News and Updates
Megavalanche (nicknamed “Mega”) is a downhill mountain bike race held annually at the Alpe D’Huez ski resort in the French Alps since 1995.
The Alps event, being the more widely publicized and famous among downhill cycling enthusiasts, starts on the glaciated summit of Pic Blanc in Huez and descends to the valley bottom at Allemond, for a total of over 2,600 vertical meters (8530 feet) and a 20 km (12 miles) distance.
The mass-start race is known for its fast speeds and winding turns over varying terrain, with hundreds of riders descending the mountain at once. Despite the inherent dangers, officials state that injuries are modest, and that the race is less dangerous than it may seem to outsiders. The course is designed to slow the riders down around tight curves and the width of the glacier at the race’s start line allows the riders to spread out.
The story behind Warphen Bicycles is not a typical one; however, in our industry, the tales behind the brands rarely are. Warphen Claro is an ICU nurse in Southern California by profession and a bike designer by passion.
Born in the Philippines, Warphen could be found tinkering in his father’s metal shop, helping him fix tractors or whatever else rolled into the shop. He even had a passion for designing and crafting weapons, such as swords and knives. Warphen told us he had wanted to be an engineer all his life and recalled a memory of the time he tried to fit the rear spring off a motorcycle on his BMX bike. The dream of becoming an engineer was set aside when Warphen followed his mother’s advice to become a nurse in the United States. Warphen still had the passion to design and manufacture, so in his free time, around 2009, he aimed to develop his own line of bikes.
The mass-start race is known for its fast speeds and winding turns over varying terrain, with hundreds of riders descending the mountain at once. Despite the inherent dangers, officials state that injuries are modest, and that the race is less dangerous than it may seem to outsiders. The course is designed to slow the riders down around tight curves and the width of the glacier at the race’s start line allows the riders to spread out.
New Bike Discovery: Warphen Bikes New Enduro Machine
The MBA Crew spotted this bike out on the trail the other day and this is what we found out, so far. Warphen is a new bike company built here in California, and they have produced a handful of bikes, we’ve been told. They look promising and we look forward to getting one for testing someday soon. They dont have a website that we could find, but they are selling them through eBay.
