FLCUK News and Info

So the Mega week in Alpe d’Huez is in full swing – 1 day to go before the qualifying runs head off down the mountain at 10am friday. FLC team rider Ben Hargreaves is out there riding the new Transition Covert (view in our online shop click here).  This bike is insane, comments so far from some of the other riders out on the mountain – “you’re riding a full DH bike and that guy on the transition has just smoked you through that section”! – this bike really is the bees knees for doing everything on – for heavy duty rocky sections – upgrade the tyres to dual ply as the lightweight XC tyres are a bit flimsey for the mega.

The qualifying track has changed somewhat this year – the long climb is no more but there is more exciting downhill sections through Alpe d’Huez and futher down the mountain – the old qualifying track down to Oz en Oisons is now part of the mega main track.

Check out the head camera footage of the full qualifying course for the megavalanche 2011 below: or click here to view Further updates to follow.

Video from last years Megavalanche 2010 can be seen below: megavalanche 2010 par migooprod

and if you dont know what the megavalanche is there is a wikipedia link here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megavalanche

 

For the Summer 2010, team FLC decided to try something different, Marc ( and Mrs McHale!) headed over to the US to hit the mountains of California, and Ben thought he’d try his luck with the worlds toughest downhill race – ‘The Megavalanche’ in Alpe D’Huez, France.

For those of you who dont know – Megavalanche is a mountainbike downhill marathon style event that mixes gravity-assisted excitement with enduro levels of fitness, guaranteed to test both nerve and physique. The most famous round is run from the French Alps town of Alpe D’Huez, starting on the glaciated summit of the Pic Blanc (3,300m) and descending to the lush meadows of the valley bottom at Allemont (720m), after some 2000 metres down and 30 km along.

To be in a position to attempt this race, a certain level of fitness is required not just the ability to ride fast downhill but the stamina to cope with 30 minute downhill for qualifying and up to 1hr 50min for the actual race. Which going from a UK average of 2-3 minutes for a downhill this is an big ask, especially when mixed with a few uphill sections as well!

Before heading out to France, all the kit was checked, replaced if need be and then checked again. Anything going wrong up in the mountains was either going to be expensive, fatal or both.

Firstly, downhill bikes are not recommended for the main race, although a lot of riders do, if you have the fitness then go for it, but a few of the riders used two bikes, a downhill rig for qualifying, and an all mountain bike for the main race ( if they got through qualifying of course!). The top riders went for a all mountain bike and some even a modified cross country bike. But for a first time out a decent amount of suspension is recommended.

To qualify, the top 38 riders from each wave of 200 got through, this was tough, a lack of fitness meant the final position for Ben was 48th which put him through to the second race on the Saturday, very disappointed but put it all down to experience, next year a focus on the fitness is a must.

For this trip, as a lot of money had already been spent on the downhill bike it was decided to make a few modifications and go with one bike. Also buying spare tyres and kit in the UK as shops in the mountains are very expensive.

Most important mod: Hydraulic Seatpost, one with thumb operated height adjustment on the handlebar.

This can be purchased via FLCUK website via this link click here:

Next was the gearing, smaller chainring on the front, for this an ethirteen 32 tooth chainring was used. This is now used for downhill as well.

This can be purchased by clicking here

Rear cassette, this was modified to give an extra boost on the climbs.

this can be purchased by clicking here

this was about the limit, as otherwise the chain would need to be swapped for a longer one. This way it would be easy to just swap the wheels with a different size cassette on.

Also a superb bit of kit was the dakine back pack with the 3ltr hydration pack. This was awesome! Very comfortable to wear and had organiser pockets for all the tools, snack bars and even has the option of carrying your full face helmet.

can be purchased by clicking here

for those heading out there next year, Team FLC will be putting a trip together, call in at the shop or give us a call to find out what the plan is. Or just call in for some advice.

Sorry for the delay folks, quite an eventful weekend this one seeing Dan Burchall carried off in an ambulance and out of action due to a broken collar bone. Quite an ambitious jump which, had Dan have made it, would have been pretty spectacular.

The accident was on the Sunday morning which left Ben Hargreaves and Marc McHale ( Team manager ) to fly the flag. At UKBP you get two runs, best run out of the two counts to the final position. After the first run, Ben was in 3rd place (in masters) half a second off second place, with Marc hot on his heals a few seconds off the pace.

Nearly at the end of the second run, Ben was still in third place with Marc needing to pull some magic out of the bag to secure a podium, unfortunately for Ben this happened, Marc found 8 seconds and pushed Ben off the podium by 2 seconds!! How annoying.

Wishing a speedy recovery to Dan, and see you at the next round (4) August 29th 2010.

In the absence of Marc McHale ( team manager ) due to some excuse about being in hospital and unable to compete it was down to FLC team riders Ben Hargreaves and Dan Burchell to fly the flag at the southern champs at UK Bike Park RD2.

Saturday morning was a slow start due to the horrendous whether where most of the morning was spent trying to decide which tyres to choose and whether to walk the course or not! By midday it was looking like the sun was going to come out and play so a spikey front tyre and minion on the back was the decision. The course had some significant changes made to it since the last visit some three weeks previous so combined with the thick gloop that covered most of the roots and rocks the course was going to get interesting.

Saturday afternoon saw a few injuries inflicted by the overhanging tree in the last section of the course and the rock garden was clearly starting to catch a few people out. Dan was reminded that whips whilst jumping the rock garden were going to be frowned upon and getting through as quickly as possible was the key, Dan clearly already had this licked!

Team FLC was missing its third member throughout the day Saturday and were most relieved to hear that Marc had returned from hospital and was going to be joining them from the sideline for the race on Sunday for some guidance on how to shave off the extra few seconds needed to get close to the podium.

Bright sunshine and a slowly drying track Sunday morning made for some excellent riding and times were getting quicker and quicker. The rock garden was getting faster and the exposed roots were starting to loose their shine so the opportunity was there for Team FLC to get some decent results.

After the first run, Dan was looking good with a respectable time of 1:22.59 with Ben not too far behind with a time of 1:36.95. Dan needed to find a few more seconds to get onto the podium and with his second run managed to find another second and finished 1 place short of the podium in 4th, which he is still whining about now! Ben found 4 seconds and finished in 10th in the Masters.

Team FLC should be back to a full line up for RD3 June 30th 2010. see you there.

If you were ever to organise an event of this magnitude the tick list would include great weather, great atmosphere, challenging but awesome course, and a smooth operation from start to finish….Si Paton from BDS and his team ticked all the boxes.

Apart from being one of the most challenging downhill tracks on the planet the duration of this course was the killer, full on arm pump before the half way point had been reached and just as you were going through the pain barrier the technical wooded area appeared!

The course from start to finish was going to be a challenge not only to complete using the best lines and carrying speed all the way through but avoiding punctures and getting a fast time combined to be a very interesting but demanding weekend.

Only two of riders from Team FLC competed this weekend, Marc Mchale ( Team Manager / Owner ) and Ben Hargreaves. Practice went well on Saturday with a nasty crash on the last run of the day from Ben Hargreaves who managed to avoid damage to himself but the bike required some TLC that evening.

By Sunday the track was starting to bed in on the corners helped by a little rain mid morning. Target for seeding run was under 7 minutes so team FLC had to make the most out of every section of the track.

With the bikes repaired and ready to rock, Marc pulled off a seeding run of 6min 40secs and Ben just behind with 6min 50secs following a spectacular no footed jump through the Nissan portal near the finish which nearly ended his weekend! These times put team FLC about half way through the masters category so further effort was required to get into the top positions.

The final runs from Team FLC followed the right line choices and a smooth decent, carrying speed through each section was key, Marc managed to knock a further 4 seconds off his seeding run to finish 22nd with a time of 6min 36secs. Although a smooth run not carrying enough speed through the technical sections slowed Ben down and finished in 30th with a time of 6min 56secs.

An incredible weekend for all involved, spectators, organisers and competitors. Next race is Caersws then back to UK Bike Park for Round 2 of the summer series.

MPORA Action Sports >>

Team FLC donned the new team kit and headed out to hit the newly redeveloped UK bike park, with fast berms, a brand new wall ride and very fast wooded area the weekend would certainly be a test for all the riders to get the fastest time. Saturday practice was very dry and grip was an issue in places especially in the fast single track sections through the forest which could be clearly seen with the chunks out of some of the trees made from pedals and unfortunately one of the rippers who managed to break his leg on one of them. ( wishing him a speedy recovery ).

Tim Daniels from The Mighty Ray Gun http://mrg.photium.com/ was there to capture the thrills and spills.

Race morning saw a light coating of rain which helped bond the track a bit more and keep the dust at bay. The banter in the FLC pit area indicated that the race between the team was going to be a close one, the predicted course time was around 1min 40sec and with the fast section at the top and the fast technical areas the course would draw on the teams stamina as well as technical ability.

Run 1 saw Dan Burchell leading the FLC team with a 1.46.02 11 seconds off the lead with Marc McHale ( FLC Owner / Team Manager) 2 seconds behind with 1.48.42 with Ben Hargreaves ( Entertainments officer) 4 seconds behind with 1.52.92. For the ladies, following a red flag caused by SJ there were a few re runs, Helen Machin ( The boss ) crashed out in the first run so for team FLC there was a lot of time to be made up in the second run.

Run 2 was set to be a faster run, Dan finished 7th in senior, beating Marc by 2 seconds who finished 6th in Masters, Ben ruined his race run in the last 10 metres following an overly ambitious attempt at the final section of the course and finished in 10th in Masters. Helen managed to pull 2nd place out of the bag for the ladies.

Thanks to the gang at UK Bike park they have done a fantastic job with the park and put together an awesome weekend, helped just a little bit by the sunshine!

Results: (top 3 from each category +Team FLC positions in Bold)

Bib. Name Category Time Gap Rank (Rank) Run 1 Run 2 Overall               1 soffe will elite 01:35.4   1 1 01:35.4 01:37.8 2 deakin ben elite 01:38.6 3.23 2 2 01:38.6 01:39.0 22 bradford danny senior 01:39.3 3.86 3 1 01:40.9 01:39.3 elite               1 soffe will elite 01:35.4   1 1 01:35.4 01:37.8 2 deakin ben elite 01:38.6 3.23 2 2 01:38.6 01:39.0 3 hurrell zak elite 01:39.5 4.08 4 3 01:41.3 01:39.5 female               118 lloyd claire female 02:16.9 41.54 125 1 02:16.9 02:18.4 128 machin helen female 02:22.0 46.55 131 2 02:41.7 02:22.0 119 rogers samantha female 02:23.0 47.63 134 3 02:31.9 02:23.0 120 thomas helen female 02:56.2 01:20.8 140 4 02:56.2   hardtail               132 deakin ben hardtail 01:42.5 7.1 11 1 01:42.5 01:43.6 123 brettle simon hardtail 01:42.8 7.41 12 2 01:46.3 01:42.8 11 payne andy hardtail 01:45.4 9.99 23 3 01:45.4 01:47.1 junior               138 rogers calvin junior 01:41.2 5.76 6 1 01:42.4 01:41.2 45 ives harry junior 01:44.8 9.39 17 2 01:44.8 01:46.1 130 hobbs josh junior 01:45.1 9.66 18 3 01:45.3 01:45.1 juvenile               115 battin charlie juvenile 01:53.5 18.1 70 1 01:53.5 02:51.9 109 hoare ed juvenile 01:55.7 20.31 79 2 01:55.7 02:16.1 107 tennant finn juvenile 01:57.0 21.58 83 3 02:01.2 01:57.0 masters               80 atkins steve masters 01:42.3 6.87 8 1 01:43.6 01:42.3 84 gilbert richard masters 01:46.1 10.69 27 2 01:48.0 01:46.1 93 bunce darren masters 01:46.4 10.95 28 3 01:46.4 01:50.1 129 mchale marc masters 01:48.2 12.81 37 6 01:48.4 01:48.2 89 hargreaves ben masters 01:52.9 17.51 66 10 01:52.9 01:58.7 ripper               137 miller jack ripper 02:19.3 43.92 129 1 02:19.3 02:25.9 121 tennant lonnie ripper 02:33.5 58.06 139 2 02:33.5 02:48.5 126 reed jordan ripper 03:09.0 01:33.6 142 3   03:09.0 senior               22 bradford danny senior 01:39.3 3.86 3 1 01:40.9 01:39.3 122 jones ant senior 01:41.0 5.62 5 2 01:41.1 01:41.0 143 saunt liam senior 01:41.9 6.53 7 3 01:42.3 01:41.9 19 burchell daniel senior 01:46.0 10.61 25 7 01:46.0 01:51.5 vets               106 simpson rich vets 01:44.3 8.86 15 1 01:47.5 01:44.3 124 marzetti rich vets 01:50.5 15.07 49 2 01:50.5 01:51.7 102 duffett gary vets 01:50.6 15.17 51 3 01:51.7 01:50.6 youth               75 anderson isaac youth 01:42.5 7.06 10 1 01:42.7 01:42.5 70 rutherford ty youth 01:43.3 7.93 13 2 01:48.8 01:43.3 144 cann bow jango youth 01:45.2 9.83 21 3 01:45.2 01:45.3

Next outing for team FLC is Fort William 8th / 9th May 2010….