras who has everything that you can find on a technical single-track, the most original track. But they also have easy riding like the Panoramique. Congratulations to David Mas and Bike Solutions who built the bikepark.


For Big Mountain riding, l’Alpe d’Huez and les 2 Alpes have everything to offer. The strength of Alpe d’Huez is probably the trail of the Mégavalanche. From the end of the glacier until Alpe d’Huez it’s 98% nice singletrack. Don’t hesitate to ride a dh or a freeride bike because at some places, the trail is pretty hard (like the roots in OZ Station). Probably they can work a little bit more on the trails because I saw a lot of stones lying around (like on Les Chamois). If you want to have some fun, Les Vaches is a prefect trail. In Les 2 Alpes, they have the most trails of the trip and they all are very well maintained. They’ve understood that if you don’t want to have some breaking bumps on the trail you have to change it and not to maintain endlessly. They did it very well on the downhill to Venosc. Finally, in the whole bikepark you can ride from 7am to 8pm. Can you believe it? They have a very good trail which is called Diable: high speed, berms and 2 very nice tables at the end of the trail. It’s probably the best bikeprak of the trip with Geisskopf. This week I also had the surprised to ride the best trail of the trip (besides Chaumont). The trail is called GawAline and is in Les Rousses (GawDirtMerchant could be better). They have a succession of tables, step-downs, berms like Dirt Merchant in Whistler. Congratulations to Sébastien Aubert the shaper.

The only disappointment of the week was in Serre Chevalier. They have nice trails, but only for beginners. It could be easy to improve the trail (like La Mélézine) by adding some tables. The area has also some hot springs (Monêtier) where we had the worst welcome ever. These place Monêtier les bains is probably not an option. In Vars there are only 2 tails, on the other hand, they are fun to ride and well maintained. The Taillefer is one of the best DH I know of with good flow, speed and not steep. For singletrack, I found my paradise in Sauze d’Oulx where The Enduro des Nations was held. Busy day. I rode with the people from the race on the Gouriun trail, which is incredibly nice in the wood and also outside. If you want some jumps you have to ride Pian della Rocca.

Next week: Bardonecchia / Val d’Isère / Tignes / Les Arcs / La Plagne / La Clusaz / Les Gets

Fourth week of the 50-50 Project


The beginning was fresh because I met the snow in Verbier! The tops of the trails were covered by snow. In Les Gentiannes I found 5-10 cm of fresh snow! It was a crazy adventure to go down. The day was busy with some shooting with Trifon (shaper), Phil Meier and also Chris Winter (Ridebig.com) and his group. It was snowing, but everybody was out! Great atmosphere! They worked a lot on the red trail, which is so nice now! After such a day, the best solution was to go with my wife Vero to the hot springs of Levey les Bains which were on our road. Sweet!


Just beside them, you'll find the spot of Dorénaz, which is famous for the DH built by Trifon. The spot is very busy in winter because all the downhillers come here to train themselves. Then we crossed the French border because all the following spots are located there. The first one was in Les Houches where I had the best view of the trip thanks of the glacier of Bionnassay. There you can find 2 trails: a blue and a black one (with some red options). When it’s muddy, it is almost impossible to ride some sections of the black one. There is a technical singletrack under the gondola of Prarion (same pass) which is a good alternative. The next spot (Les Saisies) is at the summit of a pass. The resort is small but they have proved that it’s possible to make some good trails despite their size. They have 4 tracks and 2 more options. The Cubérote (black) has 2 dirts at the beginning and was my favorite. Les Saisies was also the 25th bikepark of the trip, so the half of the trip was done!




In Les Carroz, we had the best surprise of the trip for the motorhome. You can find power connection and water for free, just in front of the gondola. They have 2 trails (black and blue), the black one is more natural and on the blue one they made some berms. I saw only 2 jumps on the whole spot of what I was slightly disappointed. After that, I made a stop at the European service center of Marzocchi in order to make a service to the fork and the shock. Thanks Stéphane. Then we rode to Prapoutel (Les 7 Laux) where they have 4 trails. The Cortillets was my favorite one, but I was disappointed of this spot because the berms are too close, there was cow dung on every trail, panels were failing and they do no maintenance on the trails. On the other hand, the managers of the resort are aware of that and they are trying to develop the bike park to improve it, but they need more time.



In Villard de Lans the trails are maintained by an association called Les Pieds à Terre (Feet on the ground) who do a really good job. Everything was very muddy, but I saw no puddle and it was possible to ride every trail even the black ones. My preferred trail was the Kevina (red), but they also have some black, blue and green trails. Nice spot ! Now, I’m not asking for sun, I just want a day without rain!

I’m in Chamrousse and I’ll go to the famous spot of Megavalanche : L’Alpe d’Huez, then Les 2 Alpes / Serre-Chevalier / Les Orres / Vars / Sauze d’Oulx

Third week of the 50-50 Project


It began in Davos, Switzerland. The employees at the lift and at the restaurant Weissfluhjoch were really unfriendly, however, I spent my best riding day there. Davos has everything to offer to every rider. From Singletrail (the one that goes to Gotscha Boden is incredible) to nice freeride trails such as the one they just opened in Klosters which is called "the European A-line". It’s not really A-line, but the middle section (when you cross the train) is really cool with nice tables and good berms. The spot is huge with connections between Klosters and Davos! Nice Day! Then on my way to Livigno where I met Hans Rey and his wife to discover the Flow Country and the bikepark. At the Flow Country, I met the U23 German National Team. You can see that Flow Country is for everybody. The park is also good and I had a lot of fun on the Flow Line. In order to improve the park, they could work on the evacuation of the water. Then back to Switzerland, to Flims where the people were nice, but on the other hand, I was very disappointed with the trail (Runca Trail). It has too many flat or pedaling sections, but there are a few things to have real fun on however. The spot is perfect for enduro riding. You can connect Flims to Laax where the singletrails are really nice.


Then we rode to Bellwald and crossed the Furka pass where it was snowing! In Bellwald, the spot offers 2 nice DH which even after 3 days of rain were perfect to ride. The shape crew of Roméo Volken did a good job. Then I met Julien and Simon Kottelat in Val d’Annivers, my preferred valley where St-Luc is located. They have incredible singletrails, but this time I spent my day in the bikepark. The trail is a mix between DH and north shore stuffs. In front we can see Crans-Montana which is the next spot where as always, the 2 trails are well maintained by the 2 shapers : Enrico and Jérôme. I was happy to ride with Jérôme after his big crash 2 years ago in Germany. The red trail is incredibly nice, it has a lot of jumps and some good berms. It’s very fun to ride. The last spot of the week is Anzère where they also have 2 DH, like Crans-Montana, but the black one was almost impossible to ride without spikes! The red one is easier and there was no problem to ride even when everything was wet. Now I'm waiting for only one thing - the rain to stop!


Next week : Verbier, Dorénaz and then on the road to France: Les Houches / Les Saisies / Les Carroz / Les 7 Laux / Villard de Lans.

Second week of the 50-50 Project



The week began very well with the best bike park I’ve visited since the beginning of the trip : Geisskopf. It’s the first time that it was hard to stop riding and put the bike in the motorhome and continue on the road. The DH is incredible with the first line and 5 doubles! The other trail that I spent time on was the Biker-x. It’s probably the European trail which is the most similar to the A-line in Whistler. The next bikepark was in Autria : Leogang. Once more, it rained the whole night (for the fifth time in a row), but in the morning the sun was back again! Sweet! The bottom of the park is huge with the line of the 26 Trix. I also found some nice jumps on the Flying Gangster (freeride trail beside the World cup trail), but I was expecting more fun on the trails. They were destroyed. I had a similar experience in Schladming. They have some nice jumps, but between it’s too steep, with no flow.


Then, I went to Slowenja to discover Kranjska Gora. They have a lot of trails, but I had more fun on Airline with lots of tables. At the end, all the trails arrive to the same place with some good berms and nice tables. Air time! Then back to Austria to ride in Wagrain. The weather was all new with fog and 9 degrees at the summit !


I met the two shapers (Tony and Jacky) and their dog Lili. For the riding, I enjoyed the R’n’B northshore which is a versatile trail with tables, hips, step-up, …

Next to come: Saalbach-hinterglemm. After 10 years of traveling around the world, I have never had such a bad welcome for the riders who want to spend a night under their tent or in a motorhome. Even the Tourism Office send you to the nearest campground, 10 km away from the lift. I was pretty disgusted! But Saalbach-Hinterglemm has also good things to offer like the free pass if you sleep in a hotel and the biggest bikepark I've seen since the beginning of the trip. The Pro Line in Hinterglemm offers some nice north shore style with drops and a road gap. In Saalbach, the best option is probably the X-line trail with more than 1000 meters of elevation. The shape crew (Roland, Sascha & Mario) is also very passionate and friendly. The end of this second week was in Innsbruck, where I found the steepest and hardest trail I have ever found in a bikepark. When it’s wet, it’s almost impossible to do the whole trail on your bike. But the view of the city is very nice! It was good to change up the style of riding!

Yesterday I was in Davos and today in Livigno, then : Flims / Bellwald / St-Luc / Crans-Montana / Anzère.

50 / 50 Project - Week #1

The trip began under the sun at my home spot of Chaumont. The trail is shaped by Bikeattitude.net. I was happy to be there! Bienne was the next spot where the trail is held by Trailnet.ch. Then I hit the road to Germany to reach Todtnau. I haven't been there for a long time, but nothing has changed. The 2 trails are still well maintained.



After Todtnau, I visited the European headquarters of UMF (Merida – Centurion) in Magsstadt where I saw the first prototype of the new Freddy (freeride bike). Sweet design! The next stop was at Bad Wildbad where we can find a lot of trails (4x, 2 DH, 2 Freeride trails, 1 dual), but they are short ones. The good surprise was in Willingen where there are 2 nice trails: one DH (the one of the world cup) with some big doubles and nice jumps and the other one (freeride) which is an easy run with some nice berms and tables. Then in Winterberg, there is the biggest choice of trails that I've seen during this first week. They offer DH, freeride, north shore, 4x and a huge slopestyle spot. Finally the last spot was the wildest one : Silbersattel. There is only one hotel and a lift at the end of a small road, that’s all! People were very nice there and the north shore trail is very fun to ride!

Today I rode in Geisskopf and then hit the road to Austria and Slovenja :

Leogang / Schladming / Kranjska Gora / Wagrain / Saalbach / Innsbruck

50-50 Project is just started
50-50 Project is just started. I spent the first day at my home spot. Sunny and easy day ! Today, road to Bienne (near my house) and then I'll reach Germany.

Schedule of the week :

Yesterday : Chaumont (Switzerland)
today : Bienne
Todtnau (Germany)
Bad Wildbad
Willingen
Winterberg
Silbersattel

50-50 Project
50-50 Project

Alban Aubert will visit 50 bike parks in 50 days, in 6 countries (Germany, Austria, France, Italia, Slovenia & Switzerland), from July 3. to August 21. It'll be live on Pinkbike.com



Bike parks :

Chaumont / Bienne / Todtnau / Bad Wildbad / Willingen / Winterberg / Silbersattel / Geisskopf / Leogang / Schladming / Kranjska / Gora / Wagrain / Saalbach / Innsbruck / Davos / Livigno / Flims / Bellwald / St-Luc Crans-Montana / Anzère / Verbier / Dorénaz


Les Houches / Les Saisies / Les Carroz / Les 7 Laux / Villard de Lans / Chamrousse / L’Alpe d’Huez / Les 2 Alpes / Serre-Chevalier / Les Orres / Vars / Sauze d’Oulx / Bardonecchia / Val d’Isère / Tignes / Les Arcs / La Plagne / La Clusaz / Les Gets / Morzine / Avoriaz / Châtel / Morgins / Les Crosets / Champéry / Torgon / Metabief

10 days before departure!

The project is directed by Alban Aubert

Brought to you by :

UMF Bikes
Dakine Switzerland
Formula
Julbo
Syncros
Velo

Kamchatka Riding Video


"Somehow I found myself in this very situation not long ago in Kamchatka, Russia. As with every trip I take with Alban Aubert, it is guaranteed to be extreme. Staring down the gnarly descent from the summit of Avachinsky Volcano, I knew that this trip would be no different. To tackle Russia’s Volcano Kingdom, Alban enlisted the help of Rene “Mega-Man” Wildhaber and a local guide to point us in the right direction."

-Words by Rob Rebholz

EcuadoRiding In fact it is one of the most peculiar places of the world because in only a few hours by bus we could go from the Amazon jungle to surf beaches all while passing through snow-capped volcanoes that rise to over 5,000 meters!


If we are to talk about the riding, there are many possibilities and it is all varied. To begin Quito offers excellent possibilities and it is quite possible to focus only on the spots around the city itself. If you've only got one hour you can go to the Carolina Park. The park offers a beautiful BMX track that is well maintained and is less than 10 minutes away by bike from your hotel. Otherwise, Quito’s cable car is one of the few lifts in South America. The trail starts at 4000 meters and offers a breathtaking view of the city which could certainly represent one of best moments of your trip. More so, the 15 dollars for the whole day means that it's an attractive price. There are two trails, El National and another one that has no name. The latter is the best one, because it is well maintained and the access is easier.




There are also some other trails in the city such as Ungui and Coturco. The first one is punctuated by large gaps, but you need to shuttle each of these. Out of the city the country is full of spots, almost each city or village in the Andes has its own DH. Banos has the biggest choice. In competition terms, La Classica de Cantuna in without a doubt the best MTB event in Ecuador, which is completely organized in Quito´s downtown.


For pure freeride there are The Cotopaxi volcano and The Chimborazo which offer some reasonable slopes and a ground made of lava reduced into small balls, where you can really have a great freeride session. You will be able to choose your line without being dependent of a trail. Here the word freeride makes sense!


Thanks Diana, Cuervo, Diego, Juanga, Ramiro and all the local riders!

Shops :
The Bike Shop
Cikla

About the riding in Eucador :
Afuera.com
Bicicleteros.com

If you need a guide, LFA is the best solution (Volcano riding for example)

Endless Season?

Bikeattitude.net