Get yourself to the Alpe d’Huez in the South of France, for the most insane mountain biking race of the year.
The Megavalanche descends nearly 3000 metres down a vertical glacier, meaning that this event is really only for the most hardcore cyclists. Ideally, you want to arrive a few days early to give yourself the best chance of finding the quickest routes down the rocky gardens and icy trails.
What does the Megavalanche entail?
There are qualifiers and a finals day. Only the top 35 participants from each qualifying race get through to the main race. Besides the Megavalanche, there are also events for kids (Kids Mega) and also loads of great single tracks for you to explore.
The varied terrain of the course, especially the initial stage with icy-snow making it extremely treacherous. Heavy rock gardens in the latter stages make planning your route a must.
There are 10 heats of 150 riders, with the fastest 35 from each heat going through to the final. Making 350 riders in total that make it into the final race. Photo Welovecycling
What Do The Riders Say?
Ondrej Barta (30) from the Czech Republic entered the 2018 race after his friend told him there were still some last minute spaces available. It had always been his dream to enter the most insane bike race in the world!
Here is some of what Ondrej had to say about the experience.
The first three kilometres, it was a pure downhill madness on snow. In this total chaos, I managed to pass about 70 riders and made it to top 30.
The final part was led on a downhill track that took about 10 minutes. After the overall time of 48 minutes, I made it to the finish avoiding any technical failure, ending on the 67th position of 350 riders of the final heat, or of all 1500 riders registered for the race.
Megavalanche has been one of my best mountain biking experiences and I really and honestly encourage to take part in the event.
Source – We Love Cycling
Some Tips To Get You Down To The Bottom
Prepare the body
It’s a very intensive week, so get out in high altitude for at least an hour and half at a time. The start of the race is even at over 3000 meters! so the more higher altitude training you can do before, will better prepare you for race day.
Set up the bike properly
A wide bar and short stem will make riding in the rough stuff a lot easier.
Sprint training
During the race it gets congested, so to give you the best possible chance to nip past slower riders, interval training is important (From 30 secs to 3 minutes is advisable).
Map out the route as much as you can
It’s impossible to know everything about the course, but identify general areas that prepare yourself to enable you to make crucial gains on your competitors.
Important to ride relaxed
Riding with a loose grip will allow for blood flow in your arms, avoiding your arms ceasing up is essential.
Essential equipment
For more information, you can visit the main site here.
