Earliest start ever

2015 really starts here

This winter has not been the greatest.  We've had some great days, but in general the snow coverage has been poor and as temperature's increase it soon disappear's. 

And that is just what happened and how we ended up riding on Sunday the 8th of March 2015 at the Saleve.  The earliest start to an alpine biking season I've experienced after a long mild period melted lots of low lying snow.

The Saleve lift was open for one last day before it shut for the end of it's 'winter' schedule.  I wanted to check out some trails on the Petit Saleve and pedal a little. Despite the late night shift me and Tom were up and away early to make the most of the day with our 'enduro' bikes.

The new CUBE was finished up on Saturday afternoon between work shifts and ready to roll.  I'd been keeping an eye on the Saleve mountains for a while.  Petit Saleve had been snow clear for atlas 3 weeks however the very top of the main mountainside still had snow.  We didn't know if this would effect us as the lift doesn't actually drop you at the highest point of the mountain.

Snow near the top for Tom

As fun as it scooting with feet out, we were glad once the snow disappeared from the trail and we could let it flow somewhat.  It was around about 1000 metre altitude mark that the snow went, and the autumnal fallen leaves were revealed.  The trails had not seen much traffic so you really had to keep your eyes peeled to be able to see the ribbon of trail in front of you.

The lower we got, the drier the trails got, and despite neither of us having ridden for about 4 months, the speeds also began to creep up.  We hit our favourite fast natural berm chute's that lead into a fast, twisty, trail that culminates with 3 or 4 mini rock gardens.  Enough to keep us on our toes as we got used to riding again.  We ended up at the bottom of the village where we'd normally pedal back up on our downhill bikes and drop over the frontside and back to the lift.  This time however we were going up to the Petit Saleve as we didn't have any downhill bikes with us today.

Mont Blanc hiding in the background on the way up

We'd heard about Petit Saleve from CUBE Bikes Yarno who lived nearby when we he worked for Kona and from Tom's Morzine friends.  All reviews were very positive despite the climb up and pedal back to the lift.   For our first lap we pushed up the direct route which was horrible and steep.  On our second lap we pedalled around on a pretty gentle track that features the odd technical limestone rock outcrop.  Take the pedal, it's only 30-45 minutes.

The trails up there are similar to the main Saleve side just without the jumps and big berms suited to downhill bikes.  This was mountain biking terrain, pedal up, and zoom back down on woodland singletrack.  Great fun and there are a few more options up there to be explored on this mellow hillside.  In places you could be riding in a UK park as you traverse a footpath through a clearing before dropping into another section of flowy trail that has seen just enough spade work to be fun, but enough to keep it feeling real.

On our second lap we actually descended the top part of an official French VTT route.  And for an XC itinerary it was amazing!

Hazy view from the top 

The pedal back takes about 20 minutes if your cruising on the track by the railway line, or a bit less if your feeling fit on the road.

After loading the van we of course took a diversion past McDonalds as it tradition with Saleve trips.

The day after I was ski touring to a 3500m col in the Argentierre basin and descending on great spring snow.  Who know's what the next few weeks will bring us.

The Cube Stereo 160 was riding very well.  The rear suspension felt very planted like a downhill bike.  Perhaps I will have to play around if I feel the need to make it snappier, but it could be a rocket ship as it is.  I didn't do many jumps or drops so for now I'm not sure how it would do in more downhill orientated terrain.  Time will tell.  With the shock in climb mode there was no bob at all from the suspension.