Trans Provence: The Donkey carries on

Words: Ryan Walsch                                                   Photos: Ryan Walsch and Sam Needham
 
In the southwest of France, the Maritime Alps form a border between the French Provence-Alpes-Cote-d’Azur department and Italy. From the Mediterranean Sea the Maritime Alps tower above the coastline with jagged rock formations, scree and dense woodlands riddled with ancient and vast trail networks from days of old. It is in these ranges that some of the world’s greatest mountain bikers have honed their skills on extremely narrow and technical trails since our beloved sport was born.

A master of terrain, Ash Smith has spent the last decade uncovering these forgotten trails and with  an unbelievable amount scouting, hard work and tenacity uncovers a unique path year-on-year to graciously share with a very lucky 75 riders.

The Mavic Trans Provence is a week-long adventure by bike, an event in Rally format, point to point each day with 4 special stages along the route which accumulated times added up to create an overall classification. This year Trans Provence started in the small alpine town of Barcelonnette and finished at the Mediterranean in Menton. The MTB Rally consists of full days long enough to test equipment, skills, resilience and camaraderie. While some may refer to TP as a “race” the event is more about discovery and survival.

One of the things that I love most about this concept is the great lengths Ash and the team go to keeping the route and trails secret. Riders face all stages blind and are on a completely level playing field and are required to play a long game, not only riding fast but consistently and ensuring they and their equipment survives.

I was fortunate enough to make the cut for the 10th and final instalment of the event, watching and refreshing the website as entries opened in the wee small hours here in Australia. After racing TP back in 2015, this style of riding has become my main provider of euphoria and hair-raising moments, dawn to dusk backed up for a week in trail nirvana.
 
 
2019 – end of an era
 
Since its debut in 2009, Trans Provence has captured the imagination of riders and race organisers around the globe. With a week-long alpine adventure instore, riders share inevitable highs and lows alongside an amazing group of mountain bikers. It is this discovery and euphoric moments linking a few loamy turns, pushing through pain, solving mechanicals, high fives, fist bumps and of course the seemingly endless amounts of singletrack that make this so special. Its with all these key elements, including the hard times that adventures are remembered.
 
Trans Provence is an event that could well be the origins of what we refer to as Enduro sparking the mind of 2012 racer Chris Ball “the father of EWS”. A format which provides the rider with an adventure by bike which incorporates technical and fitness elements attracting riders from multiple disciplines. Many “Trans” events have popped up globally over the last decade, showcasing the best trails a region has to offer and all providing their own unique spin on adventures by bike.

With growing demand for natural trail, more organisers cut fresh purpose-built trail and that’s great. What really sets Trans Provence apart is the history of the trails Ash uncovers that lead us to forgotten pastures and Cols.
 
While my time at Trans Provence was a fleeting one, only learning about its existence back in 2013 and finally getting a start in 2015 I feel that I caught the tail end of what was and could be the juiciest end of an all time great. So is this really the end? “The clock stops, the Donkey carries on” was this years’ moto, and given Ash’s unique skill and passion I have no doubts that the team will be back. Where will the donkey go, another region, another country, we can only speculate while keeping close eye on @transprovence.

Mavic Trans-Provence 2019 // Day 1 from Mavic® Trans-Provence on Vimeo.

 
On the trail
 
With an average of 4000m of descending per day and no idea what is around the next bend a days’ riding is literally a full day of riding and thrills. With four stages per day, it could be possible to focus on the racing while missing the journey. We spent roughly 50 hours riding and 2.5+ hours of timed stages and it was the liaisons that offered just as many good times. With vast and expansive landscapes that took hours to skirt, brutally steep hike-a-bikes and singletrack that took us through farmer’s yards, freak hail storms, mechanicals and searching for water and more importantly coffee and ice cream was all part of your normal day. Each day was an adventure in every sense of the word

A Day at Trans Provence
 
Your day starts by getting up at dawn and to apply liberal amounts of chamois butter to your knicks, and kit up before breakfast. You have to eat as much as possible, don’t forget to pack your snacks and lunch and it was time to roll out. Then jump into the Cool Bus shuttle at 7.30am for 45mins up the Col and back on the bikes for a “mellow and lightly wooded” descent of 1200m. Now climb up possibly the world’s steepest fireroad, reduced to hike-a-bike and then the never ending traverse of though someone’s alpine grazing pastures to reach stage 1 of 4 for the day at 1.30pm. Tackle stage 1 and 2 for the day which while following two close by ridgelines couldn’t be more dissimilar, one loam and grass the other janky rocks and boulders. Roll into town, eat as much as possible, take on another 2.5 litres of water and set out for the final two stages of the day.

You then learn that “Sospel Loam” isn’t loam but rather rocks the size of tennis balls, but square, janky and abundant. By the time you are rolling into camp, exhausted after another epic liaison with “slight exposure” or “Relatively straightforward but not in a literal sense” we would wonder if the road we turned off many kilometres before would have actually lead us straight to camp? It probably did and we were glad that the adventure by bike part of the event was equally as important to Ash as the stages.

Now you’re back, the day isn’t finished. Washing and prepping the bike before eating as much as possible is super important, and finally there us a race briefing before crawling into bed, with someone piping up from the crowd “how many hours will tomorrow take?” Ash replied, somewhat puzzled “Err, well the whole day”. Classic.

Tips for racing blind
 

• Now & Next and Trail Scanning, Both PMBI mountain bike coaching terms and what may seem simple can be a tricky skill to master. While looking in the now (directly in front of you) is useful blind racing does require you to look further ahead to what is coming up Next. Constantly scanning the trails for lines, obstacles, Trans Provence arrows, fallen riders, freshly cut grassy turns… you name it, this skill is an essential.

• Don’t ride at 100%, tone it down and pop your ego in your backpack/fannypack. It’s a long event and if you start getting too brave and end up with a flat or mechanical you will lose more time than you can make up. Ride smooth, take good lines and play the long game.

• Get a tyre pressure gauge and use it, take big drops in elevation and your tyre pressures will drop too. You’re racing blind and are going to be tired and charging over stuff you didn’t always mean to, know your pressures or safe range and keep them that way.

• FTFT, Follow the F***ing Trail. With hundreds of kilometres of trail, bunting is minimal and if its doesn’t look like the track don’t take it. Keep your head on a swivel, don’t cut the switchbacks.

• Look out for your peers, anyone could make a mistake and ensuring another rider’s safety is more important than any race, it could even be you that needs the help.

 
While Ash sticks to his guns referring to Trans Provence as “The Original MTB Rally” it is in essence mountain biking at its core. I feel lucky and privileged to have been at the last Trans Provence, and will have trail riding and camp life memories for years to come.

Find out more about the Trans Provence HERE