Page 58 - LBV 2017

INTER-COMPANY TRAINING & VISITS
Ex TRAIL BLUE 2016
Directly after ADX 2016, Staff Hall and Staff Ford led a small team of six Officer Cadets to Les Arcs in the French Alps for some mountain biking. With only one week of training under our belts, we were in for a steep
learning curve. Our first excursion
began with a green trail dubbed
‘Easy Rider;’ though we soon
learned that even on a green,
careful concentration and practice
of our newly acquired techniques
were essential to minimising
falls. Each trail was unique in its
challenges: be it narrow, winding and steep through the trees; or with mud so slippery it became impossible to break or turn effectively or with large loose gravel which made for extremely bumpy riding.
Overall the diversity of trails kept us guessing what challenge was going to be around the next corner; especially when hearing the person
2Lt Tse
in front of you cry out (though you could not
tell from excitement or pain until catching up with them, you could be sure something lay around the corner). We also experienced a great
variability in the weather. The week began sunny and mild, allowing us to get to grips with the terrain before the weather became increasingly wet and even at one point snowy,
thus rendering the trails more treacherous than before.
When the rain became too heavy, we experimented with skills and drills in
a nearby practice area. Allowing us to focus on position, corning, pumping the bike and wheel lifts and generally hone our skills. On one day we were fortunate enough to hire bikes designed specifically for the down hill. It was lucky that
with the hiring of the bikes also came full body protection and full face helmets, as the reversal of
56 THE LIGHT BLUE VOLUNTEER
With only one week
of training under our belts, we were in for a steep learning curve.