Avoriaz

Ready for the outddor life

My early tiredness from riding the recent cols had now gone, and I felt refreshed and ready for more climbing.

Close by was Avoriaz, a climb out of Morzine.

If there was ever a location vying to be the capital of outdoor sports, then Morzine and the Avoriaz would be in contention.

Morzine is a famous ski centre, but unlike many other French ski resorts, it has embraced walking, off road cycling, road cycling, golf, para-gliding and virtually every other outdoor activity.

This year the Tour de France is passing through Morzine and so the town is totally buzzing. 

A gentle start over the first 1Km takes you to a short plateau.

Climbing starts do not get any easier than this but the 14Km ascent at an average 8% it’s not to be sniffed at.

At 3Km, a series of beautiful wide hairpins folding back over 180 degrees wind their way up the climb.

With no forest to shroud your view, the potential to use whatever line you wanted on the roads was possible, so I did.

The climb was a sheer joy to ride, it’s steady, with no actual surprises allowing you to set and maintain a steady rhythm.

Who said that ?

In complete isolation, while the pedals span with metronome precision, I was suddenly shaken out of my climbing trance.

“Chappeau.”

There was no one ahead of me and no one behind.

“Allez, Allez, Allez,” then sounded.

The cheers were coming from the overhead ski lifts as they glode up the mountain.

I waved back in acknowledgement, but seeing their bikes attached to the lifts made me think as I pedalled on and admiring the stunning views.

The Avoriaz summit was very busy with off road riders riding the trails, but the ski lodges and hotels were closed. The contrasting atmosphere of a deserted town with the frantic off road bike activity was surreal.

On the descent there was still very little traffic. The wide smooth bends, tight hairpins and a clear view of the road ahead provided some interesting angles for Brompton to negotiate as I tried to spare wasting any brake rubber.

I looked up from the base of Avoriaz and the ski lifts trundling up and for a brief moment I thought about taking one up to zoom down again. 

It’ll never catch on

On another note, there was a big, big surprise.

In the town of Morzine, the supermarket opens 7 days a week from 08:00 – 20:00.

Sunday afternoon shopping how novel.