Thanks

The Trans-Provence project would not be where it is today without considerable contribution from the following people. Thanks to...

Rob Hamilton-Smith for his constant enthusiasm, help with all things media and SMS-blog transcriptions.

Greg Germain for his inspiration and advice, and his extraordinary contribution to the mountain biking community of the PACA region, South-Eastern France.

Mike Wong at dialled bikes for providing me with the right tool for the job (show me a better sub-£400 all-mountain frame than the Alpine and I show you a horse with wings).

Graeme Blance for the ideas, the recce'ing help, and the "shopping list".

Bryan Watt for the recce'ing help.

Jean-Philippe Meunier for his extensive translation help and sound advice.

Melissa Munro for the tent and the pies... wait, why am I thanking you? this is YOUR project, you should be thanking ME!

Tegan Smith for the cuddles.

9 hours 35 minutes

That's how long it took me to cross Provence. Pretty quick eh?

Obviously that's my cumulative time for the descent stages Sp1 to Sp24. This time includes stopping for photos and the odd bit of mechanical faffing. I would hope for at least the top 5 of the field to break 9 hours in October ...!

All's well that ends well

I ran out of water twice but apart from that no problems. I left La Gabelle campsite at 9:40am and arrived at Larvotto Beach, Monte-Carlo 9 hours and 28 minutes later. I am now at the campsite in Menton enjoying a cold beer. I will write down some more words soon.

Lunch

Good progress so far. Sitting at Colla Bassa doing some carbo loading. It has been an absolutely perfect day of trail-riding so far but I still have the Mt.Macaron and Mt.Agel ahead of me, AKA a long way to go.

Sending it to the Med

Dodgy chain tensioner replaced, new rear brake fitted, big breakfast consumed. One final big push to the world's second smallest country on some of Europe's best trails.

Tried to set a record, nearly broke an arm.

I wanted to set a respectable 'to be beaten in October' time on the Granges to Lantosque trail. Mainly because it's pretty much my favorite trail anywhere. A cow pat I rode through earlier made my front super tacky into a super slippery, that's the excuse anyhow. I was actually riding like a muppet.

One very long day to go.

It's still quite far but I can see it...

...the Mediterranean Sea that is. High up on the Mt. Chalancha - Mt. Tournairet traverse.