There is still summer somewhere

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BY: Niall Frost

Published: 17th October, 2010

The South of France is a lovely place in October, still enough warmth to retain the novelty of being abroad but not the vast tourist hordes you'd otherwise associate with such a popular tourist destination.  That is unless you decide to visit Frejus around the 2^nd weekend in October, as then you will be surrounded by vast swathes of mountain bikers on an annual pilgrimage.  The Roc has to be up there for one of the largest mtb events in the world, I saw a numberboards above 15,000.. I kid you not.

 

Arriving in Frejus, I headed straight for marathon sign on and was stunned by the event size down at the Base Nature.  There was a purpose built dirt BMX track, several freestyle jump parks and a massive Expo Arena.  Any manufacturer worth their salt was here displaying 2011 wares and displaying successful pro racer's bikes on the stands.  Lots of new 29ers to gorge over and looks like things are going to step up a notch next year for the big wheelers!

 

Somewhat disappointingly Phil and I had been gridded in the 2^nd last "wave" of 500 for the marathon and would have about 3,000 riders in front of us to wade through.  I was fairly confident given my previous attendance in 2004 (the 20^th anniversary of the event) that we would shout a few key French phrases and people would jump for the bushes.  Oh how you've got to love blind optimism.  Gridding up, I managed to get somewhere near the front which was to later prove somewhat academic,  however  I was closer to hear the excellent compere entertain the 500 or so riders with some quality (French) banter.  Need to get him hired for some race series in the UK!

 

All of a sudden the race began and I quickly made my way towards the back of the pack.  Season misfortunes had meant I was rocking the shonky singlespeed again which really doesn't do so well on the flat lands (booo).  As soon as I thought I really had hit the last of the 500 pack, the first hill arrived and so did our first stop.  We all stopped and waited for the crowds to disperse through the steep singletrack and there was much gallic shrugging and cries of "mon dieu".  Hold ups are something you have to take for granted at the Roc, particularly if you suffer a bad gridding as we had.  A quick stop to re-tension the chain (and lose my juice bottle, doh!) and I was back to work, dispersing as many geared foe as I could find.

 

The descents were really good fun and absolutely treacherous!  If you didn't have to concentrate on the technical trail there was inevitably a French rider dallying on the best line which meant much fun was to be had railing corners on the wrong line, launching rocky gaps all the time watching for pesky thorns which were claiming many victims.  My 8yr old mtb slicks were holding up well though....

 

At about half way through it was becoming apparent that I was on a really good day.  I was attacking the climbs and hanging on for grim death on the descents, especially as my front brake was seizing, so that lever in particular was being ignored.  I had to stop and admire a Shred rider however when he appeared through a sea of walking Frenchman screaming, "excuse moi" down one of the many singletrack sections.  A technique only perfected by more than one trip to the Roc.  At this point it's probably worth saying that even if you are more James Corden than James Ouchterlony, you will feel like a cycling god at the Roc.  There are loads of people to overtake all the time, uphill and down and you will always have someone to chase down which is a great motivator.  I was getting a real confidence boost from this event after being crushed at NPS 5.

 

The final stretch of the marathon course is shared with the Roc and features climbs that are just that little bit too hard for 32:16.  Perfect for chewing the stem!  Grunting up one climb in particular there was a shout from the crowd of, "Allez Single" which then continued up the climb from the rest of the crowd and only served to galvanise my determination.  Once through this tough little section racers were dropped down the legendary beach section.  There's not much more to say, except you have to ride through a deep sandy beach, TWICE!  Exit by way of a temporary floating bridge across the river - the level of organisation into this event really is quite unprecedented.

 

A smattering of woodsy singletrack to finish and a near miss with the edge of a canal, and it was all over, 83km of dusty trails in mid 20 degrees on a rigid singlespeed.  What better way to finish the season off?  The results state that I finished 63^rd in category which I think equated to about 230^th overall.  Mr Morris flew round to 43th in the masters and about 90^th overall.  However it is difficult to compare given the holdups and traffic issues out on course.  Maybe BC can sort us out with some elite griddings next year?!  Please, I'll ride a proper bike and everything.....

 

Sally Bigham (Topeak-Ergon) rode superbly to take the overall women's race by a scant 30 seconds or so from Ivonne Kraft.  I'd like to think I was 1^st singlespeeder, although I think claiming this based on not seeing another singlespeed on my ride may not be one of my stronger arguments.

 

The main Roc on the Sunday is the major attraction which will be worth a blog to itself.

 

Many thanks to XCracer.com, Gary Fisher, Exposure Lights and Accelerade for their help this year.  A truly epic way to see the season out.

 

Niall Frost - Xcracer.com/29ers