Dammit’s adventures in mountain biking

Yeah it will certainly bed in more over the next few days. The initial stiction goes away, I promise!
My 2020 170mm Lyrik is by far and away the best performing fork I've ever had. So much so I'd like to get a 150mm for my other bike.

I’m going to do a longer day tomorrow, ride out to Mossettes and do some of the trails there

Lot of stiction to be overcome with this fork!

There's a product called Hyperwiper that might help with that, maybe they sell it in a shop there? RS forks are notoriously not great from the factory, mine was much better once I'd serviced it.

I whacked my grips on with my riding shoe, seems like I need a more serious bit of footwear as they’re still a bit vague in the staying out dept.

Time to buy/rent some ski boots. XC if you're hesitant, Alpine if you're not.

I admit that my footwear is inadequate- I have some Adidas/FiveTen, some driving shoes and some flip flops.

Revised setup, fastest run to date on blue DH

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Starting to relax a little, average gradient of just over 15 degrees makes that hard for me as you gain speed so fast, but familiarity helps. I’ve also been hitting a little double toward the bottom of the course, the first time I jumped it was because I was going too fast to avoid it, but now it’s become quite fun. I’m actually over-jumping it now, which might lead to some interesting issues.

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There's a couple of youtube videos of this run - looks great. And challenging.

I hope this doesn’t end in tears

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The first video I found was less than 5 min long. Just sayin'.....

Hah, I’m nowhere near getting this course right yet, I’m sure it can be done in half the time I’m spending picking my way down it

Wheeeeee!

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Time to start whipping!

There’s a double out of a right hand berm toward the bottom that fires you into the entry for a left/right series, at first I was popping off the lip, now I’m (doing my version of) scrubbing the jump, but this last run I seriously over jumped and ended up going down a bank to get back onto the track.

Just push down harder off the lip?

Also, there’s a long, long way to go yet:

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And the answer is to aim better, and jump into the next turn.

A fellow mountain biker just won a trip in a helicopter so I’m stopping for lunch.

And to upgrade your insurance?

My insurance already covers the possibility of helicopter trips. They just collected the guy in said helicopter, hovering over a very narrow fire road. Impressive flying from the pilot.

Mine didn't when I crashed at the PdS. That's why I got the chairlift down and then a taxi to the hospital.

Chairlift down on a freight harness in a white out condition isn’t something I’m racing to try again.

Any dramas on the drive over or at the border, @Dammit?

No, very straightforward- the reality is that the problems were/are all to do with the UK, from an isolation and insurance perspective, in France and Switzerland its business as usual, insofar as I can perceive it. We would have been going over the border regularly if it didn’t mean we would need to isolate upon our return, there is no presence at the border.