Sanny reflects upon whether trail nirvana lightning can strike twice.

WORDS & PHOTOGRAPHY SANNY

They say that you should never go back. If you have experienced what you consider to be trail perfection, do you risk tarnishing the memory? If the tumblers and stars aligned to give you an unforgettable moment in your riding life, can a return visit ever live up to the image and feeling you have created in your mind’s eye? Distance is said to lend enchantment and lightning is said to never strike twice (although try telling that to Roy ‘Human Lightning Rod’ Sullivan who was struck seven times in his lifetime, after the last of which he encountered a bear which he promptly bopped with a tree branch!), but ever the optimist, I’m not so sure.

And so it was with that mindset I set off from Chamonix with my good friend Dave the Bastard to attempt to disprove the naysayers by riding one of my all-time favourite trails – Emosson Dam down to Martigny on the Swiss/French border. The last time I had ridden it was back in 2011. That day, the skies were blue, the autumnal trails dry and dusty and I had the company of friends Lucy, Mark, Lyndsey, Ross, Ozzie Andy and Gary to share the experience with. At the time, I remember watching Mark come towards us over the horizon in the late afternoon sunshine, the Mont Blanc massif looming large in the background and just thinking: “Yeah, definitely not shit!” Over the intervening years, I have looked at the photos and smiled to myself as the memories came flooding back.