It’s sunday, I just witnessed the Megavalanche from a spectators view. I didn’t race after a crash yesterday in the qualifier. I was about 10 minutes on my way, good position, well in front with some girls in sight I was going to overtake… when I got run over by a guy that was trying to catch up with his wave and well, his excuse was… “my brakes are dead”. Continue reading →
Archive for July, 2007
Megavalanche terror-week part 2
It’s friday and we’re getting ready for the qualifiers tomorrow. This week has been awesome, done some great riding and I’ve got the track reasonably dailed. The qualifiers are for the different Mega’s that are being ridden on sunday. There’s the Megavalanche, the best 508 riders of the qualifiers. The Mega Pink, all the women that finished the qualifiers. The Mega Promo, the next 500 best riders and the Mega Affinity. That’s a bit stupid though. All that didn’t finish in the top 1000 will be given the chance to ride the Mevalanche with a chip, but no mass-start. They have to depart between 10.15 and 11.30 and have to pass Alpe d’Huez before 12.30.
For a lot of guys, this means no mass start and no Megavalanche experience! I’d wish they had mentioned this before. It’s a smart set-up but not fair to most riders.
For the girls on the other hand, it’s spectacular! About 60 women are to start, our own qually wave and our own Mega start, between the Megavalanche and Mega Promo in. It’s awesome for us!
No pictures at this moment, more to come!
Megavalanche terror-week part 1
Haven’t been updating for a few days, crazy riding and scarce wifi over here, but I’ve got it now. We arrived on sunday and did a short session on the qualifying track and connecting to the downhill here in Alpe d’ Huez. It’s one of my favorite parts of the track and the qually is by far the best track over here to ride. Our friends arrived sundaynight and we rode together on monday for a full day. Managed to ride most of the qually and the bottomhalf of the Megavalanche.
We made it to Lyon
This morning we left at 6.30am from Apeldoorn and picked up friends is Rosmalen to hit the road, just to get ahead onto Alpe d’Huez. We expected massive traffic, so we where so surprised that the only traffic-jam we encountered, was the one at the gasstation! Really, it wasn’t traffic-hell at all! We kept on driving and driving and we made it to a hotel just below Lyon. Got our bikes with us in the room, the car locked behind a camera-guarded fence… we’re happy campers. Just about 180 km’s to go tomorrow, we might even do some biking!
Dirt Mag’s snow report
“Just heard that there has been lots of snow this year in Alpe d’Huez, so there is lots of snow at the top for this years Megavalanche. Lets hope it stays cold until then! Fun times…”
Their heading says: “YOU ARE ALL DOOOOOMED…THERE IS SNOW AT THE MEGA!” but I say YES! Snow is much better then rocks and it’s a huge part of the Megavalanche experience. Pray it stays cold!
History of (my) bikes
I was just adding a list of history of all bikes I’ve owned for my “about”-page and it turned out to be quite a list. And I still need to collect more pictures, some I may never find I’m afraid. But making the list was actually so much fun with so much memories… I thought I’d turn it into a blogpost.
10 things you don’t want to forget…
… when you go out for a bike vacation or go to race. When you’ve been driving for hours to ride at some awesome spot, you don’t want to quit because of bike-trouble.
Especially when you’re planning to ride multiple days. Here’s my thought on what to bring (not including obvious stuff like tubes and tools).
PPdS: the stuff that broke…
This weekend I did a last minute trip to the Passport du Soleil. A 90km downhill-tour in the French and Swiss Alpes. Visiting the best bikespots in the area with over 3000 bikes in one weekend.
We, well actually Ingmar did, drove up on saturday and all through Germany we had roadworks after roadworks, and it took us about 11 hours to get to Champéry (Switzerland). We grabbed something to eat and a drink in the bar. After that, it didn’t take long for us to get in bed for some deserved rest.
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