Roc D’Azur – Frejus, France


Having finished the Transprovence race in Monaco I decided to stay out in France and visit the big French Bike Festival the Roc D’Azur in Frejus the following weekend. I have heard about this event for many, many years, but never been to take part or just have a look so I really did not know what to expect. All I did know is that it finishes at the beach and that in itself was a good enough reason to go !

I decided to enter the Enduro event which took place on the Thursday. It was a 29km course with 4 timed stages along the way. In true French style it seemed a little vague at first, as no one could explain how to get to the start or even show us on a map as we had to make our own way to the start ! Myself and James were considering riding as it looked like it must be around 15 – 20km and we thought that would make it into a nice big day, but I am so glad we took Jerome from Trek France up on the offer of a lift as it was a pretty long way and up a long old climb !! We finally found the top of the Col after climbing up through the morning fog. Once we got there and pushed our bikes up a steep rocky path we were out of the cloud and the sun was shining through already. It was set to be a hot one ! After the commisares had finally decided on where the course started after originally putting up the timing beams on the push up track, we were set for a race ! It was pretty much a free for all as you could just go whenever you wanted as we all had transponders. Fortunately I was given a low number so they let 1-15 off first at 20 sec gaps and after that it seemed to any order !

I was glad to get away in front as I soon realised that following people was not an option as there was just too much dust. The first stage was definitely freshly cut for the race and it was just wide enough to get your wheels through and then you had to drag your handlebars and your arms through the tough wiry french bushes on each side of the track to make it through. I got a big bit of branch stuck in my rear mech pretty early on so had to stop and drag that out and by that time had been passed and ended up in someone’s dust for the rest of the stage. After that I made sure I did the liaison stages quickly to stay ahead of the crowds of people and ended up having nice clean runs on the rest of the stages. It was a really fun ride, the climbs between stages were tough in the baking sun but every start of a section had a little old granny with water and cake so it was always worth stopping for a few moments !

The final stage really did finish on the beach and I was straight in the sea ! Such a wicked event and nothing better than a swim in the Med to finish it off ! The results were not out for a while and with these events you really have no idea how you have done as you all ride independently so the following day I was happy to find out I had taken the win. The next day I wanted to pre ride some of the 44km XC loop I would be riding on Saturday but I ended up doing a lot more than half of it and also ended up having a great crash over the bars on one of the descents slamming my knee into some rocks ! So not only did I ride for way longer than planned but I also had a fat knee I spent all evening icing and tending too !! Fortunately the swelling went down pretty quick and I was able to ride the next day without it bothering me. So Saturday morning I lined up at 9am with the biggest women’s field I have ever raced in around 150 women were taking part ! Somehow I ended up on the front row next to a large numbers of names I recognised from the world cup xc so straight away felt a little apprehensive !

I really did start to question....what am I doing here, I am really going to disgrace myself !! The gun finally went and I attacked the first 20metres like a DH start and found myself out in the lead and I went around the first corner now needing to slow down a little and still no one had come by me !! I really did not plan to be leading the race but luckily it wasn’t for long as a few people began to come around me but I was happy to be able to stay in the front group of around 25 or so up until the first climb. It was such a cool experience to be in the front bunch alongside some great names of the sport, but I also felt pretty nervous riding in a bunch as I am just not used to riding with people around me ! My fun was soon over as the first climb was upon on us and that was it they were off ! I just knew that I couldn’t keep that pace up for 44km so I settled into my own rhythm and was actually really pleased that only a few girls passed me and we then spent the rest of the race going back and forth as I would catch them on the descents and then they would catch me on the climbs !! I actually really enjoyed the race although it was pretty painful at the time. With a long loop like the this the downhilll’s are actually long enough that you can recover a little and I didn’t spend the entire 2.5hrs hating it !!

I ended up finishing in 19th place which I was really pleased with after a long season of racing and little specific preparation. I suffered a little after as my legs were dead and I spent the rest of the day coughing, the sign of a very tired chest from all that breathing !! As an event I really enjoyed it and I was just one of over 15,000 people that raced over the week. It is a massive expo and bike race, a really fun event to be at. I am sure I will be back again.