Page 47 - Wish Stream Year of 2018

The trip started with a long drive across the continent after the Sovereign’s Parade, driving through the night into a European sunrise. This got us into the town of Alpe d’Huez at lunch- time on Saturday, giving us time for the first of many lovely meals at French restaurants and to settle into our accommodation. The instructors had a meeting with local guide instructors to give advice on the local area, trails and hazards. We are all most grateful to the donations of Sand- hurst Trust members which helped to fund the rental of the mountain bikes and lift passes, ena- bling us to spend more time focusing on skills and less time just pedaling up roads.
Sunday morning saw an early rise to get us onto the first lift. Cpl Underwood led a series of warm-
up exercises in the skills park and we did some descents to get a feel for the trails and bikes, with back-to-front brake levers! The expedition’s members had a wide variety of skill levels, from a week’s experience up to confident downhill riders. Everyone worked well as a team though, with the stronger mountain bikers all passing on tips to the less capable ones.
Over the subsequent days, the expedition cov- ered the full spectrum of mountain biking. Two long days saw 50km rides with considerable climbs to neighbouring resorts, with another two days focusing more on technical skills requir- ing confidence, commitment and some bravery. This was a good balance of challenges.
Maintain biking in the Alps provides so much more than it would back home; the scale of the scenery, the altitude increased the physical challenge, and the psychological reward gained from all the hard work. It also gave a number of Cadets some practice at tackling the consider- able administrative and bureaucratic burden of running an exercise overseas.
Everyone returned from the expedition having improved their mountain biking, learnt more about themselves and each other, and having had a great time. A big thanks to the Sandhurst Trust for supporting this.
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