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La Free Raid Classic VTT

What's it all about then?

The Free Raid (or La Free Raid Classic) is a free-riding mountain biking event organised by French mountain biking magazine VTT Mag with the help of sponsors such as Michelin, Sram, Dainese and others. The event is held yearly in the last weekend of June in the French and Swiss Alps and usually has over two thousand competitors, a thousand racing on the Saturday and the rest on the Sunday. The format of the event is not that of a race, but to complete a number of timed sections within a time limit set by the category you have chosen to enter. Competitors register and set off from eight different locations to keep the trails as quiet as possible, something which is also helped by the starts being staggered - no mad rush at the line here. Basically, competitors get cable cars to the tops of the mountains and ride down signposted trails to the finish of the stage before moving onto the next. Details of the stages are given below.

How did it all start?

It was way back in February when Sylvain first suggested that a few of us entered the Free Raid. As soon as I heard that it was in the Alps, mainly a downhill event and included two World Cup downhill courses, I knew that I for one would be entering. We both entered via the internet via Kjerag.com, for the measly price of £18, got our acceptance by post and both sorted out medical certificates, which is a necessity.

The event - a diary.

Without boring you with our travelling details, I'll start from our getting to Sylvain's uncles ski apartment in Avoriaz, our chosen start location.

Saturday evening, and after meeting Sylvain's mate Cyril and a trouser-darkening drive up from Morzine to Avoriaz, we finally got to the apartment which whilst not massive, has everything we need and cracking views onto the mountains behind the town. I was awestruck by the view but Sylvain dismissed it as 'a bit crap compared to the one overlooking Morzine' - Avoriaz is 2000 metres above sea level! We cracked open the beers, unpacked the bikes, had a few more beers and then decided we'd try the bikes out with an impromptu night ride round the town without the help of lights. We rode mental trails, rocky descents and super-fast metalled footpaths in the dark, the alcohol seeming to keep us invincible until Sylvain decided to go over the bars at speed - good work that man. We called it a night after this and return to the apartment for a couple more beers and some well-earned rest.

Sunday morning comes and bleary-eyed, the three of us had our breakfast and prepare for the day ahead. I felt a bit nervous as I'd no idea what the trails will be like apart from that they were longer and lose more altitude than anything I've ever done before. Part of my nerves come from the fact that every time I've done Skiddaw, I've stacked it and ended up the worst for wear. We headed out of the apartment and up the road to where the sign-on desk is. Already, there were hundreds of people about, either signing on, competing or just hanging around. I was amazed by the number of Brits there and shocked by the bikes they were all on - loads of downhill bikes (although this seems to be a trend only followed by the Brits and a couple of others). I began to wish I'd brought mine instead of the hardtail, but it was too late for that now. After sign-on (which takes an age because Cyril hadn't pre-entered), we set off to the start-proper. Even this takes us down a super-fast, steep, rock, loose section of singletrack about three miles long before we reach the cable car to take us up to the start. Once at the top, we had our start time electronically registered and we were off.

The first stage, from the cable car station at 2700 metres down to Morgins is the longest of the day and the one with the greatest altitude loss - 13 kilometres and 1200 metres respectively. We set off and within no time were on a double-track trail which hugs the side of the mountain - rocky, steep and loose, it zig-zags its way down for about 1km. This on it's own was pretty scary, but when you take into consideration the fact that there was a 700 metre drop to your right with no fences, we were riding it as fast as we could and sliding round the corners, I'm sure you can imagine that the adrenaline was pumping. After this, the trail straightened out and continued on for 2km before the terrain changed to narrower, rockier trails that wound their way down through alpine meadows which included stream crossings, switchback corners and rocks as big as footballs. This finally gave way to fire-road type trails on which it was possible to keep your speed up by not braking for the corners and bunny-hopping the hundreds of water-breaks which crossed the trail. I didn't have to pedal for about 4 km and reckon I was touching 45mph in places. The trail then changed characteristics again and it was muddy forest singletrack on flatter terrain for a few kms before one final hell-bent rocky descent to the finish where we arrived, shaking from the adrenaline that had coursed through our veins for the last 13kms. And what a finish area, free food, beer and wine, and an area which would help fix your bike if there were any problems at all - all for £18!!

After this, it was down the road into Champery, up another cable car and onto the next stage, a short one in comparison but still 6kms long and a descent larger than any I've ever done in the South of England. This one differed again in that it was alpine meadows again at the top, but on extremely narrow and treacherous singletrack with man-made jumps and berms, before it spat you onto a wider trail through the woods which were incredibly rocky and technical. We regrouped that the bottom and climbed back up to Morgins for the next cable car and the start of the next stage.

This continued all day, with some excellent descents, followed by free food and beer (for Sylvain, I resisted the urge for once), a few punctures and luckily enough, only one accident - I decided to ride an incredibly muddy bit of the trail which sucked my front wheel in, sending me over the bars head-first into more mud.

By the time we got to Morzine, we'd already completed five stages and two special stages, the ones ridden between each stage and still as rough and technical, just not timed. The next stage was the World Cup downhill course at Les Gets which Steve Peat and the best downhillers in the World race on. By this time, my hands were so sore I was having trouble braking and my arms were so pumped up, holding on was not easy either; not what you need on a course of this calibre at all. The start was uphill for a while, along a wooded trail and then onto the downhill course which was like nothing I'd ever ridden before. It followed a winding, narrow course through meadows, with drop-offs, berms and jumps everywhere before heading into the woods and getting unbelievably steep (with the berms, drop-offs and jumps becoming more frequent). As the course is used a great deal, many of the steep drops have braking bumps in them which I can only describe as being like riding over lines of bricks a wheels-width apart. My hands and arms were hurting so much I was screaming in agony, but I refused to give in and continued down, out of the woods and onto the super-steep field to the finish.

Les Gets was the main location for the event and as such, had a trade fair which rivalled the Bike Show held in Birmingham each year. Cyril headed off to get his recently-blown rear shock fixed and Sylvain and myself wandered about, checking out all the exotica on show. After a while, I realised that if we were to finish within our time, we'd have to get a move on. We told Cyril that we'd carry on without him and meet him back at Avoriaz, and that whatever he did, to get back to the cable car in Morzine before 6pm as that was when it closed. With that, we were off up the hill we'd just descended and onto the stage to Morzine. Once again, this started off with a bit of a climb before reaching yet another World Cup course. This one was, if anything, even rougher than the last and a great deal more technical. By the bottom, I was in real agony and in trouble of letting go of the bars altogether.

'Right then' we thought, 'one more to do and it's home'. Up we went on another cable car to start our final stage to Avoriaz which looked on the map to be a pretty nice downhill. Never trust maps. The whole course (or thereabouts) was uphill, not what we wanted at this late stage of the day. The weird thing about just descending all day is that when you do come across a climb, you get really depressed - even Sylvain was heard to groan in dismay and he usually loves climbs. We finished the stage, returned to the apartment, had a shower and a beer and then went to a bar to wait for Cyril, who unfortunately had missed the cable car and faced a 10km long and 1000 metre climb!

Conclusions

The event was the best thing I have ever done. The stages were incredible (apart maybe from the last one) and the organisation second to none. For our £18 we got entry to the event, a free rucksack of such quality you could expect to pay £35 for over here, free food, drink and technical assistance, ski passes for the day of the race and an additional one for whenever (we used ours the next day to ride most of it again).

I would recommend the Free Raid to anyone who has ever dreamed of spending a day (or even two, as we did) riding mostly downhill in some of the best scenery in the world on trails that really test your skills and your bike to the utmost. I would say that front suspension at least is a necessity as if you rode it on rigid forks, you'd (a) be sectioned, (b) have to retire after two stages due to fatigue of the arms and wrists, (c) not have much of a bike left afterwards. Next year, I will be taking a full suspension bike with 6 inches of travel all round and I reckon I'll still have sore hands. Don't let this put you off though; we rode as fast as we could on every stage and overtook a lot of people on full-on downhill bikes (I can't remember getting overtaken myself once), but that doesn't mean that you'd have to.

Entries for next year start in April and are on www.Kjerag.com. Go on, you know you want to….