Roch'Abadie: Redemption

So this year, the plan was to train really hard and get some good results, not just my usual "not bad" results. So let's start off with a little season recap:

Round 1: Levens: snow everywhere, crashed a million times, terrible result.
Colomars (not part of the series): Pretty good results in the 1st and 2nd stage, then destroyed my drivetrain. Stupidly expensive to fix, and I ended up pretty much dead last.
Round 2: Sospel: Bike broke a few days before the race, attempted to ride, but ended up having to forfeit.

Time for some serious changes! Oh wait, the part that broke before the last race took over 3 weeks to arrive from the manufacturer... Going into this race, my training had been the odd trip to Nice and back on the "velo bleu" (i.e. horrible bike share thingies that rarely work), and the odd attempt at trail running... But only downhill, because uphill is tiring and stuff...




Before the race:


I got my bike running about 3 days before the race, and needed to do a bit of maintenance on it, mainly changing tyres. After an hour long struggle to fit a new tyre on the front as tubeless, I gave up and put a tube in (i.e. heavier and more likely to puncture). This also lead to me not bothering changing my rear tyre, which was very much slick. "Ah sure it'll be grand, so long as it doesnt rain"...

Slick, not a mud tyre, barely an offroad tyre tbh.

Rain, that is what I woke up to on race day. Brilliant! Drove off, wondering whether they would even run the race. Right up until I parked my car, the rain was pouring down. As I unpacked the bike though, there was only a slight drizzle. The race was being run in the hills behind Nice, so it should have had a fantastic view, but this is all you could see:

Cote de Greyness

So I started the pedal up after meeting up with Anthony. There was a lot of water on the roads, we were not sure what conditions the trails would be in. Once the road up met the track, we were greeted by a depressing scene: only about 10 people had gone down as the race had just started, yet already there was someone crashing, one girl abandoning as there was too much mud on her bike and one guy who had broken his derailleur, all about 1 minute from the start line. I was not feeling it. But onwards we went to the start.

Too much mud for the front wheel to turn.

I know the feeling buddy, I recommend crying and writing a blog about it.

The race:


Stage 1:

I set off 30s ahead of Anthony, and Seb was off another 30s later, with only one thought in my head: "Do not let them catch up to you". After about 3 or 4 turns, all the crap from the previous races was forgotten and forgiven. It was simply the most fun I have had on a bike all year, two wheel drifting into all the muddy corners. Then came a steep section, followed by endless switchbacks to the finish line. I overtook two riders, and had a nearly perfect run. I ended up taking the 27th fastest time and putting a huge gap between me and Anthony and Seb.



Stage 2:

The sun was peeking through the clouds at this stage, and the road back up was noticeably drier. This stage started the same as the first one, but veered off in a different direction during the steep part. As soon as I set off I noticed how much the track had dried, corners could be taken much faster with little to no sliding. I knew straight away that this meant the other two would be able to catch me if I didnt do a good run. The spectators were really encouraging on the hard parts of the track, and helped me keep the fingers off the brakes in order to try and look fast! It was a great stage, but I made a few mistakes, Anthony beat me by a second, but my overall position was still a strong 32nd for this stage.



Stage 3:

Pretty good view!

By now the sun was beaming down, and the track was almost dry. Stage 3 was actually a repeat of stage 1, as the original trail they had planned to use was too boggy to race after to the rain. It was crazy how much faster the track was, compared to mere hours before. The steep chute which had claimed so many riders in the 1st stage was now barely a challenge. I got the top and middle of the track pretty well, but then my lack of training this month really showed. As I got into the tight rocky switchbacks, I was barely in control of the bike. I was having a lot of trouble holding on, and even came off once, but luckily landed on my feet. Most people went up to a minute faster in the dry than in the wet, I barely managed 20s. Anthony nearly caught up to me on this stage and made up a good chunk of the time I had taken from him on the 1st stage. I ended up 30th overall, while he took 32nd.



Big thanks to the organisers, especially the marshals who turned up on what could have been a horrible day. Great race, delighted to back up there at last after the last few months of bike trouble.

Best part of the day: my bike still worked afterwards...

Sospel: spectator mode

So after looking forward to this race for the last month, my bike decided to let me down 2 days before the event: split one of the main pivot bolts into two pieces, just a month after replacing it already. Tried to salvage the weekend, and actually raced the first stage of 4, but the bike felt way too flexy at the end of the run. I couldn't risk breaking another frame so soon after buying it, so I packed things in and took some pictures!

Pros: 

- Got to see Sospel

- Got to see Nicolas Vouilloz ride and take the win

- Figured out I can take sequences on my phone... Sometimes you have to count all the little victories...

Cons:

- I'm starting to hate mountain bikes. Why do they break every single time you use them?

O. Giordanengo

F. Nicolai

L. Solliet shows off his perfect technique!

Descente des Feuilles

First day back in the proper mountains, big crew, stunning weather, insane trails, lack of fitness, not enough water, the biggest two wheel drift I have ever seen: Winter is over!!!

Luceram

The crew

Big mountains, and Anthony "Le Drift" Pena

Cool little dodgy bridge

Mooooo

Getting close to the finish, totally wrecked at this stage

Luceram in sight

Taissoun

Quick report on the Ronde du Taissoun, in Colomars just behind Nice. Usually, this place gives a great vantage point to look over Nice and the entire Cote D'Azur. This time though, after a lung bursting hike/pedal through the fog we got treated to a different view which, as you might have noticed from the pictures, was absolutely phenomenal.

While on the short side of the enduro spectrum, at about 26km, this was a ridiculously punishing event. Each of the three stages required a hike a bike section, resulting in searing hot legs. Added to that was the fact that all the stages were extremely rough and physical, with a relatively large amount of uphill sprints required. The first two stages went pretty well, I came in 25th and 26th out of about 80 riders despite 2 falls in the first stage, and several mistakes in the second from coming into corners too fast or simply not seeing turns in time. 

I was pretty pumped for the third stage which I know very well from many spins with LeChris, and which was by far the longest and most physical, two aspects which played to my strengths. After a good top section, I got to the section I had been fearing all day: le GR. A wide, flat hiking trail, which doesnt sound too bad, but the problem is it is pretty easy to hit ludicrous speeds on it as it alternates between smoothish for 20-30m followed by extremely rough for 5-10m, and many a tube and tyre have fallen victim to this section, which I now slow down considerably for. But this was a race, so F--k that! Full speed ahead, I was gliding over the rough sections like they wern't there, until I heard a horrible noise which I assumed was my tyre exploding but turned out to be my derailleur, derailleur hanger and gear cable all snapping at once... To add insult to injury, as I mentioned previously this stage had a very long uphill/flat section a few minutes later, meaning I had to push the bike for a good 10 minutes without even being able to coast...

Fun day overall, a proper challenge. Team mate Anthony and regular competitor Seb both posted impressive results in some of the stages and ended up in the top twenty overall, it would have been nice to see where I would have ended up without the mechanical. Oh well, time to peruse chainreaction for some drivetrain components...

Rallye Hivernal de Levens

Just finished the first enduro of the 1001 series which runs through the year. The winter enduro in Levens is known to always have a bit of snow to add to the challenge. Unfortunately, for me anyway, the massive snowfalls from 2 weeks ago meant the trails were more then just a little challenging.

Started off with a massive climb, just under 2 hours, half of which was on compacted snow. Got to the top for one of the greatest cups of tea ever, and then straight into the first stage of the race. The format was 3 man starts, and I was starting with my buddy Seb who usually posts identical times to myself. The first 5 seconds of the race set up the theme of the day: I took the lead, pedalled hard to get away from the 2 others, slight bend in the road, leaned into the corner, slip, crash, covered in snow. Over the next 10 minutes this happened over and over... Eventually I finished last in my group, soaked and frozen...

Things picked up massively in the second stage, which started lower down the mountain and thus had much shallower snow. I managed to just about stay ahead of Seb (some bad manners required), until half way down when the track was dry and I was able to ride properly and took a reasonable lead in my group.

Pumped up from the second round, I thought things would go great in the third. Sadly this was not the case. The last special was probably the steepest track of the day, and while not under snow, it was covered in mud. No proper excuse, despite 3 years of mud riding 100% of the time back in Cork, I just couldnt hack it on the (seriously) steeper parts and rode very poorly. By the time I got to the dry section of the track I had psyched myself out and couldnt feel my fingers from the cold.

So a pretty terrible performance all-round from myself, ended up with a not quite so terrible 89th with Seb trashing me with a 73rd. Pretty bummed at how poorly I rode anywhere that wasnt either dry or flat. Really well organised event tho, and definitely planning on heading back up there later on in the year.

About half way up the 1st climb. Levens in the foreground, the sea in the back

Tea with a view. Really needed it after 2 hours pedalling/pushing up in the snow

Lotsa bikes

New year, new gear, new club...

SS1 Start gate

Race on

Fall number 1

Should have pushed him off

If this was me, I would be even more sideways, but also more lying in the snow

Spot the biker

Everyday heroes

Photo credit: Seb, Will from Levens. Thanks

Razorbike 2012

Just finished the first enduro race of the year out in l'Esterel, a small mountain range near Cannes, which ends abruptly into the sea. Early start to the day to get to Theoule-Sur-Mer on time for sign-on, but I was excited due to the absolutely stacked list of riders: World cup juniors and veterans, a female world champion and every single top enduro rider from the region were in attendance as part of the 250 entries.

The format was 1-man starts every 30s over 3 stages, with short climbs (~30mins) in between each stage, but a reasonably tight time allowance (50mins). At first, I was a bit annoyed at the 1-man starts as it meant a huge wait on the start line for high numbers, like myself with #160. However, the reason they had this system was that the riders took off for the first climb from the main square in front of everyone, and were introduced and questioned by one of the organisers "rugbyman". It ended up being a good fun, with a couple of people getting sent off to the sound a carefully selected music to maximise embarrassment.  

Top riders got their achievements and sponsors broadcast

Nobodies talked about the spelling of their name and Irish beer

Probably the scariest part of the day: "What if I fall in front of everyone?" 

So a quick pedal up a fire road to get to the top of the hill, where all 3 special stages began, reasonably close to each other.  SS1 was the longest of the day taking about 5-6 minutes for an ok rider. It started at the very top of the hill, on a tight singletrack almost hidden in the pine trees. The first minute or two was spend dodging through narrow gaps between trees and on north shore ladder bridges. Then, a short yet punishing pedal up a slight uphill, across a fire road and into a long high-speed rocky section with some nice technical drops down slabs of rock.

The first section was so narrow that as I pedalled hard through a flat section, my left knee hit a small tree, which just bounced me sideways off track into a bush, losing a few seconds. The rocky section was more a case of courage than skill, sadly I was not doing well on either front, but came down clean.  

Good view on the way to SS1

The SS1 hill. The track went from top to bottom.

Small step on the road crossing

So happy enough with my first run, I pedalled up for SS2, with a mandatory pit stop to shove orange slices and chocolate in my face. SS2 was the shortest run of the day, and also the most technical and steep. A little bit of single track to get the speed up at the start. Then sand/dust switchbacks, followed by a very steep section down a rock formation and finally a flatter section with some interesting features: boulders and near vertical chutes.

I lost the front wheel on a dusty switchback... Actually let me rephrase that: I came into a switchback with a pretty good trajectory, when the corner just disintegrated into dust flowing down the side of the hill, taking my front wheel with it. Landed on my feet, running, but lost a few second walking back to get the bike. Also had trouble keeping my feet on the pedals in the steep section where I lost a bit more time and must have looked quite dodgy. Overall a good run though.

SS2 start line

Always good views in this place

Good tracks too

A quick hike-a-bike followed by a short pedal got me back to the top for the final run of the day. This was lauded as a new track purpose built for the event. It started with a sprint zigzagging a fire road, then plunged into a steep, dusty singletrack all the way down the hill to the edge of the village. This was the only stage with almost no rocks, so it was easier to take a few more risks, due to the hugely diminished penalty for failure. I got down at a pretty decent pace with no mistakes and not too much braking.

A small rock step before entering the dust

Ended back at the village square for the complementary pasta and cheese with Sebastien (thanks for the photos). I ended up 57th, which I am very happy with, despite being further back than the last few races, simply due to the incredible turn out. Local youngster Florian Nicolai came out on top, beating a host of big names, incredible.

Massive thanks to the organisers for the smooth running event and not so smooth tracks!

Videos of the trails available here: http://www.wix.com/theoulevtt/fr#!videos-speciales-2010
sound off button is at the bottom left ;) 

Pretty much the only reason I come to these things