ROC D'azur

For the second time Peter and I travelled 2500K in less than 5 days for some sunshine, dust biking in the south of France. Guess what? We arrived in pooring rain... 💧💧💧

Wet, Wet , Wet

Getting ready for the ride

We left Tuesday in sunny conditions in Belgium and arrived in wet conditions in France around noon on Wednesday. I was lucky because on my program there was a girls only ride with Redbull stars Pauline Ferrand- Prevot,  Myriam Nicole and Commencal Enduro specialist Cecile Ravanel.

Redbull Girls only event

Cecil Ravanel, Myriam Nicole, Pauline Ferrond-Prevot and me

All ages, all disciplines were present and we had a 2 hour ride in soaking conditions. Luckily it was not cold and I was geared up with Endura Rain 💦 coverage. Even Pauline was jealous 😊

Riding with the girls!

Yoga session

After the ride we could dry our self or shower with a relaxing Yoga session before we hit the Redbull cocktailbar and some apéro snacks.

While I was socializing with the stars and some other female MTB chicks, Peter was doing the important stuff. Like accreditation, checking in on the camping and trying to install our little home for the next couple of days, which isn't so easy when it's raining cats and dogs and roads were just not flooded...





















The first plan was that I would head back with the bike, but honestly that was impossible. I got a lift from Agnès who I met during the day. Getting back was an adventure, the roads where flooded and it was pitch dark.

I didn't stop raining till the next morning. When we turned on our mobiles we got informed that all the races that day were cancelled due to the bad conditions. Some parts of the track were gone and one of the temporary bridges was broken and got dragged into the open ocean (open sea to be correct). So the organisation had some work to do. Fingers crossed for the next days.

Not raining for 10 minutes

Around 10 AM it started raining again and it only stopped in the late afternoon. We waited, and done nothing at all, just a little walk by the see side to get out of the camper.

Friday morning the day started in the middle of the night! But luckily we could race, they only had to make one little adjustment to the track. Brave guys those Frenchies.

Pre race in the middle of the night!

Saras bike

Peters Bike

For once Peter was in the box with the big guns and I was right behind him with the other Elite Women. I took a rocket start, but I had no idea in what positions I was riding due to the chaos at the start. I did know we were going FAST. When the guys who are usually much faster than me started to pass me I knew I was riding good.

Women startline

The track was wet, but not like Belgium conditions, much more grip and good rolling uphill sections. But the dusty conditions were far gone... Even the rocks in the downhills were not as slippery as you would expect. After about 30K I had to slow down my pace a little to keep the focus on the technical part of the course. There is no room for recovery, it goes up and down from start to finish. Only the last 10 K are mostly flat, so if you still have some power left you can catch up some dead people on mtb's...

Aprés race snack

Dining out on the beach

Desserts 😋

I finished 6th which was better then my expectation. About 15 minutes after me Peter reached the finish as well. His day went a less smooth than mine, but after a beer and hearing my result the disappointment was more or less gone.

Beach day 

Saturday was rest day! Luckily the weather turned around since Friday and we could enjoy the sun, spot some other riders at the beach and stop by our partners at the exhibition village and chat about new products.

Canyon crew

We love crankbrothers

Refueling @overstims

Sunday was our last effort of the season and I had no idea if there would still be something left in my distal limbs. With 138 women we were at the start, I loved it, it is such a different way of racing. My start went hard again, I knew there were some very muddy parts on the course, but some of the other riders apparently didn't. I tried to keep the killing high pace this time. It was only 42K and the last 10 are not to hard. This course is much faster than the marathon course. We do some similar climbs, but it's shorter and I had some power left in the tank.
So from start to finish I gave it my all with a brilliant 13th place at the finish! 

After the race

Up up up!

Suffering for the last time this season!

Peter started almost 2 hours after me, so by the time I cleaned my bike, my self and made an after race salad he arrived, looking once again ten years older. 👊 Solid race, but when you ride amongst more then thousand riders, you often have to ride the pace of the group.

We headed back home the same day. During the night Peter's eye got completely swollen, due to an insect sting. That was no problemo during the race, but apparently an allergic reaction came up and he ended at the emergency for treatment.

He's ok now, so no worry. They say only the good go to soon. He has a lot of time left then... 😜