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.