Freeride in French Bike Parks - Video

French bike parks are stuff of legend. Coming from Czech Republic, all of the options that the Alps give you are things that we are not used to. We have decided to give it a try and go for a proper trip around some of the world famous parks that the French Alps offer.


We have started by turning up at Chatel at 4:30 in the morning, with ten days of riding ahead of us. Could not really fall asleep properly and by 10 in the morning we were already riding the park. Needless to say that the trails that Chatel has to offer are excellent. Wide variety from machined highway-style trails with tabletop jumps all the way to steep technical DH. Having said that, we would not advise this park to a complete beginner.


We camped down by the lift on a parking lot, along many other mountain bikers. The evenings went along pretty fast and the mornings were gradually getting more and more physically demanding. After four days we have explored all the trails in the park and felt like we could see some more. While two of us took the car to get to Les Gets the other three took advantage of these resorts being connected by lifts. Actually the whole area works on one lift pass and getting from one bike park to another on your DH rig feels pretty special.


In Les Gets you can feel the target audience is different. Camping is not allowed, trails are less demanding and unfortunately braking bumps on some of the trails in Les Gets require hands of solid steel. Having said that, it was nice to chill, ride a bit less after four days of constant shredding in Chatel. For the two of us who just couldn't stop, Morzine was just over the hill, offering some of the steepest and funnest DH tracks you can get.


Next up for us was Crankworx in Les 2 Alpes. Having discovered a VIP pass offer online we would get a great deal for accommodation, lift passes for three days and VIP access.


We were blown away by the variety of trails that L2A has to offer. The only thing they have in common is dust. There is very little that would compare to having breakfast at a glacier, 3200m altitude, whilst wearing a t-shirt and then bombing downhill trails all the way to the bottom of the Venosc valley (900m altitude). Stony and snowy trails from the top are gradually changing into dusty highways with massive berms only to end with a drop into the trees of the Venosc to top it off.


We also managed say hi to the current World Champion, Loic Bruni on the way. The opportunity to combine riding some of the best trails and watch the best riders in the world was something else. We would love to come back!

FREERIDE PYCO!

---

MENTIONS: @mmm2ppp / @bikeparkchatel

---