Ben Walker and Swiss MTB

Hey guys,

I’m just checking in from Switzerland. I got here a little over a week ago and life is good. Sitting in my apartment in Verbier right now; just got here yesterday after a week in the Portes du Soleil, staying in Champéry with Ben Walker, an old family friend. Ben designs most of the (quality) bike trails in PDS, a ski domain with 12 resorts and over 200 lifts in the winter, 25 run all summer for bikes. He also is a design guru/freeride pro for Scott, who just released the new Gambler, their do-everything downhill/freeride bike. Ben brought them this design, basically from a blank sheet of paper, and it is pretty much the sickest thing I have ever seen. We went to Eurobike (Europe’s equivalent of Interbike) last week in Germany, and the Gambler was Scott’s main attraction, which is saying something for a company whose lightweight carbon fiber designs are the most progressive and lightest in the world right now. It was also the most impressive design I saw at the entire show.

But why I am really writing you about is the riding. For those of you who haven’t sampled any of the European lift-served biking, all I can say is do it now. If you have skied in the Alps, think of the area you can cover on snow, and apply it to 400-year old buffed footpaths. Then throw in absurd dh tracks with 6-10’ switchback berms down a 50-degree talus face, ridiculous north shore features throughout endless “return of the jedi”- woods, high-speed loose-gravel mountain roads, perfect ridgeline singletrack, slick couloir-like log flume chutes, and the ubiquitous dank rifugio scattered across the mountains, with the obligatory accordion band of course, to get beers at the bottom of every run. We rode about 50 miles each day and pedaled for about 10 minutes total. We raced through alpine meadows full of cows, their giant bells constantly providing the background music to the sickest bike runs of my life. We hit 4-6 resorts a day with every type of trail imaginable, and plenty that I would have never imagined. I have never seen anybody handle a bike like Ben, launching 15’ ladder drops in the woods, landing at about 35mph in the gnarliest snot-slick muddy off-camber roots you’ve ever seen. He says, “you don’t want to touch the brakes in the slippery roots, let your bike work and brake later.” Yeah, right. After a couple of rug-jerk, still-clipped in to the pedals, sideways bike confiscations, I am still trying to figure out how to let the bike do its thing without the brakes.

Verbier is still open and you can get 7500’ runs to the valley…that’s the plan for the weekend. It is absolutely ridiculous here; many of the resorts stay open until the end of October and the scene is thriving. Hard to believe that places like JH haven’t got a clue what they could have if they put a little effort into the summer program. Literally hundreds of riders scattered everywhere with 3000euro DH bikes, full-face helmets and gladiator pads. 12-y.o. kids with mini dh frames charging. Moms chasing after and ripping just as well.

If you have a chunk of free time and some frequent flier miles burning a hole in your pocket, come join me for the sickest riding of your life. I’ll be here through November. Riding all over Switzerland, and guiding some people in Lake Garda, Italy in October. Drop me a line if you want to come over and get some 2000m tram-served runs in Italia during wine and truffle harvest season.

I hope all is well and take care.

Cheers,

Jack