Sunday, 30 August 2015

Tues 1 Sept ride: Grand Balls Bois ride

Where: ride from my place (791b ch. du Pont de Crevy, Veigy-Foncenex, 74140, France)
Ride: revisit Grand Bois and Hermance return
When: 18:30 (bums on saddles ready to roll). Extra 30 mins to get out to me in the boonsticks. ;)))
It will be a long one, so let's not dilly dally...
Bring lights in case we dilly!!!
Let me know who's in! ;)))
Let's do it!!!
JB

Friday, 28 August 2015

Sunday ride Petit Salève Aug 30

A new fellow Cat employee started in Geneva some time ago and is keen to hit the trails in the area (he's italian and has been riding in Finale at times).
Meeting point and time: 10am at douane de Moillesullaz.
Plan is to take the little single to Fossard, bord de l'Arve, then Petit Salève.
Hopefully some of the "rive gauche" Joes can join.

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

The Launch of the "FUSEE VERTE"




Old Jo is thanking and praising "ReBorn Rip9" for the fun, trust worthyness and long lasting services provided. But now time has come for Rip9 to rest and retire..
I am pleased to announce its replacement "La  Fusée Verte" !
Hence today the launch of that new riding partner...

Brand: Niner
Model: Jet 9 RDO Carbon
Size: M
Colors: Green & Black
Fork: Fox 32 Talas CTD 100-120 mm
Shock Fox Float CTD Kashima: 110 mm
All other organs: Donor Rip9
Weight: 12.7 kg   ; -) (compared to 14.5kg...)
Legs: Same old ones....
Envy:  Gigantic
Pleasure: Multiplied

Goals:
a) Improve climbing ability - reduce gap with front pack.
b) Maintain downhill skills - even if a tiny bit less suspension travel is conceded.
c) Nurture smooth and flowy single tracks and switchbacks lines.

Supplier:   Hors-Piste Genève
Salesman: Yves (top)
Mechanic: Christophe (re-top)
Wise advises and gimmicks supplies: LaBrico, Boum-Boum, Missile, Oscar.

Delivery:                 Tue August 25, 2015.
Initial adjustments: Tue August 25, Jura.
Climbing test:         Tue August 25, Jura.
Serious long ride:    Sat August 29, Valais/CM.

Let's rub elbows on the tracks and Ride On !



Monday, 24 August 2015

Tuesday 25'th - Chez Missile - Camel Trophy!!

18:00 departure from chez moi.
BBQ afterwards....
Let me know by end of today...
Bring lights!! We may need them!!

P.S. There are road works in Borex...
Follow the blue road through crassier towards la rippe,
turn right for cheserex, then first road right and down towards my place.


Wednesday, 12 August 2015

The Fast, Furious & Delicious Ride Report Tuesday August 11, 2015

We blew pistons on that hot summer biking night. Fast was the name of the game. Up, down, around, across and through the Jussy Woods and - grand finale - the Sentier des Douaniers.
The mosquitos were beaten flat...none in sight ! Tracks were dusty and dry, the thorns gripping and bitting only on the Ref. (tender skin that man..)
Many sweet, shapy and bouncy encounters, all ages, enlightened the ride..but ONE special curvy jogging orange short and tanned to perfection  skin definitely retained attention !!

Congrats to Missile who made the trip to the other side of the Wall (read Rhône).
His ride was only hampered by a few events.. what's wrong with him ; - )) here goes the list:
a) The Perfecto Dump b) The Biting Thorn c) The Aborted OTB d) The Too Small Big Ring for a sprint e) The Creaking Handle Bar and finally f) The Out of Air Rear Tire or Lungs...however keeping up.

As dusk was slowly creeping in, we rushed to the Café des Amis, where the charming and smiling waitress greated us with three large cold and well deserved beers.
Treated like Kings, we ate, drank and talked, making noise in the peaceful Choulex's night. Some said that Missile's laugh was overheard miles away..
A generous discussion took place about the future and/or conversion of the name of the Caterpillar MTBiking Team into - Cats & Dogs - as a suggestion, more on subject later.

Participants: The Missile, Limoncello, Old Jo.
Stats: Distance 41 km, Time 2 hours, Elevation 222m, Max Speed/Average Speed....
Pointage:
+ 1 for all
+ 1 Old Jo - track leader/organizer
+ 0.5 Missile for Aborted OTB
+ 0.5 Missile for riding in and out of Choulex.
+ 0.5 Limoncello for Shamelessly wind drafting behind Old Jo...to finally overtake on the last stretch  of the sprint...booo ! (am I not generous..)

Ride On !

Monday, 10 August 2015

Tuesday Ride in Juicy Woods and dine at Café des Amis - August 11, 2015

For the strong at heart...woods and mosquitos are waiting for us ...so is the Café des Amis for a superb evening.
We meet in Choulex at 18.15h - Old Jo's place and start on time..
Please confirm for restaurant booking.


Points Update

Well.....Old Jo (a.k.a. Papy) or Jo Balls its gonna be this year!!!





2 Person Rides Allowed for Points

As there are already a NUMBER of 2 person rides this year - they are now officially part of the scoring...but they MUST get a good write up to score as that is what prompted the pre-TDMB scoring!!!

HOWEVER, they must be announced either by Blog or by Whatsap the day before!!

Signed

The Ref

Epic Ride Weasel Style

So weasel shows up in Cheserex expecting to find Missile there.
A phone call (or 3) later, and Weasel is on his way to Borex.

Having read his SMS from the previous night, he is aware of course,
that we need to take hi car as mine was 'confisctaed' by my better half.

Having loaded Missile's bike into the Jazz, Missile proceeds to disassemble Weasels disc from the wheel that is jammed against his stomach and the windshield.

At which point Weasel notices and says...please put that disc back on my wheel, I already swapped it over...

With hamsters at full power, racing now for the train from Bex to Villars, we hit Nameless' (F***ing) road works and our plans to leave from Bex are foiled.

We drive to Villars. All under the threat of the hamsters running out of 'hamster fuel'. We make it and proceed to unload our bikes in Villars.

Surprisingly, no more incidents occur until we set off from Bretaye. Well, that is after catching the go pro on the train door 'a couple of times'.

Mysteriously, Missile derailleur needs adjustment....hmphg...no success there...but it'll do.

Missile then proceeds to put some distance between Weasel and his bike...

But I digress....I forgot to say that Weasel is wearing a colour coordinated biking outfit. He could belong to a team. Things match and he is sporting one of his national colors.... ORANGE!!!

....back to biking. Weasel expertly negotiated covering his legs in cow shit. Niiice!!!

Go Pro ON: windy gully  time and here we go.....wheeeeeeOOOHAH!!
No casse, no falls, just a little gnarly now and then.

Somehow Missile loses Weasel in the woods near Diablerets. We meet in Denner and buy bread and (of course) saucisson!!

Diablerets shows us its finest telecabine dating from the 50's, we jam ourselves in and hope the man at the top will let us out. He does.

Off up to Col des Anderets...down to Arnensee.

Zip, zap, left right, hip, slip, turn, berm, push, pull, lift etc...

MONSTER OTB by Missile.!!!! 10 points for scaring a lady who observed the whole thing. No casse, just a blocked pedal and a cramp in the mollet from a knock. ALL FILMED TOO!!

After that, bread, saucisson, siesta (Weasel had 3 hours sleep the night before) but Missile enjoyed investigating the insides of his eyelids too.

The sun disappears briefly...and re-appears. We get spat on by the clouds on the Berne side of things. GSTEIG beckons and we rush up from there to Col Du Pillon. Well, not so much rush as 'stagger'. High heat, humidity is not a Missile's best friend. Many litres of sweat later and a lost pair of gloves we get to the top.

Oh....we also said F*** YOU to the 'no biking or you will get a 2000 CHF fine' sign at the bottom of the climb at Reusch. Really! Up yours M***A-F***A.

Boom bada boom bada bim. Hey ho...Diablerets here we are.

We couldn't leave the 50's scene alone, so up again we want to Isenau and enjoyed a nice steeeep descent to Diablerets under Weasels guidance. Missile would have been quietly sipping a beer, but was convinced another descent was good for him!! YAY.

The good ole 17:03 car postal from took us to Col de La Croix. Weasels beer was bothering him....no stamina these yung-uns. Arrival at Bretaye caused us to think about perhaps a quicker descent than planned as the clouds were closing in.

Steps galore followed by steepy rooty gnarly stuff coupled with a 'watch out for my protése' from a couple of oldies (we didn't alram them they just wanted to share the fact that we/they needed to be careful)...!!...and we were back at the car.

2 seconds later the heavens exploded and we just manged to fill the car with bikes and ourselves before getting truly soaked. Whew.

Where are the keys?
Where are the FUCKING keys ?

Out of car, rain dance, everything out of the car.

Plop. Keys fall out of the 'shaken not stirred' bâche.,...

Everything back in.

Time to find more hamster power. Glug glug....hamsters satisfied.

Then enough water to drown all the hamsters that ever existed fell on us between Bex and Vevey!!! The hamster mobile did not leak though.

Fun day in the pre-alpes: Points: 1 each, mechanicals for Missile and an OTB too...
.



Pointage Tour Du Mont Blanc

En gros...

Papy gets 6 points for organising (just like cham/zermatt)
We all get 5 points for showing up...and riding each day.
We all get poule-mouillée points for skipping the last day
Some got mechanicals...and some had flats
Some provide sausage.....others didn't
Some had failures...some had more than others...
Some climbed mountains....other walked
Some spoke a lot....others listened
Some bought beers....others drank them
Some waited for others....some just rode on
Some fixed bikes....others broke them
Some provided whiskey....the same someone drank most of it...hic
A couple made an epic detour....most didn't
and that is about it!!!

You'll see the individual points on the ride summary....too much info to share otherwise...

Friday, 7 August 2015

Cats & Dogs around the Mont-Blanc famous week

We did it - a fabulous ride around a mythical mountain - that we saw from every angle.
We will come back for the last stage still to be ridden. See you there !


Saturday, 1 August 2015

Tour du Mont Blanc

Here is one pic of the Mont Blanc tour that captures most of how we felt yesterday after a nice big climb!!! ;)))


Lots more to come...

Thanks to JMi for organsing the tour with Velorizon and to all that made it!!!