15-03-07

Hi all,
I've just signed up to the 2007 Megavanche in Alpe D'Huez this July. It's basically a massive downhill mountain bike race in the Alps. 1400 competitors in a mass start at the top of one of the longest black runs in Europe.
Dirt Magazine said it's one of the hardest races in Europe, so obviously after a few beers it seemed like a great idea to enter.

This will be my first bike race since I was 10 where I raced my Raliegh Boxer around a flat grass track at our village fete(I came about 5th out of 15).

Lets be honest, I'm in this for the experience, not to win it. Last year the winning time was just under an hour, I'm hoping to complete it by the end of the day.

At hte moment work commitments have kept me from training daily, but I'm trying to ride or run most days. Ewart and I have found ourselves a 20km bike loop on Dartmoor which is mostly fast gnarly downhill, but with enough uphill to make pretty hard going. We're hoping to be able to complete this loop twice in a reasonable time before we depart.

Other people joining me are Ewart, Danny, my baby bro Phil and the legendary Tommy Klamper.
Hopefully I'll get fitter and lose some weight in the process.

ciao