Who is that big eared man? Lookin forward to Trans Provence quite a lot.

Not jealous at all. Honest.

Dave. You do not want me to put you over my knee and spank your bottom very roughly do you?

Hope you like the taste of dust bob

Trans-Provence is all about the bike

…and keeping it on the road (well, trail)

Great pics, very jealous!

Never seen a crank snapped like that before 😯

nice. or Nice?

Never seen a crank snapped like that before

two years of riding like neanderthal / northern monkey man, causing excessive rubbing of middle of crank

Just out of interest, how worn were the cranks?

Mine have got a defined rub mark you can feel and see quite clearly and I dont suddenly want them to snap when landing a jump.

Nice pics by the way

mine was worn right though to less than 1mm thickness…

if you ride hard, and on a hardtail, and you’ve worn them thin… then there’s a good chance it’ll go. I was very lucky… noticed it flexing whilst just pedalling along.

Yikes, I ride a hardtail like the one in the picture (dialled alpine?).

Not sure whether I would describe my riding as ‘hard’ but I do ride downhill courses on it every now and again and do plenty of jumps and drops, plus Im heading to the Alps in July I think. Perhaps I should start looking for some new cranks.

Ta for your help

They look like Hone cranks if so then they are very worn.
Where abouts in Provence were you?

Where abouts in Provence were you?

Alpes-Maritimes (06) and Alpes de Haute Provence (04)

You’re hard aren’t you 🙂 Oh and wheres the polo gone or did you finally kill it? I was expecting a big shiny legacy…

Steve, I sold the Polo with 225k km on it. As for the Legacy D, couldn’t bring myself to buy a brand new car so paid half the price for 2nd hand 4motion Passat. Combined with roof box and 2 x Thule Pro-Ride racks, it’s quite the bike roadtrip wagon. All the space in the world.

blimey that looks awesome, i don’t fancy the drop on one side though

the Transvesubienne is on in a few weeks .
75k of terrains like that .

It’s obviously what having kids does for you 🙂

the Transvesubienne is on in a few weeks

Great race on great trails… one of the hardest 1-day events you can do.

Great pics, haven’t seen many from that part of the world on here.

The riding looks awesome.

Will you be dishing the dust Dave? Looking forward to it 🙂

my dad used to have a house down not far from there. looking at those pics makes me wonder why i never took my bike… 😕 🙁

great shots, stunning stuff 🙂

Looks rubbish.

an argument against hollowtech then eh? What model were the cranks then Hone?

definately Hone’s, and I’ve seen pictures of them going there before, as its very thin at that point and your shoes can rub through them

the Transvesubienne is on in a few weeks

Great race on great trails… one of the hardest 1-day events you can do.

yes , especially this year as they are finishing in nice again .
C tailleffer won it on a fully rigid alu frame a long time ago .

I snapped an old Raceface Turbine crank arm in almost the same place recently.
Scared the crap out of me when it went!

skidding for the sake of a pic really p****s me off.
Treat all trails with respect.
The erosion following the damage caused by that type of irresponsible riding anywhere is ridiculous imo.

skidding for the sake of a pic really p****s me off.

Fair play but it wasn’t for the sake of the pic if you look carefully it’s actually a drift, there’s no back brake action…

it’s a corner with a steep and loose entrance, hence almost impossible not to lock up at all if you’re going in with any speed.

And for better or for worse, that dark mark there is actually there because of considerable bike use on the given trail, not just this one “skid”.

nice pics – me and a few Brits are doing Transvesubienne this year. Did it a couple of years ago, and I finished properly broken. Julian Absalon’s doing it this year – probably a Sunday ride for him.

Trekster. If its any help I skidded into every corner because the trails are so much fun the encourage speed, I like going fast and they are incredibly loose (so I have merely moved the loose rock on the trail). The trick is to head into the corner. Brake really hard then off the brakes, lean it over and drift.

Sometimes I get it wrong though 😕

Can you tell me about the erosion on that rock type please? Have you seen Cap D’Ail dh course just further along the coast or San Remo DH course just further up the course? They have seen years of hard abusive riding and heavy winter time rain. They seem to be standing up ok.

Personally your attitude to this gets on my nerves but hey, Live and let live.

if you look carefully it’s actually a drift, there’s no back brake action

can’t argue with that, he should get points for the extension on that braking finger 🙂