The organisers of the Trans-Vesubienne would never use the word "downcountry." For a start when they began running this race in 1988, Mike Levy was somewhere around primary school age. For a second thing, in the glorious French tradition, they don't really care what anyone else is doing or what the wider world thinks of their race - in fact outside France there's a good chance you've never even heard of this race. That is a shame. Surely the idea of racing bikes up and down truly wild mountains on ungroomed hiking trails is pretty much exactly the kind of riding Mike had in mind when
he first proposed what has now mutated into a new cliche for uninspired marketing people to abuse.
There is a very good case that it is the toughest one day mountain bike race anywhere in the world, with the course taking in over 80km (50 miles) and 2,400m (7847ft) of climbing through the unforgiving trails of the Alpes Maritimes, from La Colmiane to Nice. The trails are deliberately chosen to be unridable in places, forcing riders to carry their bikes. You may say, 'What about the MB Race around Mont Blanc or the Downieville Classic?', but the former can't match the Trans V for technicality and the latter is on groomed trails that aren't constantly threatening to peel your skin and trash your bike. As winner Emeric Turcat put it, "In a normal marathon race you can recover on the descents, where here they beat you up." Through the years it has built a well-deserved reputation as a star killer, Julien Absalon and Christophe Sauser both found themselves standing lower in the results sheet than they are used to, although Nino Schurter won it in 2009 and Cecile Ravanel has taken the victory twice on 2001 and 2006 under her maiden name of Rode. As with all racing in 2020, things were very different this year - normally the race is held in May, but Covid forced it to be pushed back to September and a finish on the beachfront in Nice was simply not possible, so the race finished in the suburb of L'Ariane.
Full results.
Most of the XC folks doing great at this race on modern XC bikes (very capable bikes those long travel XC) are pretty handy on a bike. Reason is that the french were they're young, they race in all disciplines before choosing one. It's called the TNGV or something, national trophy of young mountain bikers.
I never raced the Transvesubienne,but I've followed the race and it's evolution throughout the years since the mid-nineties.
It's a format that has everything for almost everyone.
I even learned to carry my bike over my shoulders over very steep climbs watching the pictures on magazines!
They were called warriors ... that simply meant Tansvesubienne's finnisher, as you like it ;-)
All kinds of people and bikes competing, from full on enduro to hard tail singlespeed
TransV is not here to play in the "i piss longer than you" "toughest race in the world". As a multisport endurance athlete i'm tired of races trying to become the hardest but that's not the Transv which has the same spririt for about 30 years. You have to stay on the damn bike despite what it's throwing at you. Each time i did it i faced risks of retiring : bad fall on the head, slipping while hiking in the snow etc...
It's here to amaze you with nasty climbs nasty downhill and all the conditions/types of terrain you can imagine in a single day.
Also compared to what i see regularly here on pinkbike it's not prepared/groomed terrain for mtb like american are used to. It's mostly hiking trail, prologue has a few slow bermed switchbacks but all the terrain is 100% natural.
Midwest climbing can be deceiving, it's not even 40x 250ft climbs - it's more like 400x 25ft climbs. It gets you in a much different way than 3k climbs, since it's so many micro-challenges instead of macro-challenges.
Otherwise, the Salzkammergut Trophy (Austria) is probably harder: 210km, 7000m vertical.
(Mainly easy gravel roads though, and not that many single trails)
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Finished 50th
Hope she's getting better very soon !
Shout out to my local "the course is WHAT?!" race, the Cascade Cream Puff, now being run as the Alpine Epic (of course not this year...). Here's the Trailforks for the 2018 course: www.trailforks.com/route/cascade-cream-puff-100--50
That's 3600m of climbing and descending... for the half-course. For the full you do it again. Climbing is mostly gravel but it's still a hell of a course.
And my Garmin had 3200m up in the end...!
The TV is easy if you just look at the numbers. Now if you do it, you will find that even people that regularly ride the same amount of elevation and distance 2 times a week have issues with finishing.
Basically it's a mix of easyish, technical and very technical trails that will cut your tires, break your rims, derailleur...
I addition you will think "nah I can do this on the bike, I don't do it by foot" mistake > you fall and you now have a bit cut and some thorns in your face.
With today bikes it is probably a bit easier because you can have a light efficient solid and downhill able bike. 10 years ago it was really a struggle
It's a real pity I couldn't go there this year.
But i know that the Trans is considered the toughest...
Can we compare both by calories burnt? ahaha
Props to you to cover this event and bringing the news and shots this fast!
Cheers
You're a freaking monster kinda GOAT