The Road to Valloire was a windy one that turned out to be its own kind of enduro. With bikes and a baby on board, the team needed to find the most direct route, which meant driving over the Col du Galibier or the Col du Gal-e-bare?
On the Road with Weir and Moeschler from WTB on Vimeo.
Once in Valloire, the guys managed to maintain their leads on the Bronson tires, with an anticipated top finish on the last and longest run of the day. Despite coming off the bike somewhere in the 5,500 ft. descent, Weir finished second in the day's fourth run with an unofficial time of 30:38.0, putting him in third place overall that day. His finish was just three seconds off the leader (Remy Absalon) with third place (Jerome Clements) 22 seconds behind the leader. After three strong runs, Moeschler's fourth was compromised by his first flat of the trip. He rode it out and managed to finish with his wheel intact and still remarkably true. Although, he chalked the flat up to rider error, Moeschler decided to change it up for the next day’s runs, putting a WeirWolf 2.3 in back, keeping the Bronson tire up front.
On the second and final day of the 2010 Enduro Series Championship, both riders pushed their bikes and bodies to the limit. They were looking at four runs, five miles each with approximately 2,560 feet of descent on the rocky, extremely fast, and aggressive "no trail" courses (as in no established trail or line, they take ribbon and make a new course out of raw mountain side). In the end, a broken derailleur and derailleur hanger cost Weir at least 20 minutes and put him out of the race. Moeschler finished the day in 12th and 23rd overall, while Weir was off the chart (literally) for the day and 34th overall.
It was a challenging day that grew more challenging by the minute as they contemplated getting themselves, their gear, families and bikes from France to Switzerland in the world’s smallest tin can van. The answer: pawn the back two seats of their rig off to the greatest guy around (Robert Hamilton-Smith) who, after competing all weekend, agreed to lug the things to Switzerland in return for lifetime gratitude and an open invitation to Weir’s. What a guy! Thanks again Rob! And special thanks to Frank with Shock Therapy, Fred with Tribe Sports Group, and Momo with The Race Company for the great hospitality while we stayed in Germany and France. You guys can stay at Weir's too!
Now that the trip is over, everyone is home, back to work, getting ready for the big trade shows. "Just a short time ago, we were on top of the world on some French Alp peak," Moeschler explained. “It is amazing how being in the mountains can make you forget about everything. It is why we go to the woods…to get away from it all. We need to do it more—like every day.”
Cheers to that! You don’t have to be in the Alps to find a sweet ride this summer. Just head out the front door and take it from there.
