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.

5 days done

Today was relatively uneventful and that is meant in a good way. I rode from Guillaumes to St-Sauveur and in doing so ticked off day 5 of 7. Day 5's route takes in such treats as Breaker River, the Gorge of minor injury and the Breaker itself. Another point of note is that the day's final (awesome!) descent is on the infamous GR5, a very very long trail which went at least some way toward inspiring the idea for the T-P. More importantly, the day takes in more singletrack than any other day so far, making it my current favourite.

The bounce is back

Fork lowers off, cleaned, seals packed with grease, job's a good'un. Buttery smooth.

T-P XC Version

This IS the XC version and make no mistake. The daily morning uplift does nothing more than increase the distance we can travel on great singletrack in an 8-hour day. So a week of hard graft and big rewards are in order for those signed up.

Into the 06

The Col des Champs is still snowy but finally open. From here it's a short pedally traverse into a long and varied descent, the first Sp of the Alpes Maritimes. The remainder of Day 4 is spent on a selection of the Guillaumes valley's best trails. I arrive at the campsite this evening feeling more beaten-up than physically exhausted; The forks are playing up again. Time for half an hour of TLC tomorrow morning I reckon. Didn't get rained on today; no idea what is forecast for tomorrow. The first couple of days taught me: If its raining and you have 8 hours hard pedaling ahead of you, TTFU.

Prawn crackers and milestones

From the Montagne de Coupe it's straight into Sp9, and all I will say about that trail is WOW! Sp10 is a bit of an oddball, not my cup of tea but I think some will like it. After Sp10 I stopped for a Coke and complimentary stale prawn crackers at what has to be the most strangely placed Chinese restaurant in France. Sp11 is great singletrack skirting high up on a south-west facing flank into the High Verdon.

I am now half way done in terms of on-bike vert ascent.

Kicks up a bit at the end

Just crossing the Montagne De Coupe, a very large piece of limestone separating Digne with everything to its East. The last 10 minutes to the top are a bit steep.

Just when you don't think it can possibly rain any more...

...it probably will but my newly gained knowledge of which trees provide the most shelter saw me staying relatively dry for most of today. Day 2's route passes through the most remote landscapes I've ever seen in Europe and all four Sp's are highly enjoyable adrenaline shots..so, a cross-crountry day in the truest sense, but with a generous helping of FreerideAttitude[TM]. Thats all for now and time for a well-earned shower and to see if there's anything left in the hipflask! Digne to Colmars-Les-Alpes tomorrow.

Day 1 done

I've been timing myself on the route's singletrack descending stages or "Sp's", to the nearest minute:

Sp1: 34min

Sp2: 12min

Sp3: 16min

Sp4: 7min

Running total: 69min

With LOTS of uphill bits between the Sp's !!!

Mixed weather but overall a good start and very enjoyable day. Oh, and the forks have miraculously sorted themselves out :-)

Cheers Mr Rockshox

Sp3 done but my forks have lost 90% of their travel. As a nice consolation I have met up with the support vehicle for a coffee and a pot noodle. Luckily I have some Marzocchi's with me.

Where am I?

The weather is doing its best to make my anglo-saxon-Irish blood feel at home. Gesture appreciated but there's a shower at the campsite thanks.

Good news is that the Montserieux and Serre Long ridges (Sp 1 & 2) are in great condition with most of the winter deadfall now cleared.

Trailhead

The coffee is brewed, the eggs are on and yes I'm starting this morning.

Weather

MeteoFrance reckons it's going to be mainly dry with possibly one day of rain in the early part of next week. Temperatures look like they'll be slightly below average for this time of year (i.e. low- to mid-twenties, not high twenties) which I see as a good thing for this kind of a ride.

FreeWaiting[tm]

That's right, for one reason or another I have start a day later than I wanted to. This means Montsérieux, gateway to the Alpes de Haute-Provence, first thing tomorrow (Friday) morning, not today.

One more day of fattening myself up ready for the voyage, so every cloud...

33 pounds of steel, aluminium and rubber

This is what I'll be taking:



It consists of:

-> frame: dialled bikes Alpine 17/22
-> fork: Rock Shox Lyrik U-Turn
-> front wheel: Mavic XM719 / DT Swiss 330
-> rear wheel: Mavic XM719 / Shimano Alfine 8-speed hub drive
(less fiddling with gears and broken mechs = more time drinking coffee :))
-> chain tensioner: Fireeye
-> tyres, F&R: Maxxis Minion 2.35" single-ply
-> brakes: Shimano XT
-> crankset/chainring: Shimano Hone / DMR Shift 26t
-> pedals: Shimano DX flats
-> bars/stem/headset: dialled bikes Pablo Eskobars / DMR Con-Rod / King
-> seatpost/saddle: Thomson (the longest there is!) / SDG Bel-Air Titanium