Two Ride

Enjoy the free content on the site? Why not help us keep creating great content with a donation of as little a 5£/€/$

The story
Photos
Movies
Maps
Results
Resources

The Glacier Bike Downhill race in Saas Fee, Switzerland had been part of the Megavalanche series, but it was a about 30 minutes too short. It could have been extended but that's another story. 1999 was the last year in ran in early summer. In 2004 it has returned in April as a snow race.

The amount of competitors was obviously a little down on 1998 and at the time I was expecting the marathon downhill race aspect to still be in force. On seeing the other 60 or so racers (mainly Swiss) it became obvious this was a full on downhill race.

Apart from the odd mad local (in motorcycle leathers and road race helmet) the pack were pure 7 inch dual crown fork equipped speed demons. The 5 inch single crown FSR I was on looked thin. During practice the massive rocks and high speed sections didn't help the confidence - that and flipping over the bars. At this point you don't get to practice on the glacier unless as in Rafael Rhyner's case you snowboard it.

So with no real idea of what riding on snow or ice was all about I got up at 5.45am and headed towards the Alpin Express. 45 minutes later, two cable cars and a through mountain train, I arrived at 3500m (11,000ft) and zero degrees temperature. The race dropped to 1800m back to Saas Fee and covered 6km from the snow pistes at the top to a really nasty rock section and onto rocky firetrack, short forest singletrack and finally the finish at the Alpin Express cable car station.

The race was run at 7.30am to make sure the snow was firm and pisted, ideal for doing 60mph on sheet ice.

The group huddled in the 7am cold of the Mittelallalin restaurant. It was a little different from practice and the Maste 4 (2574m) start where only a little snow remained and your teeth didn't chatter.

We were ushered out onto the snow for a Le Mans style start. Wow that was cold. Helicopters hovered and ski equipped marshals looked on as we ran to our bikes and peddled away into the unknown. I have never ridden snow before and it felt pretty grippy, but to the other guys it must have felt like glue. They were off. The pisted snow descents were long and very steep with the occasional switchback. Speeds were high down some of the pistes, upto 120kmh (75mph), but 70-80kmh seemed uncontrollable on 2.1 inch tyres with way less tread than I would have liked. The bike weaved on the grooves made by the piste bullies, and breaking made little difference - rim brakes and snow do not mix. Turning at these speeds was difficult. One really steep piste was snowy and not as crisp as the rest and the back wheel went side to side almost highsiding me for what seemed like forever (about 10 seconds). I ran very wide and was dropped by the pack.

It was a small relief to exit the snow at Maste 4 and get back on terra firma, gaining back the gap and overtaking a couple of racers. The rock garden where I had crashed twice in practice was awaiting, and now it almost felt grippy compared with the snow. The problem now was I couldn't feel my hands from the cold and trying to brake. The combination of tight switchbacks and one line through the rocks meant sliding the back end to get round the corners. This and the strength in my hands fading from too much braking on the snow, riders ahead again started to disappear. I thought I had made in through this most difficult bit when the next thing I know the bike appeared over my head

Bruised but seemingly ok I remounted and continued out into the firetrack. This is the longest section of the course and it switches back and forth down towards Saas Fee, crossing numerous glacial streams. Plenty of water gullies and rocks to keep your speed down and knock you off line. I was having trouble holding onto the bars at this point as they flapped over every rock section.

Eventually the short singetrack appeared and disappeared without incident, and I passed a couple of riders with flats from the rocks. The finish appeared and read 28 Swatch minutes. I thought that seemed reasonsable until I saw Wildhaber's time of 15 minutes. Still I wasn't last, in fact there were a handfull behind me and a good number of DNF's. I planned my returned for the next year with big tyres, more suspension and disc brakes but they didn't run the race again. It has returned as a pure snow race in 2004 and one day I might return.