7 Life Lessons Learnt at the Megavalanche

Kicking off our new feature, Tim Sadler reflects on the important 7 lessons he learnt at this years Megavalanche

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the legendary Megavalanche event in French Alpine resort of Alp D’Huez. Sitting on that start line a few weeks ago, It was hard to believe that in 1995, with Gangsta’s Paradise invading your personal space and with racers hitting up the slopes for the first time in numbers on full suss bikes, they were throwing themselves down this snow covered slope of madness.

No doubt you have seen all the high speed clips and pictures of Remy the Master on the podium ( side note: he overtook me in the Qualification in a very nice way by shouting ‘Monsieur!’) but as part of the new Ride.io series of ‘7’s’ here are the life lessons I learnt during this event.

Qualification

Wait, you have to qualify? Yep, on the Friday of the event you are put into heats on a shorter course finishing in the centre of the resort. The route down the mountain saw a few changes this year, with some bottle necks taken out. However be warned, this is not a 4 minute blast. This is the equivalent of 3 Downhill courses all threaded together with a hundred other riders all willing to ride over your sorry ass to get into the main event.
Lesson Learnt : The Mega is in fact two races and the Qualification course jumps straight to the Seventh Circle of Hell.

Trailfix

Remember when you dropped your race-tuned bike on that uplift day and you called it quits as you bent a rotor? Well this event is not for you. You are more than likely to take a spill, and your bike, as well as your body, will take some knocks. In the course of the weekend, I saw broken wheels, rear mechs in pieces, bent handlebars, snapped levers and more punctured rubber than a porcupine in a gimp suit.
Lesson Learnt: Don’t be precious, bend it back and keep on going.

The Hunt

With the unabated growth that is happening with Enduro races these days, it is easy to get into the mindset of racing on set courses against the clock. The Mega is a little bit old school. It ignores the concept of the chronograph and revels in the pugilism that is a simple race to the finish. It’s a place to pick off those in front of you like ticks from a tramps dog.
Lesson Learnt: That guy behind you is not your friend, in fact he is probably younger, faster and practises whilst you sleep.

Glacier

“Hey, we are on a glacier, I can tell my work colleagues about this next week and they will think I am something special!” The truth is, this is what you sign up for, a mass start on a big lump of rock in the middle of lots of other big lumps of rock in a country who stole Garlic from English cuisine and claimed it as their own. I faintly remember being told that AC/DC’s Thunderstruck was played from a helicopter during the build-up, but sorry to dispel the myth, it was EuroTechno invading your senses as you built up the courage to embrace the white mud.
Lesson Learnt: The organisation of the event is a bit haphazard, the website doesn’t translate well, you are not really sure where you need to be and how to get there, but somehow you manage to get out of your sleeping bag before the sun has risen and up in a series of cable cars to find yourself trying to maintain sensible toilet hygiene whilst not slipping over and putting your hip out before the race has started.

Ruts

Those pro boys get it all. Nice shiny bikes, fresh kit, Hot women and limousine transfers ( NB: not all of this is applicable to all teams ). They also get freshly groomed pistes which they cheekly cut up into a dogs breakfast of a course. This means that when Joe Average gets his turn, aka Me, the lines are less than smooth.
Lesson Learnt: If you are not worthy of the main event, suck it up, it’s time to use what evolution gave you and side buttside down the mountain. Embrace the snow in your body armour.

Darkwoods

So much focus of this race is up top it is easier to forget that there is a whole long section in the woods. Separated by a cheeky climb to keep the DH rigs in their place, this second half is a delightful mix of roots, drops, switchbacks and darkness the like of which only moles and badgers understand.
Lesson Learnt: You have survived the carnage up top, the pack is now spread out, time to drop the hammer and own the singletrack.

Bridge

Anyone know what the track looked like 20 years ago? No? Well this year it was in pretty awesome condition, and pretty much all natural terrain. That said, there are some little road sections and some woodwork dropped in there for good measure. This bridge is the sign that the finish is only a few leg spins away. Tea and glory awaits.
Lesson Learnt: This race was Enduro before Enduro. It was All Mountain before All Mountain. It’s still as relevant today as it was 20 years ago and should be on every bikers bucket list. Bugger I’ve done it now, what’s next?

This ride was only possible with the support of the following:
Saracen Bikes – http://www.saracen.co.uk/bikes
Sweet Protection- http://www.sweetprotection.com/
Madison Clothing – http://madison.cc/
North West Mountain Bike Centre –http://www.nwmtb.com/
#ride4mb