"Mountain biker on the road to hell"

No mountain deserves this kind of abuse, even if it is "the Mountain of Hell".

Mike


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Mountain biker on the road to hell

Published date: 03 July 2012 |
Published by: Robert Doman

AN OSWESTRY mountain biker is gearing up to tackle the Mountain of Hell later this month after winning his class in the UK Gravity Enduro Championship last season.

Marcus Jones, a former motorcycle racer, swapped engine power for pedal power three years ago and currently leads this year’s event as he looks to retain the over-40s title that takes him across England, Wales and Scotland through five gruelling rounds of competition.

His next UK Championship dates are on August 4 and 5 at Eastridge, near Shrewsbury, but before then he will race against 700 other competitors in a mass-start freeride mountain bike race in the awe-inspiring surroundings of Les Deux Alpes in France, known to riders as the Mountain of Hell.

“It is a true test of endurance, both physically and mentally,” said 42-year-old Marcus.
“Qualifying well and trying to keep out of trouble is the main aim.
“It will be a war of attrition, but I love it and I have been training hard over the last few months so I can’t wait to get there now.
“The UK championship is my priority but this will be something special too,” he added.

However, he says he owes a lot to the backing of staff at Oswestry’s Stuart Barkley Cycles shop for their support and sometimes last minute preparations on his bike, as well as Martin Jones, of JMJ Sports Masseur, for his regular sports physio and coaching sessions.

The race begins on a glacier at a height of 3,400 metres, and Marcus will then travel down 2,500m of difficult mountain terrain including a mixture of ice, snow, rocks, and river crossings, before finishing some 25 kilometres later at the bottom of the valley below.

In 2012 he took part in a similar race at the ‘Mega Avalanche’ in France’s Alpes du Huez, finishing 175th out of 2,000 riders, and was the first British biker over 40-years-old to make it to the finish.