Rolling at the Roc

Rolling at the Roc

Andrej D. from mtb.si reports from last weekend’s mega event Roc d’Azur in Fréjus, France.

Fréjus? Yes it is in France but not in the Alps (in fact there is another Fréjus in the Alps but that’s a tunnel). For all you TV-heads: it lies at the heart of the Côte d’Azur, right between the stars of the Cannes Film Festival and the wacky policemen and Brigitte Bardot of St. Tropez. Posh? Yes.

The Roc d’Azur or just “Roc”, has been going on for an incredible 27 years. Yes, that’s all the way back from 1984, when there were hardly any mountain bikes for sale in Europe! Now that’s how you build a strong following, by making an event bigger and bigger every year for almost three decades.

After moving the venue around the coast a bit, the event settled on an abandoned airfield right next to the beach near Fréjus in 1997. This year almost 18.000 riders (ages 6 to 75) entered events of all kinds and over 160.000 people took a walk around over 200 stands of the indoor and outdoor expo area over four days. And there were lots of 2011 goodies on show.

There is racing and riding, the expo and the testing, the kids area, the freestyle, trial and freeride shows plus the BMX Supercross World Cup final. With so many things there hardly seems to be time or space left for concerts or partying. And that’s just as well for a change. It’s still a fully fledged festival, just centered on a racing and family atmosphere.

Most guests are of course French but there are also Belgians, Italians, Swiss and Germans as well as Brits.

Yes, riding. You don’t need to search very far inland from the Riviera to find truly brutal, steep, rocky and high mountains. The coastal hills where the Roc riding and racing takes place are rolling sandy and rocky hills between one and two thousand feet high. Most of the trails are jeep doubletrack, but many are chewed down by water into singletrack. There is also some pure and playful singletrack, all on rock and sand. Almost all trails are out in the open since the only vegetation around is thick bush and riding in the shade of trees is limited to just a few valleys. Top cross country racers may disagree, but for most a full suspension machine is the local choice for speed and fun.

The weather for the festival was pleasant with temperatures around 25 degrees. Except for rain turning some trails into thick red mud, riding here is nice all winter long.

How about trying out a race, since everybody else goes for at least one around here? There are many competitive and non-competitive events to choose from. The most popular race is the classic 56 km loop with a 1700 m elevation gain. This year over 3500 riders started that one. The “mid” version is the 43 km and the one for true endurance types is the 83 km marathon on Friday. All distances share the start and finish parts and some of the classic parts in between. Masters, juniors, even industry/press and tandems (220 of them!) – there’s a category and distance for everyone.

Race courses sometimes become like the motorway during your daily commute from work though, with waves of 500 riders at a time charging from the start line one after another only to get stuck and forced to walk the first narrow and steep climb. That just may be the only time in your life you’d actually prefer doubletrack over a nice tight singletrack. Racing does get intense in some sections with lots of passing and crashing left and right, but any incident is always supplemented with plenty of “pardons” and “pas grave” (okay, not a big deal) exchanged. In the last part, short steep uphill hikes (mostly rideable on a fun ride without congestion) take aim at your legs and cause cramps. If you do get through without too much damage, there is still plenty of chances for that on the sandy beach section right before the finish. This is also a popular place for spectators who watch riders roll in the sand and cry like babies.

Roc is everyone’s event, but the stars are still stars. They come here to wrap up their season, show off their rainbow stripes and sign tons of autographs.
Some of the winners of 2010 Roc d’Azur:
Roc d’Azur: Maja Wloszczowska (Pol) and Alban Lakata (Aut)
Roc Marathon 83: Sally Bigham (GBr) and Jochen Kass (Ger)
UCI BMX Supercross World Cup finals: Sarah Walker (NZl) and Marius Strombergs (Lat)
Enduro Roc: Karim Amour (Fra)
Maxim Roc Down (DH): Aurelien Giordanengo (Fra)

All results at Roc Results

In 2011 it’s October 5th to 9th. Anyone?

Athertons – Rachel and Gee are big in France

Bmx – The grandstands of the BMX track are full all day long

dirt – A small part of the expo with the slopestyle area

elite – Men’s elite on a classic Roc climb (photo S. Boue)

elite2 – Right after the start of men’s elite Roc (photo S. Boue)

flooks – A familiar British tandem, Helen and Tim Flooks

hermida – The 2010 cross-country World Champion Jose Hermida

osl – Austria’s Lisi Osl (photo Helena)

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