Seventh Week of the 50-50 Project

I began the week under the rain of Morzine. In 1998 I used to ride there all day long, with my 13cm travel bike. It was perfect. Now the trail is destroyed and the new one (DH du Stade) is absolutely not interesting. The worst thing is that you have to pay if you want to wash your bike near the gondola. I’ve never seen that. But don’t worry, Morzine has crazy unofficial trails to offer. They are steep and technical so don’t hesitate to open your eyes to find the entrances!


In Avoriaz the trails are well designed, but the maintenance is horrible. It’s the worst maintenance I’ve seen during the trip. Fortunately, the next stop was fun in Châtel. They work a lot on the trails and the new Air Voltage has good jumps. It’s just scary to ride when it’s wet! If you go there, don’t go to the Châtelane because there is lots of braking bumps and either to the Ric Rac because it is too muddy. The option I prefer is People to Fluid where your can find some huge jumps! Don’t go to the campground, it’s away from the lift and the employees are very unfriendly.

In the Swiss part of Portes du Soleil, Morgins surprised me with the very good maintenance of the trails. Ben and his team do a good job! They have 3 trails (steep-technical / DH / berms and jumps). The one I prefer has berms and jumps (Toboggane). In Les Crosets, you will find 2 trails: Grande Conche & Crosets 2. Grande Conche is a pure DH (very physical) and Crosets 2 (easier with some nice jumps). If you want a technical DH, you have to go to Champéry. The DH is absolutely rideable, even if it’s hard to go fast. The worlds will be held there in a few weeks, on this trail. Benjamin Rouiller (a junior without UCI license) showed me that the jumps are well build!

The last 2 bikeparks of this project are kind of special for me. First of all, Torgon which is not really a bikepark, but I love this place because you can find beautiful singletracks there! And the heat was back!


The last one was Métabief where the worlds were held in ’93, so this spot is just a part of the history of the sport. I also started there… You can always ride the DH of ‘93; they just changed the first 100 meters of the trail. It’s now an easy trail, but I always have fun taking some runs there. The most interesting trail is probably the Free Red, a rocky singletrail, very pleasant to ride.

50 days are over, I rode 50 bikeparks and I want to make a huge THANK to Véro, my parents, the shapers, the bikeparks and all the people behind the partners:

Cathy Baschenis, Pascale Ducrot, Sheila Fanti, Chrystelle Félisaz, Franca Grassia, Héléna Hospital, Lucie Lacroix, Laurence Rausis, Sabine Thielemans, Bjoern Adams, Xavier Bianco, Roland Breinlinger, Jimmy Erard, Reynaldo Ilagan, Hervé Marzin, Tyler Maine, Benjamin Mugnier, Simon Oppold, Pierre Savioz, Arnaud Viac et Roméo Volken, Matt Jeschke.


The Bike:

Frame	UMF Duncan
Rear shock	Marzocchi Rocco WC
Fork	Marzocchi 888 RC3 Evo
Handlebar	Syncros FR 31 750mm
Stem	Syncros FR 50mm
Grips	Velo
Brakes	Formula The One 2012
Headset	Syncros FBI
Pedals	Syncros AM Traverse
Saddle	Velo
Front wheel	Syncros FR 20mm
Rear wheel	Syncros FR 150mm
Seat clamp	UMF QR
Seatpost	Syncros AM
Front Tire	Syncros BH front 2.5
Rear Tire	Syncros BH front 2.35

Visiting UMF's European headquarters and the Marzocchi service center:

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