[Closed] Trans Provence race

It was definitely not a stock Orange 5.

Rowen had a great week and rode brilliantly but I'm pretty sure he's disappointed with 7th place (out of 7 in the pro male category)

Why should he be disappointed, he was beaten only by dedicated superenduro racers and two in form World cup downhillers!
Orange 5 frameset with Fox 36s is what Rowan Sorrell mailed to me when I asked what bike he used.

Well cos its 7th init...Competitive guys and all that.

Non standard geometry. Alpine 160 would probably have been a better choice though.

His reverb post gave him plenty of problems though. The cable got damaged on an uplift and then the return speed got worse over the week until it was taking 20+ seconds to extend.

[i]Alpine 160 would probably have been a better choice though.[/i]

No. too heavy, doesn't carry speed well on flats and upulations.

Five with a fox 36 probably has a 66 head angle (with 140mm is 67) and prob drops seat angle to 72ish, pretty slack for ostensibly a 5 inch trail bike!
The hydraulic attachment under seat has been an achilles heel to the reverb sadly.

I'd like to hear some experiences from this race. I know that some guys here rode it this year and one of the organisers is on here too so if you guys see this, please let us know what you think! I'm seriously considering giving it a go next year as it sounds amazing, although getting a place might be a bit pot luck I think.

If you're going to ride a filing cabinet then you might as well ride a comfortable one. Anyway, a few of the updulations were removed from the SPs this year (eg day 2 3rd SP on the ridgeline)

PS Phototim - ride it, you won't regret it. Make sure you're fit enough though.

From the viseos it looks my perfect event. organised, social, fun but a competitove edge.

If i could afford it Id have my deposit with them asap and would be there on my Five.

Alpine 160 is a bit much In My Opinion for 7 days of competitive riding but its still doable but a bit more tiring. I think a 5 is better suited personally. Not a great deal in it. You know Rowan did the Urge event and did it on a Alpine and then swapped to a Five for TP. Go figure?

Best event/experience/laugh/pain/hard thing ever. Get fit, ride your bike a lot, ride some more, carry up a lot of mountains, be good and prepared.

This looked fairly ideal for the job

[img] [/img]

Although I think the mudguard might have been one step too far!! 😉

Phototim , i rode the event. My first time riding in france and the first time ive biked for seven days in a row. Firstly the whole experence was superb. Great format and breath taking views with amazing single track. My aim was to complete it rather than win it as I was not in good shape due to a busy year and many other excuses.

It was very challenging - the stats for each day dont really tell the whole story. We were riding between 6 to 11 hours each day going at a steady pace. There was a lot of hike a bike but you were rewarded for it.

The terrain was technical and got more demanding towards the end of the week when i was tired. I would recomend this event to anyone as the xc and dh orientated riders were made to use all their strengths. I am currently in a post tp depression as ive seen the footage and can only think of the endless quality singletrack. I would like to enter the tp next year a lot better prepared . I rode it on a filing cabinate with float 36 s on and it was perfect.

duntstick, that patriot had 160mm forks added and the rear shock was custom tuned to give 160mm most of the time.I think the head angle was 63.5 % ! great for the decents but he also suffered on the climbs

First 55 entrants with application forms fully completed get to enter next years event. Pot luck indeed.

I've been following it closely on dirt/pinkbike etc, love these enduro type races.

I rode it and all in all thought it was a bit rubbish and a waste of money. I can't recommend it to anyone.

Oh, and over 50% of the entrants were Brits so we were bound to be competitive.

*jumps up a few places in the queue for TP2012*

oxforddan: I did it in 2009 and am still post tp depressed!