After watching vids of the leaders flying down the glacier without touching the brakes, this almost looks like a ride in the park. I'd probably start way in back and gingerly walk my bike down the whole damn mountain.
the smart thing I just realize by watching allot of these Megavalanche videos is when there are tracks that make the mounting trails a bit harder for stability than sliding down slipping off the bikes. The best time to go Megavalanch is probably after a snowstorm where it covers and wipes out the mounting tracks so it becomes smooth & not lumpy.
Any bike will do it but an enduro bike would be the first choice. I see people on hardtails, DH bikes and everything in between. It is very hard on the bike so tough wheels and tyres are really a must.
I just gave it a shot, I had elbow surgery 6 months before so fitness was not great. I trained more for it the second time I went, it certainly helps 🤣
NO. If you lock up the front wheel you lose control and fall. If you lock up the back wheel you lose some amount of control. The key to braking on snow is using brakes as needed but never locking up the wheels. Always keep rolling. It's like anti-lock brakes on cars. They don't lock the wheels up from rolling b/c that only causes you to lose control.
Unless you have been on that slope guys you just wouldn't grasp what's going on, the speed you pick up with both brakes on is unreal, plus what you don't see in the vid so much is that it is off camber to the left, it is constantly trying to pull you in, if you fall you are fecked, just managing to stay upright is a massive bonus when you are behind so many people at the start. You can see so many people piled up down the left. More speed would be better but when you have nowhere to go apart from into the back of people then speed isn't an option, the fast pros were hitting 95kmh down there but they had fresh packed down snow from the piste basher, by the time we got to it two races had already been down it, ruts and soft snow everywhere.
So THIS is how it looks in the back of the race. Interesting. I always watched videos of the guys in top-10, but this has a very interesting approach. Apparently you need to slide down on you ass half of the way? :D
You do indeed 🙂, the steep bits are very daunting to ride, I tried in the practice run and crashed at about 60kph , it wasn't fun ha, sitting on your ass is safer 😀
It's very difficult not to crash when you have people falling in front of you, if you had a straight and clear line you would have much more chance of staying upright and getting a good start, the other trouble is the ruts in the snow, if you get into one it's difficult to get out again 😳
I tried using a waist bag but with a back protector it kept slipping down, plus trying to drink out of a water bottle with a full face helmet isn't easy on that terrain, I found the back pack to be easiest for me.
