I know it’s still a year away, but there’s limited spaces at the starting grid and this kinda helps with not having a Trek Bike Attack in 2010 at all… registration just started… good thing about it, you’ll have forgotten about the steep entry fee by that time :-)

Registration Trek Bike Attack 2011
www.bike-attack.ch

The 2009 edition hadn’t finished, or me and my friend where already looking forward to coming back in 2010. The Bike Attack is THAT awesome. Well, imagine our surprise to find out that 2010 will be a Bike Attack-less year! The uplift is going to be rebuild, a complete rebuild! And without an uplift it’s going to be very difficult to enjoy a Bike Attack. It’s good to hear about renovations (allthough it didn’t look ‘old’ to me, infact, I did wonder how it’s build or replaced, so now would be my chance to find out, right?), and they hope to be back in 2011. Let’s hope so.

bike-attack.ch

Original message

Liebe Freerider
nun ist die Entscheidung gefallen!

Im kommenden Sommer wird die alte 4er-Gondelbahn am Rothorn komplett neu gebaut. Aufgrund des Baustellenbetriebes und den Vorgaben durch das Bundesamt für Verkehr, bleibt der Betrieb am Rothorn leider den ganzen Sommer eingestellt. Das TREK BIKE ATTCK findet im Jahre 2010 deshalb nicht statt. Das OK TREK BIKE ATTACK bedauert diesen Entscheid sehr, freut sich aber bereits auf August 2011, wenn auf dem Rothorn-Gipfel mit neuer Bahn, top Infrastruktur und verbesserter Strecke wieder der Startschuss fällt, zum legendären TREK BIKE ATTACK. Das OK TREK BIKE ATTACK hat zusammen mit den Verantwortlichen von Lenzerheide Bergbahnen am Scalottas eine alternative Streckenführung geprüft und ist zum Entschluss gekommen, dass die Original-TBA-Strecke vom Rothorn-Gipfel nach Churwalden nicht gleichwertig ersetzt werden kann. Zudem sind die logistischen Mittel am Scalottas eingeschränkt.

Trek Bike Attack: the most fun on a bike!

YEAH! Bike Attack is my new favorite event! It’s on my for-sure list for next year and I’ll tell you why. The Trek Bike Attack is a 20km enduro downhill race with 2000 meters of descending and 140 meters of climbing. Starting at 2861 mtr  at the Rothorn and arriving at Churwalden at 1240 mtr.

Profile of the Trek Bike Attack race

On Saturday is a qualifying race, the result places you in the grid for the race on Sunday. If you don’t qualify  (eighter not participate or not finish) you have to start from sector 0, with about 600 people in front of you. Oh, and the qualifier finishes at the ‘tallstation’ of the Rothornbahn (1500 mtr) and is about 8km’s long.

Goodbye, my beloved Conti’s

My friend and I did a few training runs in the morning before having to qualify in the afternoon. Ilja had a total of 4 flats during these training-runs and I felt blessed I was spared the inconvenience. But oh… I should have known better…

Ilja bought brand spanking new Nokian DH type tyres, because the Mountain Kings weren’t keeping up with the pace. The Nokians kept perfectly btw! He finished the qualifier in 26 minutes and placed himself in the 6th sector on the grid.

http://www.sportograf.de/bestof/607/index.html

My qualifying race was terrible! All the flat’s Ilja suffered that morning, I had to catch up on in the race… unfortunately. I had 2 inners with me, but a 3rd flat was enough to prevent me from finishing. I walked back to the middle station and took the lift down. There I also bought new Nokians, only to discover I had shredded my beloved Mountain Kings to pieces… If I had listened to myself (in the review I stated: “not suitable for downhill”) and or checked the tires for wear and tear before the qualifier, I might have found myself in a better sector. I now had to close the line in the final sector. But yeah… I wasn’t there to win, or was I. I was stoked for Sunday though. Race day here we come!

Race day

Like the Megavalanche, the Trek Bike Attack is well organised and racers are invited on top of the Rothorn in stages. They all kept to the schedule and the mountain was filled well in time. This meant however having to wait a long long time. We took the post-bus to Rothornbahn and arrived at the middle station around 9:30. Way too early, so we chilled in the alpine meadow and arrived at the Rothorngiphel around 11:00. Again, way to early, because the race starts at 13:00 so we just bored and waited and waited.

12:45 all racers reported in the right sectors and after the briefing the starting-signal sounded promptly at 13:00. The poor sods in sector 7 took the time to see Wildhaber sprint away and disappear before we even took one step forwards. Finally there was movement in the crowd and we slowly moved foreward. We actually had to walk as far as the tiny bit of snow we had to cross and what I noticed that the spirit was “gemütlich”. No elbows, no shouting and most people smiling and making fun of the situation: having to walk down the hill. Past the snow we could get some pedal-strokes in, but had to get back in line on the next singletracks.

http://www.sportograf.de/bestof/607/index.html

Arriving at ‘the gallery’ I could seriously get into gear (praise the “Joplin”) and I actually got competitive passing people and not being to polite about it. I found that being polite doesn’t get you anywhere. They eighter don’t hear you or don’t care and in the worst case care a lot of being passed by a woman. So I continued shouting “left!!!” and was on my way. You would find ‘traffic’ at every ‘technical’ piece or singletrack, the biggest traffic jam was is the nice rocky singletrail near the middle station. It was going really well until there, I passed quite a few people and even caught up with my friend Ilja. We walked the singletrail together and moved on separately from there. He eventually crashed and lost an contact lens, having to continue with one lens.

I made it past the middlestation at about 25 minutes, which got me stoked even more. Rushed through the very nice berms towards the ‘tallstation’ and discovering what 140 mtr of climbing actually feld like… like blowing up!

140 mtr uphill is nasty!

It was hot, bloody hot. Did I say the forecast was awful? Couldn’t have been more wrong, sun sun sun and about 30º walking up because you blew yourself up in the first half. But I didn’t care, this first half is the most fun you could have on a bike and I was very happy with my riding there (and the Nokians did splendidly, not as grippy as the Mountain Kings, but perfectly grounded the Remedy with their excessive weight).

I took my time in the climbs, trying to recover and save some energy for the final km’s downhill. The second half has a few km’s through the woods, with roots and singletrail, and ends with a very nice steep downhill. I gave the Remedy full control and it rushed down like a maniac. With it’s owner smiling like a maniac. Pushed the final km on the pedals towards the finish and crossed the line 29th in the women’s-class at 1.13 hrs.

Give me more!

Giving the fact I started at the end of the line, this made me feel like a million bucks. I passed a fair amount of people, and finished in a decent time if you ask me. Next time I’m back with a hunger to finish the qually in say 30 to 25 minutes and having to start in a proper sector on the grid. Yes, I am competitive, but just as long as my passion for riding goes. I want to do as well as I am capable of, and I have a strong feeling there is room for improvement.

The Trek Bike Attack is less technical then the Megavalanche, but way more challenging then the PPdS. It’s more a downhilltrack like the qually-track off the Megavalanche is. The top 8km’s are fast, soooooooo fast!! And soooo much fun. But it’s no wonder  the Mountain Kings got shredded there, the wonder was they lasted as long as they did.

The Remedy however feld right at home, even in the fast and rocky parts. It didn’t feel too ’small’ or inadequate in any way. It’s the perfect bike for the Bike Attack, and the perfect bike for me. Only the Juicy 5’s did meet their limit and Elixirs are on their way.

Tina?

Oh, the funniest thing. Our first names are printed on our number plates, very cool for the nice people who are watching to cheer you on by name. Especially when they think it says “Tina”.

(ps. Hi Bella!)

Tanja = TINA

After being run over from behind during the Megavalanche in 2007, I was kinda ‘cured’ from this mega event. I still think it’s some of the best riding ever, but with over 2000 participants it’s to much for me. I’ve heard a lot about the Bike Attack in Switserland, it’s low profile and they have a max of 700 participants. 674 men en 46 women, including me and my friend Ilja.

We are heading out there tomorrow with a campervan and expect to land somewhere friday afternoon. Might do a run on the track if we have time. Or else it’s early rise for us on saturday. 2pm the quali’s start. The Bike Attack quali’s are voluntary. It might give you a good position on sunday. For me: an extra run in the Swiss Alps included, as it’s about 1.000 km’s by car to get there. Sunday is the race with a mass start, like the Megavalanche, but as far as I can tell, not on a glacier. Which is fine, because the forecasts for this weekend are AWEFULL!

The first time I rode the PPdS, I titled the blogpost “the stuff that broke“. Something similar comes to mind this time. Only, we got to finish, in a wicked time, saving up all broken elements for the final 10 kilometres or so.

Known fenomenal

We started in Morzine and by the time we drove past Les Lindarets, we both where so stoked that we ‘forgot’ to rest and carried on for five hours! Took mini-breaks and kept pedaling like idiots. Obviously we didn’t take the optional xc route, we’re not (that) crazy. But we got on top of the nasty tarmac climb near Morgins thinking we where xc-racers. So that’s how much fun an enduro bike can be… never knew that.

We agreed to take a real break in Champoussin, but seeming that that’s only a small refill station, we pushed on to Champéry. At least, tried to.

Past the four-cross trail is a downhill that finishes near the Mosettes uplift and we didn’t have a clue how to get to Champéry. The nice guys at the lift suggested we took the uplift to Champéry and the big bus later downward, but arriving near the Planachaux, we changed our minds. Turned around and agreed to take our break in Les Lindarets. (only 10 km’s from the finish in Morzine, not counting the small loop near Les Gets).

The stuff that broke

When you’ve been near Champéry, you know that it’s lovely up there. Awesome trails, and high altitude. But… when your break is a few hours overdue, it’s hard to enjoy it. Boy, where we  suffering.

Kept pushing and pushing (not wanting to slow down) and Ilja crashed over one silly rock. Without breaking anything thankfully, only pain. So we took our time in Les Lindarettes to recover.

There we finally could enjoy the wonderful catering the PPdS is famous for. And we decided to queue for the uplift around 15.30. While waiting, I casually checked my rear wheel. Only to discover that my hub had plenty play sideways. Awesome… just awesome with some of the nicest downhills to come.

So I tried to take it easy. Untill Ilja’s shockmount started squealing. Like a girl!

Tried to fix that, without success and that was more awesomeness (sigh) for us in the last few kilometres. And finally my gear-cable gave in, 4-star awesomeness: turning my Remedy into a 3-speed and still we didn’t give up! Kept smiling and pushing till the end. Finished the lap in a stunning 7,5 hours, with 2/3 of the time feeling like a rockstar on wheels!

Graduation time

The Remedy felt like home in the Alpes, and I can honestly say that I now will not to buy a Session. If a Remedy rips like that… a Session would rip me to pieces! That said, keep in mind dear Remedy-owner: if and when you ride the Alpes and have a momentary feeling that is similar to “OMG if a Remedy is this fast… a Session must carry on with the speed of light…” you are wrecking your rearhub!

Continental graduates too

Lastly: a very important experiment. The Mountain Kings, yes my favorites, did not flat once! Even with the superduper  Continental Supersonic innertubes weighing a stunning 100 grams a piece! I was going near light speed on 100 grams innertubes! That kept me going and smiling the whole time!