This article first appeared in TNT Midweek issue 39 - July 7 2004. www.tntmagazine.com BRAKE A SWEAT. THE TOUR DE FRANCE ROUTE MIGHT BE TOUGH, BUT THE MOUNTAINS AROUND IT ARE MEAN AS WELL. DAMIAN POINTON BUSTS A BALL BIKING IN SOUTHERN FRANCE. I really didn't I think I would be able to top being wedged, spreadeagled in the fork of a tree hanging over a cliff edge, but that triple-somersault, overhandlebar forward dismount I just executed did it. Yep, getting stuck in a rut when mountain biking can be a real bitch. One minute I was navigating my way down a feisty Pyrenean descent, the next I was airborne. Somehow, I managed to avoid a bone-breaking landing on the mass of rocks dotted across the slope. My bike, however, wasn't quite so lucky. The bent seat would live to ride another day, but the front handbrake had snapped clean off the handle bars. Mmmm, that's not good, considering we're only one-third of the way through an 800m descent. If there's one thing you really can't do without when mountain biking, it's brakes. I'd remembered that about one minute into my first downhill run of the weekend - and about a minute before I ended up in the tree. The bravado I nurtured from previous (albeit limited) mountain biking trips retreated as fast as my speed increased. As my hand gripped the lever like a vice, it was the start of a beautiful relationship between me and the brakes - until I broke them, that is. "Momentum is your friend, speed is your enemy," reminds James, our charismatic guide through the trails above Ax-les-Thermes in southern France, as we inspect the damage. It's a mantra he taught the group from the outset and one that I'd chant whenever the world started passing me by a little too quickly for comfort. James is a wealth of good advice with his self-proclaimed 'top tips'. There's the easy, useful stuff like raising the seat when going uphill, dropping it when going downhill (to prevent you going over the handlebars) and keeping the pedals parallel on the way down and lean the bike into corners. Then there are the harder ones, like look up and ahead at all times and not at your front wheel (it wasn't as easy as it sounds, but it was the single most useful piece of instruction I received) and the really tricky one; don't brake at the top of a sudden drop-off - just keep going. It seems, however, that I missed the tip about how to not break your bike. As my steed is declared unsafe for further duty, I'm forced to admit this mountain biking is tougher than it looks. Nevertheless, after a rendezvous with the support vehicle and a bike switch later, I was ready for the next round of whatever the mountain had to throw at me. And there was plenty. Ax, as locals call the place, dishes up a tasty mix of topography, scenery and trails that leave even the most pedantic of biking fanatics salivating like Pavlov's dog. It's a place of exhilarating contrast. The serenity of the snow-capped panorama is the ultimate yin to the adrenaline-pumping yang of the area's single track and downhill action. Mind you, you're not always in a position to appreciate your surrounds. When you're tearing down a slope at breakneck speed (not me, but I saw others do it), there's not much time for sight-seeing. You could be weaving your way through anything from a stony river bed to an algae-slicked waterfall, a muddy slope, or a leafy forest path. The angles are pretty insane, too - like 90º - and I now know what a hairpin bend is. There are some fun cross-country jaunts as well, ranging from perilously narrow goat tracks hugging a fatal-looking drop, to rutted fields that make you appreciate the beauty of shock absorbers and a particularly vigorous descent dubbed "a bit of a ball basher" by one of my biking cohorts. Being slap bang in the heart of Tour de France territory, there's a healthy serving of uphill on the menu as well. And I must say, after pumping my leg muscles to the point of explosion and still not making it to the top without a few walking breaks, I have a newfound admiration for anyone who can race at such altitudes. Most people would describe the climbs as pretty damn steep, but not James. No, during our debriefing he describes them as "flat with an uphill bias". Yeah, quite the joker, that James. We only fell for that line once. "So, are we ready to roll?" he asks the group at the peak of our latest geological conquest. "The hard part is over. It's all down from here. And, if you like, we can head into the centre of Ax and soak our feet in the thermal hot spas." Now there's a top tip if I've ever heard one. Damian Pointon mountain biked with Marmot Tours (07813-647178; www.marmot-tours.co.uk). Weekend biking packages start at £250 (flights extra). |
