Our mechanic Keefer is just back from an awesome week in Morzine in the French Alps, one of the global bucket list locations for mountain bikers. In this blog, he picks out his favourite centres and trails from the trip to help you plan your visit, and shares some of his best black run videos. Read Keefer’s advice on preparing for a big bike trip in this blog.
So, how was Morzine?
The weather was ok for the most part. It rained heavily a couple of times at the start of the week. Last year the weather was ridiculously hot. This year, there was a lot of rain.
It was a bit wet and sloppy so a different experience. We spent more time keeping our bikes clean. A lot of the sections were unrideable and some of the off-piste stuff I would just stay away from when it’s wet. It was still great. You just have to be more cautious because it gets really greasy when it’s rained.
It was really nice and relaxed out there… good riding, good food, good weather. There’s so many cyclists and everyone is into it.
What’s a typical day like on a Morzine bike holiday?
We were waking up at about 7 most mornings, having breakfast, getting ready and giving the bikes a once over, getting out to the lifts for 9am when they open. We were usually out until 5 or 6.
Normally we’d do a few laps, stop for lunch for half an hour or an hour, and then try and motivate ourselves to get back out again. Your body takes quite a battering while you’re out there so when you sit down it’s quite an effort to get back up.
You feel battered and bruised while you’re on the way up but on the way down you forget all about that.
What were the best Morzine bike trails?
Air Voltage (a triple black run) at Chatel is always really good; really extreme. There are really good features out there on the black runs, like big drops and steep, technical trails. We did the black run at Le Pleney quite a lot too. It’s just out-and-out fast, technical fun. We did lots of laps of it. If you hit the features right, you carry your speed really well.
Over the week we also did the other main centres; Super Morzine, Avoriaz, Les Gets, Séraussaix, Mont Chery. We had wanted to go over to Switzerland but every time we checked the weather it said thunder storms.
What’s your next bike trip?
We don’t have anything planned but I’d like to explore a bit. Maybe Switzerland, Italy or Germany. I’d like to go to Winterberg Bike Park in Germany but that’s more of a weekend trip or part of a longer one.
Look out for future adventures with Keefer and other members of our team. If you’d like advice on where to go, how to plan and servicing your bike ahead of a bike holiday, come and see us in store in Ashford or Folkestone.
Check out Keefer’s best trail runs and subscribe to his YouTube channel here.
