The bikes the boys ride at the mountain biking mecca of Metabief are fully tricked out. Metabief, in the Franche-Comte region of France, is home to a wicked downhill course and a bunch of rabid sickos who pound their bikes into submission. The Metabief resort, like so many others, started its existence as a ski area. But the type of terrain Mother Nature blessed the area with is much more appropriate for mountain biking. Long hills sweep gently upward.
Trails cascade into verdant valleys.
Singletrack winds through impossibly beautiful forests, across golden ridges and down ski runs dotted with flowers. Fast and scary with dangerous, fall-away turns, Metabief's course is open to anyone who wants to try it. Most of the ski and snowboard shops at the base of the mountain rent full-suspension bikes. A high-speed quad chairlift whisks riders to the top of the same run that was used in the 1993 World Biking Championships. You go as fast as you want.