Mountain Biking for Everyone

This summer, Lee and I spent 5 days exploring the glorious summer mountain trails along the VTT (velo toutes terrain or all terrain biking). Now please don't be misled, the VTT is not the same as the MTB downhill trails. Yes there are crossovers, but there's a big difference in the equipment required and the steepness of the trails.

MTB downhill is where mountain bikers, dressed somewhere akin to an ice hockey player with protective gear across their chests, arms and legs and a full face motorcycle style helmet, hurl themselves down the traditional ski runs, on a bike that has the price tag of a small car. This is a true adrenaline sport and not for the feint hearted.

Over the years Morzine, and the surrounding Portes du Soleil, has become renowned as a world class location for mountain bikers with downhill, endurance and cross-country for all abilities. Superb infrastructure and awesome mounatin trail have made Morzine an MTB Mecca. It's the most popular bike destination in the Alps with the largest selection of trails, including World Cup and novice downhill runs. There' s 650 km of sign-posted tracks, 10 permanent downhill runs, 4 bike-parks, MTB trial areas and 25 ski-lifts equipped for taking mountain bikes.

On previous summer visits, we've looked on in awe at the passing MTB enthusiasts and not realised just quite how accessible some of the trails are. This year, we discovered that you shouldn't be intimidated by the gear. The VTT is more of a cross country trail taking you across stunning and accessible routes through France and Switzerland. It's quite startling how much distance you can cover in a day (but more about that later).

We set off equipped with a standard mountain bike. My bike was actually a cheap one from Halfords, nearly ten years ago. Proving you don't need spend a fortune on equipment. The full range of mountain bikes can be easily hired in Morzine. Helmets are essential and we found after the first day, so are gloves. Cycling gloves have some reinforcement to protect the fingers and stop the palms getting sore. With a picnic packed, we were good to go.

We spent 3 days completing various small circuits on the VTT trail. on the 4th day we attempted a full loop from Morzine to Chatel to Morgins and back across Champery then up through Avoriaz. As it turned out, we missed the last lift out of Morgins to reach Champery, so we had to follow the valley back down to Chatel and then eventually Abondance and take a taxi home.

But it was all great fun and I can honestly say, we loved it as much as we love skiing. You get to explore far greater distances than walking and the easy downhills are exciting rather than hair raising. This is one trip we would highly recommend and we can't wait to take the children next summer.

The apartments are looking great. We had a few little jobs to do but got to spend most of trip scooting about on our bikes and enjoying the alpine sun, which at times was quite fierce. They've finished refurbishing the outside of the building and it looks very smart and traditional. Next year, I understand they are planning to refurbish all the stairs and hallways. We're due back out in October as we want to build a secure bike area in one of our storage areas in the basement. But I think some more cycling might be in order, especially as the children are joining us while they're on half term. The best things about October are the amazing autumn colours and the flourishing waterfalls. I can't wait!