In France for a well-earned break, checking out some interesting areas near the Alps and exploring the area. Packing the Remedy for the trip might have been over kill for the 60km randonnee around the Rhone Valley on mostly riverside trails. That was a ride that could have been executed in a fraction of the time on something that didn’t have 6” travel and 2.3” knobblies.
Yet for that one day of riding with my great friend Jamie Carr on his local trails the bike was more than suitable. In fact any hardtail would have soon have been way out of it’s depth. There was only one near death over the bars and off the mountain experience as the front wheel washed out on an off camber singletrack section encroached by lush mountain grasses and spiky shrubs.
From the second of the two cols on the route, the brake burning run down to the valley bottom was interspersed with beautiful sections of flowing woodland singletrack with natural berms and drops as well as groomed switchback turns. This is what mountain biking is all about and I can’t get enough of it.
So with another week to go, the Tour de France in full swing and my French improving I’m wondering what it’ll take to make my backyard trails look more like this one day soon.
R O T H A R . C O M 