So weâre at the Roc and to say the weather is sh1t would be an understatement. Thereâs been a massive amount of rain in the past 24 hours (200+mm). For those who know the setup, one (?) of the pontoons over the river that connects the start/finish area to the rest of the course was washed away. Not unsurprisingly All of todayâs races were cancelled. We ended up taking shelter in the SRAM tent, drinking coffee and eating biscuits as we waited for the rain to ease off so we could go back to the apartment. the weather should be better tomorrow (cause it could not be worse). See photo here: https://www.pianetamountainbike.it/r...e-gare-di-oggi
Roc DâAzur 2019 - Day 1
Head back to the hotel and get stuck into a case of French Wine!
I think you should book in for next year so, when I'm going :)
Jaysus that's shite. Pack up the bikes and head North.
Shit buzz dave hopefully a better day today
Weather was nice today but the course was ‘damp’ (think wading thigh deep through rivers). I was off in wave 2 at 7.45. The exit from the field was flooded so it was wet shoes from the start. I settled in to a steady effort and kept at it for 6 hours finishing in 320th. A few bottle necks early on but after an hour I was through the worst of it. Learnt my lesson from last year and ate and drank properly. It helped that it was allot cooler this year.
Most of the Irish lads came in within 20mins of each other, except Doris who did amazing coming in 105th in a time of 5.07.
Most of the Irish lads came in within 20mins of each other, except Doris who did amazing coming in 105th in a time of 5.07.
Class stuff Dave
Some effort
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Some effort
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nice one Dave. Good to see the weather was better.
Well that was some week. Arrived in sunshine on Tuesday, followed by lashing rain (28 hours) thunder and lightning and then no power for the night. All stopped at 4pm on Wednesday.
As expected the masters race was cancelled. I was hoping to do well in that. The marathon was just that. I bought an ‘ass saver’ but it was’nt very effective wading waste deep through rivers. So no review there.
Very hard race , but the majority of the trails were ok. I could only laugh at the flooded sections, it changed the race completely. I took off with the fast lads and had no bottle necks at the decents which made it so much better. Weather wise , it was warm and sunny for the rest of the week.
The ROC was the usual mayhem and everyone good form. Met up with Dave and Damo at the start for a quick chat, only thing missing , was the cloud of dust. The Roc trophy goobers messed up some decents, but later on , they must have all fallen off. Great fast decents all the way back.
Finished marathon in 101st overall and ROC in 264th position. Happy enough with that.
Well done Dave , good time considering the conditions (by no means easy).
The missus arrived on Friday and drove around Nice, Cannes and St tropez (along the coast) over the weekend. Jasus, some place to live.
Upgraded the car to a suv, to blend in a little, but every oul todger was driving a porche.
Back now to reality…looking forward to dry trails!
As expected the masters race was cancelled. I was hoping to do well in that. The marathon was just that. I bought an ‘ass saver’ but it was’nt very effective wading waste deep through rivers. So no review there.
Very hard race , but the majority of the trails were ok. I could only laugh at the flooded sections, it changed the race completely. I took off with the fast lads and had no bottle necks at the decents which made it so much better. Weather wise , it was warm and sunny for the rest of the week.
The ROC was the usual mayhem and everyone good form. Met up with Dave and Damo at the start for a quick chat, only thing missing , was the cloud of dust. The Roc trophy goobers messed up some decents, but later on , they must have all fallen off. Great fast decents all the way back.
Finished marathon in 101st overall and ROC in 264th position. Happy enough with that.
Well done Dave , good time considering the conditions (by no means easy).
The missus arrived on Friday and drove around Nice, Cannes and St tropez (along the coast) over the weekend. Jasus, some place to live.
Upgraded the car to a suv, to blend in a little, but every oul todger was driving a porche.
Back now to reality…looking forward to dry trails!
Now that I'm back on dry land... a review of this year's Roc...
As John said, the rain was incredible when we arrived on Wednesday. Flew with Aer Lingus - no major issues though the disk on one of Tara's wheels was bent (more on this shortly). Rather than hire a car this year we took the train. this meant dragging the bikes from the airport to the nearest train station (about 10 minutes walk away) which is fine but next year I'd get the bus from the airport into the centre of Nice. When the train arrived at the station all that it was missing were people sitting on the roof - it was jam packed so we waited 20 minutes for the next one and had no problems with that. Arrived at St Raf where the rain was coming down in sheets. Walked to the apartment (about 10 minutes away). The owner took pity on us in our sodden state and went out and got us pizza.
Thursday's races were cancelled which was fine as it gave us a chance to sort out a few things including Tara's disk. We went down to the expo and asked the lads in SRAM if they had one for sale. the response was 'no, but donate 20e and we'll fit a new one'. The mechanic doing the work took a look at Tara's bike and muttered something along the lines of 'the disk is the only bit of SRAM on the bike'; Tara's response was priceless "Yeah, its the only bit that's not working" :-).
I was off in wave two of the Marathon (7.45) but getting lost on the way to the start area meant that I arrived just in time to see the tail end of the wave disappearing out of the start straight. I threw the bike over the barriers and myself and a French guy who was also late worked together and caught the back markers before we hit the narrow forest trail section. This was completely flooded (axel deep) but it was still possible to move up (until people started walking up a very short steep section) - all together the delays in here cost about 4 minutes. Once out of the forest it began to spread out and by the time we hit the first climb I was able to start picking my way through the bulk of the wave. The first descent is class and I made the most of it. Unfortunately, the river at the bottom of the decent was flooded and there was a delay of another 4 minutes to get across it. Once across, there were no more delays.
I settled into a steady effort and kept going. Passed Damien Duggan after the second feed station (he was suffering) and then passed most of the other Irish lads. I didn't recognise them as they were covered in mud and looked like everyone else. After the first three big climbs the course is characterised by shorter climbs so it was a case of punching up stuff and then keeping it steady. there were long trains of riders (3 - 8) following obvious lines and this made it easier to spin up past them. The descents were great - the stuff through the trees was like riding djouce or slade - and it felt great to be passing people going downhill (an unusual experience for me:-). Even wading through the rivers was ok- a chance to wash off some of the mud :-).
After last year, I had put a bit more thought into feeding and hydration. I stopped three times to refill the water bottles (it was cool enough) and ate (4 or 5 gels and a peanut bar + a slice of cake and a banana ). Drinks wise, I got through two bottles of Torq 2:1 by feed station 2, refilled the bottles 1 x 4:1 Energy Source, 1xwater, and had the same again at Station 4 and that was it.
The beach section was easy this year (the sand was wet and hard from the rain) and I was on my own on the road back to the finish. I finished in 6.06 hours in 317th place overall and 100th in my category. The few delays cost me but that's my own fault. My overall target was to finish in under 6 hours and though I didn't make it I am delighted with how I rode.
The Roc D'azur (Sunday) is 'only' 54km (after doing the Marathon 54 km is short :-). I was off in the second wave with John and Damien. John punched a hole through the wave and we tried to hang on for as long as we could (not very long at all :-). The course was not as flooded but there was plenty of slimy and sticky mud in the forest section after the start there was so much mud on the tyres they turned to slicks. The first descent was largely clear, the water level had dropped and there were no problems riding through the bottom of it. Damien stuck with me through the first few climbs but I lost contact with him after a stop at the second feed station (only stop of the day for me).
As a shorter race, I pushed harder throughout and it was a tough slog in places - parts of it were soft (think of the sand road that runs beside the bog of death) or sticky. I was really happy with my riding, particularly the last 10km before you hit the road which is characterised by a few short stabber climbs. Once back on the road we were diverted away from the beach (the tide was right in) which was a pity but I got lucky when an Italian guy zipped passed me and I hopped on his wheel. We worked well together and got back to the finish fairly quickly. I finished in a time of 3:22 and in 591st place (there were plenty of people with fresh legs in front of us!). That I was 'only' 21mins behind John makes me happy enough!
By comparison to last year, the conditions were much, much tougher (similar to the XC Marathon National held in Ballyhoura in 2017) but it was also much cooler. Hopefully I did enough to get into wave one of the marathon next year (I'll make sure I get there on time for the start!).
As John said, the rain was incredible when we arrived on Wednesday. Flew with Aer Lingus - no major issues though the disk on one of Tara's wheels was bent (more on this shortly). Rather than hire a car this year we took the train. this meant dragging the bikes from the airport to the nearest train station (about 10 minutes walk away) which is fine but next year I'd get the bus from the airport into the centre of Nice. When the train arrived at the station all that it was missing were people sitting on the roof - it was jam packed so we waited 20 minutes for the next one and had no problems with that. Arrived at St Raf where the rain was coming down in sheets. Walked to the apartment (about 10 minutes away). The owner took pity on us in our sodden state and went out and got us pizza.
Thursday's races were cancelled which was fine as it gave us a chance to sort out a few things including Tara's disk. We went down to the expo and asked the lads in SRAM if they had one for sale. the response was 'no, but donate 20e and we'll fit a new one'. The mechanic doing the work took a look at Tara's bike and muttered something along the lines of 'the disk is the only bit of SRAM on the bike'; Tara's response was priceless "Yeah, its the only bit that's not working" :-).
I was off in wave two of the Marathon (7.45) but getting lost on the way to the start area meant that I arrived just in time to see the tail end of the wave disappearing out of the start straight. I threw the bike over the barriers and myself and a French guy who was also late worked together and caught the back markers before we hit the narrow forest trail section. This was completely flooded (axel deep) but it was still possible to move up (until people started walking up a very short steep section) - all together the delays in here cost about 4 minutes. Once out of the forest it began to spread out and by the time we hit the first climb I was able to start picking my way through the bulk of the wave. The first descent is class and I made the most of it. Unfortunately, the river at the bottom of the decent was flooded and there was a delay of another 4 minutes to get across it. Once across, there were no more delays.
I settled into a steady effort and kept going. Passed Damien Duggan after the second feed station (he was suffering) and then passed most of the other Irish lads. I didn't recognise them as they were covered in mud and looked like everyone else. After the first three big climbs the course is characterised by shorter climbs so it was a case of punching up stuff and then keeping it steady. there were long trains of riders (3 - 8) following obvious lines and this made it easier to spin up past them. The descents were great - the stuff through the trees was like riding djouce or slade - and it felt great to be passing people going downhill (an unusual experience for me:-). Even wading through the rivers was ok- a chance to wash off some of the mud :-).
After last year, I had put a bit more thought into feeding and hydration. I stopped three times to refill the water bottles (it was cool enough) and ate (4 or 5 gels and a peanut bar + a slice of cake and a banana ). Drinks wise, I got through two bottles of Torq 2:1 by feed station 2, refilled the bottles 1 x 4:1 Energy Source, 1xwater, and had the same again at Station 4 and that was it.
The beach section was easy this year (the sand was wet and hard from the rain) and I was on my own on the road back to the finish. I finished in 6.06 hours in 317th place overall and 100th in my category. The few delays cost me but that's my own fault. My overall target was to finish in under 6 hours and though I didn't make it I am delighted with how I rode.
The Roc D'azur (Sunday) is 'only' 54km (after doing the Marathon 54 km is short :-). I was off in the second wave with John and Damien. John punched a hole through the wave and we tried to hang on for as long as we could (not very long at all :-). The course was not as flooded but there was plenty of slimy and sticky mud in the forest section after the start there was so much mud on the tyres they turned to slicks. The first descent was largely clear, the water level had dropped and there were no problems riding through the bottom of it. Damien stuck with me through the first few climbs but I lost contact with him after a stop at the second feed station (only stop of the day for me).
As a shorter race, I pushed harder throughout and it was a tough slog in places - parts of it were soft (think of the sand road that runs beside the bog of death) or sticky. I was really happy with my riding, particularly the last 10km before you hit the road which is characterised by a few short stabber climbs. Once back on the road we were diverted away from the beach (the tide was right in) which was a pity but I got lucky when an Italian guy zipped passed me and I hopped on his wheel. We worked well together and got back to the finish fairly quickly. I finished in a time of 3:22 and in 591st place (there were plenty of people with fresh legs in front of us!). That I was 'only' 21mins behind John makes me happy enough!
By comparison to last year, the conditions were much, much tougher (similar to the XC Marathon National held in Ballyhoura in 2017) but it was also much cooler. Hopefully I did enough to get into wave one of the marathon next year (I'll make sure I get there on time for the start!).