My run to the Stella

Willandkate · Post by **Willandkate** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:21 pm

Here is my very quick RR of our recent trip to the Stella. It was my and a mate Lee Davies on his FZ8 that normally looks like this

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The bike get abuse on tar and dirt, displays of which I saw when we rode together earlier in the year in his native Wales.

After a ferry crossing, nice ride without too much motorway, an overnight camp and a few more miles, we finally reach destination 1. The Balcony Road east of Valance. What a cracker!

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On we went, stopping off to pay homage to the Patron Saint of Beer

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Another camp and then a load of stunning Alpine passes, a closed road and a Euro28 fee to get through the flippin Frejus tunnel and into Bardonecchia for the Stella.

I have to say I was expecting a little skiing village packed with bikes and atmosphere, oh well, it wasn’t like that at all. Yes, there were lots of bikes around but the town was big and all a bit dead. We headed out to the ‘party tent’ and suffered the band before heading back to our hotel. It seems this year was a bit different to previous years but I have to say it all seemed a bit naff to me and a bit of a let down. At least we didn’t have hangovers for the Sunday run up the hill.

It was busy as hell, even with an 8am departure. It seems the ‘fact’ that the track is only open for 1 day a year is BS. Those in the know had been up on the Saturday or even before. The Sunday was pretty damn busy. A real mix of bikes and rider ability made for a bit of a chore getting up the dusty, rocky track. None of it was too hard but when you’re either showered by dust & gravel by a knobbied 450KTM or run off your line into the loose stuff by a side car or fat arse German on a loaded GS it all became a bit much for me. Chuck in loads of arrogant twats stopping mid trail to chat or take photos and I started to get pretty pissed off. I got up pretty high (apparently according to others just a few turns from the top) but I‘d had enough so headed back down.

Lee on the other hand was in his element, ragging the arse off the Fazer right up to the top. He raced a dude on a tricked up KTM, who, when beaten to the top by the Fazer (on Conti road tyres for this trip) the guy through his bike on the floor in disgust and came over to shakes Lee’s hand.

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The rest of the day saw some more stunning tarmac passes and we headed into Chamonix for a day off.

Just to prove the whole trip wasn’t about peg scraping (Lee not me) and comparing chicken strips (me not Lee) I’ve included these photos of fields of lavender & sunflowers, a giant orange thing and a real marmot

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Cheers

V_King · Post by **V_King** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:43 pm

every year Stella seem to be different. It is just too many folk make it a sprint there and back as if it was some sort of pilgrim place to go whatever happens.

anyways, will have to visit St Lager this year now during my pilgrimage

bond_yzf · Post by **bond_yzf** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:53 pm

Think we must have been at a different bardonecchia,wasn't dead at all and the atmosphere was fantastic but I suppose it depends on the type of person you are

KtmRy · Post by **KtmRy** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:37 pm

Was hoping to go this year but couldn't make it

What collage maker do you use please?

gebrauchtwagen83 · Post by **gebrauchtwagen83** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:42 pm

Bokki was much quieter than usual. We actually left a day early because there was only another couple of bikes there

coasty · Post by **coasty** » Thu Jul 16, 2015 9:43 pm

I went last year ... I should probably put up belated report ... We had a great time met some Germany guys did some other amazing off road passes in the area Jaffrau and Assieta ( I think) with them .. All on Gs' s... avoided the Sunday like the plague ... went up on the Friday. My impression was that the Stella is open every weekday but just that one particular weekend

Willandkate · Post by **Willandkate** » Fri Jul 17, 2015 6:59 am

KtmRy wrote:Was hoping to go this year but couldn't make it What collage maker do you use please?

It's just PowerPoint then save presentation as jpegs

daytona-supersport · Post by **daytona-supersport** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 8:47 pm

bond_yzf wrote:Think we must have been at a different bardonecchia,wasn't dead at all and the atmosphere was fantastic but I suppose it depends on the type of person you are

+1
Really enjoyed this trip. Love the town, very friendly with trails by the bucket load.

scoobydidler · Post by **scoobydidler** » Sat Jul 18, 2015 9:26 pm

My first marmot sighting was at the stella!
Im glad we got to the top (as far as we could as snow was still heavy that year) but i wouldnt say the actual event made it for me. We had a great weeks trailriding, few beers and more than one giant calzone! I imagine the town wouldve been quiet on a normal summer week though.

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