A Maxi, Crankworx and the Mega!

Jul 28, 2012 by Hannah Barnes    No Comments    Posted under: Racing, Travel

The last month has been full of crazy mass start racing and visiting some amazing new places. After the Natural Games, Swede Hanna and I trucked to Cervinia in Italy for a Maxiavalanche. We met up with the Dudes of Hazzard boys Joe and Liam, and James and Tracy too. It was perfect to get some mass start practice in before the Mountain of Hell and Megavalanche. The quali track was sweet and so fun to race down, the perfect balance of techy downhill and physical climbs. The snow was really soft so the main race didn’t go down the glacier, it went down an alternative track which was well muddy and loose. It was so cool riding trails surrounded by huge mountains including the Matterhorn! 

It rained quite a bit, so in the evenings we sessioned the ice cream shop which had wifi, the owners were really cool and friendly. We also did yoga in the laundrette because it was nice and warm in there. The maxiavalanche final result combines two races, which is good if you have a disaster in the first, but I prefer to smash out one good one and get it done.

I was second behind T-Mo in the first race, so I was stoked! In the second I had a massive over the bars into a river and landed on my back, so came down in the medic truck. I finished up 4th. Hanna sprained her ankle, Joe had some mechanicals, and T-Mo’s James broke his collar bone on the glacier! So Cervinia definitely tested us all!

On the way to Les Deux Alps for Crankworx we stopped off at a Hospital for an X-Ray for Hanna’s ankle, luckily it wasn’t broken but she still couldn’t walk. If my health card hadn’t expired 2 years ago I would have had my back X-Rayed too, it was so sore! We parked overnight next to Joe’s landship in the Macdonalds car park so we could use the wifi facilities and then session the pharmacy in the morning.

Next stop Crankworx Les Deux Alpes! It was a cool week, lots of riding and partying! I rested my back for a few days, then rode some chilled fun tracks. It was really fun hanging with the Dirt Norco Irish boys and Matt Jones all week, they had me constantly laughing. The MOH quali and main tracks were awesome, pretty techy and hard. The coolest part of the course was riding through a bar in town! The snow was so fast, and I just remember smelling burning rubber! It is such a cool race, really hard. 

I finished 6th, Joe’s chain came off a few times but he still finished 9th! Unfortunately Liam broke his collar bone before the first corner in quali. Everyone was so exhausted from racing the gnarliest mass start enduro, that we were struggling to stay awake at the bar that night! What an amazing week!

Next we headed over the valley to Alp D’Huez for the Megavalanche, for more mass start carnage! As always, the mega week was full of amazing riding and really sociable! I had a bad cold all week, probably not a good idea but I still raced as it’s a hard one to miss out on!

Liam made the most of being injured and filmed daily updates in the form of ‘megavision’. It was amazing that so many girls raced this year, there was over 100! Race day is so exciting, it is definitely one of the coolest races of the year. Off the start line it was carnage! There was a mixture of rocks, snow, and ice so it was just about getting down it as clean as possible. Amy Laird and I took an alternative high line and ran across the snow and rocks for ages which took us onto a fast fire road quicker. Coming off the snow the visibility was really bad, which added to the craziness of it all! I was loving the grassy traverse and climb, and gained some places there. The spectators were amazing, just what you need! The last bermy descent was really fun and fast, but arm pump by then was pretty bad! I finished 13th, which I was happy with that after feeling ill all week and some crashes. It was an amazing ride from Anne-Caro, Tracy and Anka in 1,2,3!  

On Sunday it was great to watch the guys racing and cheer them on. After a flat in quali, Joe stormed in from row D to come 15th!  

It has been a full on few weeks of mass start racing and good times!

Hanna and I headed to a friend’s near Grenoble to chill for a few days before the next set of adventures!

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