Trans Provence

oh. will endura do instead?

Tuxedo Lycra. That is classy

will check on wiggle and see what they have

Now I'm getting excited!
Just packing the XC race bike now, 1.9 conti's should give me enough gap on the uphill, I can mince down the hills on any tyre 😉

Will be interesting to see the range of weapons brought to the party.

so going to die!

Its a valid point…Are you really bringing 1.9's? At least you KNOW that every corner they will drift 😉

you guys are going to get lucky 😉 Apparently the casino is doing a deal on machines, you can play with half cts.

Being localish I would agree with Juan

high roller super tacky and 60a on the back…and i haul these over 6000m vert a week with no problems

I would stray away from continental though, very weak side walls the French terrain will rip them up, I had them onmmy lapierres, I couldnt give them away to locals.

Good luck with the race

Where exactly is the finish line? I have an airport transfer at Nice so I may pop over to say hello.

I'm going for the downhill fun so GRR

VERY excited now. In fact I'm so excited I'm nearly er.. gnnn… oh… ew

Dave 360

A guest here has those with downhill tubes…. he is on his 6th pinchflat in 3 days, and our terrain just over the vally from France is not as harsh!

Light they are but The sidewalls are simply too weak.

UST, nash. Plus they has big volume. They WILL be fine.
Tell your guest to repeat the mantra "punctures are caused by bad riding"

Tell your guest to repeat the mantra "punctures are caused by bad riding"

Nope they are caused by **** sharp rocks. Nasher is right you know. There is a reason that all the endurist (blokes that rides enduro races) use Maxxis DH tyres.
I think I am a fairly light rider(both in weight and riding) but when it comes to tyres I would be very careful.

They use them when its more DH orientated not climbing loads and then racing down loads. 6000m a week….Ooo. Lets add another 3500m plus 'racing' singletrack…That extra drag, weight etc…Its not down, downhill at all either.

I think I'll trust my man Florian Golay who recommended me my wheel/Tyre setup (a very good endurist who recently won the Enduro des Portes des Mercantour for the 4th time). This race has 1800m of vert and lots of special stages. Not too different to the TP. What tyres do you think he ran?

'Pour les rallyes je prends le risque de rouler en lust, surtout avec le Cross Mark 2.25. '

However, I am bringing a spare front Minion 2.5 Super tacky just in case I need to eat my words 🙂

OK, riding badly over sharp rocks

good luck all, gutted i couldn't make it 🙁

Are you going to get the chance to update with pics etc Rob?

Or maybe Ash could if he gets a chance

ahh juan – just noticed you questioning mon anglais, non. That would be "les couilles du chien", n'est-ce pas?

when do entries open next year?

Hmm… seems like a lot of tyre debating.. you sure you guys aren't secret cross country racers?? 😀

Think i am gonna have to break from the norm and come fully rigid… rode it at Salzkammergut this year etc so pretty sure i can get myself down just maybe not as quick… although think i will try and get some HUGE tyres sent to me today:)

Salzkammergut is a made up name surely!

I look forward to meeting you paul78

Oh well Racing Ralphs then.

you guys are talking like you want to go win! I'll be happy to survive.

So place your bets, the winner will be?

My money will be on Sam Morris from Bike Village for overall talent, Dan Darwood is a downhiller, but has he got the Stamina 😉

who do you think Rob.

No singlespeed for me..

At last minute a kind donation from a friend has seen me with a loaner Ellsworth for the week… weighs 3 x what my SS does and is longer than my car but should be fun.. not my kind of racing so will be concenrating on enjoying the trails and taking some good shots..

Is anybody else flying from stanstead at stupid o clock on saturday morning???

Salzkammergut is unfortunately not a made up name.. its a crazy endurance race in Austria.. unfortunately i only got to do 150km of it this year as they stopped it due to severe weather conditons but the full deal is 208km and 7000m of climbing

I would avoid Rubber Queens, go for a Larson or Crossmark on the back and an Ardent on the front, the ones with Lust sidewalls.
Not used the ust but the other Rubber Queens pinch really easily.

Holy crap. 7000m of climbing!! In a day?

I am in it for the comp. Its going to be great though. ride up at a relatively gentle pace, take in the views, chat but when it comes to the timed stages, I'll be honest, I want to win, well, I am going to try my hardest.

My money is mostly on Dan. I know he has the DH skills and must have the fitness to win the Ae enduro. He is definately who I am gunning for.

Sam. Have heard he is pretty damm handy all round.

There are some unknown's though. Greg Germain is gonna be pretty fit and knows the area.
DeathChr. Good rider yes?

However, lots and lots of variables. 7 days, 26 stages…Will be about consitency.

you guys are talking like you want to go win! I'll be happy to survive.

Not at all I am talking about not stopping every 10 minutes to fix a pinch flat.

I ran Lust High roller's on my 224 for 2 months. They were fine. And riding them on rocky, alpine terrain. Shhhh.

I have rideen with Greg Germain and he is fast…very fast up and down.

Anyway where is the finish? It will be in the nice area so it would be nice to come say hello.

Alot of the enduro riders I know use the maxxis larsen on the back and a high roller up front.

Its a combo im going to try myself to lighten and quicken my spicy up a bit.

Ciao for now

Overall result here

Some photos here

More detailed results and more photos to be added here soon.

To all STW peeps who participated, thanks for helping to make it a great week 🙂

Thanks to you and Ash (and ALL the other incredible helpers).

Best 7 days of my life I reckon. Has been hard adjusting to real life.

Well done Mel and Ash for organising (and pulling off) such an awesome event. Pics look ace and I can see it growing considerably in future years.

Who won the Alpine frame?

Some guy called Dan Darwood? 🙂

so to put the tyre thing to bed, I had Rubber Queen UST 2.4 up front and 2.2 on the back. NO PUNCTURES. Grippy + rolly. Did it for me.

And there are times when a Schwalbe Stelvio really would be a bonus.

d'oh! after getting a little bit lost on the first stage of the first day, i came last overall! the smurfs helped later on though…

'A little bit lost'
I got a little bit lost. You sir….Well….

Can I join the 'I got lost on the TransProvence' club?

Day 2 for me. Epic fail. Too busy trying to shield my eyes from naked sunbathers and tanned past a sign pointing down to the left.

01:34:38 for what should have been about 50 mins that day!

D'oh!

You got even more lost than I did then! 1:07 on what should have been a 51 min day.

I forgot about the random sunbathers. The Wild Provence Shire Horses were my fav 🙂

i was surprised that the sunbathers were about the only people we passed on the trails in the first six days of riding.

Haha! Forgot about them!

Think your 'solution' to getting lost wins the T-P improvisation award though mate!

that was a good video =)

Prices for the 2010 event are on the website, 1195 Euros!

'Twas a great event, but I don't think my bank balance can take that sort of hit for one week away.

Anyone definitely signing up when it opens on Sunday night?

Just noticed this

DeathChr. Good rider yes?

……No he wasn`t the hills were his enemies 😥

Cheers for the compliment though rob 😉