Dusty trails a guarantee (Pic © Steve Toze)

The Shred crew prefer to push their bikes… (Pic © Steve Toze)

Another dusty trail… (Pic © Steve Toze)

It’s the London Cycle show this weekend and I should be there trying to get people into advertising in Shred Magazine, checking out products and doing some industry shmoozing. The problem is that every year it falls on the same weekend as Roc D’Azur.

It was Dave Moore, the man behind the Cheddar Challenge, that bullied me into riding my first ever Roc D’Azur. I’d heard about it but never really had the motivation to get off my butt and get to the south of France just to do a bike race. The thing I found out pretty quickly, back in 1999 or whenever it was, is that the Roc isn’t just a bike race – it is THE bike race.

The Roc D’Azur is to mountain bike riding what the USA is to eating. They go big, that means a lot of riders, a lot of course and a lot of event. 8,000 riders compete in events over the weekend that range from kids’ events to the new 100km Marathon race.

The event is housed on a massive aerodrome on the outskirts of Fréjus, and makes full use of two huge aircraft hangars packed to the rafters with the latest from Europe’s top bike brands. The event offers riding from all disciplines, with riders travelling from all over Europe to bust out moves in the street park, freeride demo area and of course more XC’esque demo stuff taking place.

There are so many riders that we have to start in waves of 500 every 20 minutes. Depending on when you entered you could be starting when the winners are just finishing. The course follows the same route every year – a few years back they dropped an extra 3km of climbing into the course to avoid the massive forest fires that had been taking place just weeks before. Someone obviously liked the extra kms as that route is still going today – I can assure you it wasn’t me!

Whilst the race is only 58km, pretty tame by some UK events, the course has more than a large dollop of climbing and most of this climbing requires you to push a granny ring, sat on the nose of your saddle praying that the rear tyre doesn’t slip out. That said the huge (and I mean 5,000+) number of riders on the course are happy to give you a round of applause if you ride something they can’t.

Along with the massive number of riders, also comes a decent amount of spectators and it can be a little overpowering as you drop down out of the quiet mountain landscape and hit sections with hundreds of screaming people willing you up the next climb – especially when you have some lady in a bikini running alongside you pouring water over your head.

As you can expect from a race with savage climbs there’s also some phenomenal descending. Free from man-made or “sustainable” trails, every year the course gets more washed out and more dangerous – which in turn really means more fun.

Ask most riders and they’ll tell you the highlight for them is the only bit of the race that is better walked than ridden. As the monster single lap draws to a close you are sent across La Plage (a popular beach destination) for a little sun, sea and sand. If you are lucky then this is the point where your mates will hand you a cold beer and you can be thankful that there is only 8km of fast road and singletrack waiting between you and the finish.

Unfortunately entry for the Roc is now closed. Entry costs a bargain €23, and you’ll need a British Cycling racing licence (for insurance purposes). More information about the event is available at www.rocazur.com.

How to get there:

By road: fastest route down is via Paris and then straight down to Lyon and across from there (takes about 16 hours from Plymouth/Roscoff but is a great drive).

By air: Easyjet flights direct to Nice cost around £90 (or less) return plus £30 for your bike. A bus is available from Nice Airport to Frejus or you can roll into town and get the train to St Raphael (1 mile from the event).

Where to sleep:

Don’t even bother with camping. Hotels are dirt cheap in southern France at this time of year. We booked ahead and got a twin room for €49 a night.

We’ll be back next week with a full rundown on the event and some ‘shred-cam’ shots from out on the course as we race. A full feature will available in the next issue of shred magazine. Subscribe for free to our online issue at www.shredmag.com.

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