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Right after the Etape du Tour I started the drive over to Bike Village, a fantastic place run by Sam and Lyndsey based in Landry near Bourg Saint Maurice.

I came here back in 2005 and had a fantastic time and have tried to come back every year since, but racing and work has always managed to get in the way. This year with a week and a bit between races in Europe and Bike Village being pretty much right in the middle of them it seemed like the perfect place to come for a week of training and preparation for IronBike which is looming just one week away!

Bike Village is a little different to you usual Alps holiday company. While there are lifts available in the Les Arc and La Plagne area they do not rely on them to get to the top which opens up new areas to ride. The climbs can be long and the singletrack descents are always long and technical. This area is famous for its super tight, steep switchbacks which take a while to master, but it is suitable for all riders and they can cater for anyone from relative beginners to very experience and fit riders, as the guides here are super fit themselves.

After riding the Rocky Mountain Slayer at Mega Avalanche I didn’t have time to change anything for the first day of riding, so it was a little hard work on the climbs with DH dual-ply tyres and a 36t chainring. Following the first ride I swapped the tyres out for Schwalbe Big Betty 2.4” tyres which are about 500g lighter but still have durable sidewalls and a 33t e.thirteen guide ring. Those simple changes have turned the Slayer into a bike suitable for the extreme nature of the Mega Avalanche into a bike that can tame massive climbs and descend them with ease. It must be the definition of an “All Mountain bike” and I am really enjoying riding it.

The rides here so far have been great training for me, although it has taken a few days to “get my eye in” on the steep switchbacks, simply because I never get to ride anything else like them. I have been trying to get up to the higher altitudes and work myself hard to get used to riding in the thinner air, as IronBike has plenty of climbing at higher altitudes, up beyond 3000m.

I have the Focus Izalco road bike with me and took the chance to ride the Col d’Iseran, which is fairly close to the Bike Village base. It is a long climb from Bourg Saint Maurice, ~800m altitude climbing to Val d’Isere at 1800m over 30 kilometres and that is where the real climbing starts. Over 15km long and climbing to 2770m, the Col d’Iseran is the highest paved road in Europe and the climb up is excellent with a good surface, nice gradient and fantastic views. The legs felt great at the top, so I took the chance to do a few intervals on the final 1km in the thinner air, getting a few funny looks from the people sat on the top!

From now until IronBike I will riding the Rocky Mountain Element RSL in preparation for that event and have currently made a few changes to make it more suitable to alpine riding. I have fitted a Schwalbe Big Betty 2.4” tyre to the front and have a Schwalbe Rocket Ron 2.25” tyre on the rear. Other changes include fitting a Crank Brothers Joplin 4 R seat post and extending the forks to 120mm. Some of these will stay for IronBike, but others will be just for the time spent at Bike Village.

I am hoping with another good week here I will be fit and ready to take on IronBike, which calls itself the hardest MTB stage race in the World. I certainly don’t know anything else that has the stats to beat it. 8 days, 22,000m climbing and 750km of hard trails in the Italian Alps.