Mountain of Hell MTB race (in France)
Never have I seen so many mountain bikes in one place at the same time. On top of the glacier, high above the French alpine resort of Les Deux Alpes, there must be well over £4m in aluminium, steel and carbon fibre, all of it gleaming in the early morning sunlight. There are 763 bikes in all, laid out flat in 30 tight rows on the snow. Behind each one, shivering nervously in body armour, helmets and goggles, are the competitors in one of Europe’s most infamous downhill mountain bike races – the Mountain of Hell. One of them, close to the back and jogging up and down to keep warm, is me.
In about two minutes, when the klaxon sounds, all of us will jump astride our bikes and hurtle 25km down the mountain, from the glacier at 3,200m above sea level, to the river valley at 900m. On the way, we’ll encounter snow, ice, slate, scree, grass, mud, rocks, trees and declines that touch angles of 45 degrees in places.
How did I end up in this situation? What possessed me, a middle-aged man, to enter the Mountain of Hell?
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