 Roc d'Ossau The Roc d'Ossau is the last round of the Aquitaine MTB race series. There were just over 100 racers out and another 300 on the rando which is an extended version of the race course. I nearly got taken out at the start, had an SPD moment and ended up having to overtake most of the rando bunch before I could start racing. 25th (about 15 minutes down) and 5th masters 40 by the end  but I'm masters 50 next year   Just thought you'd all like to know what you're missing.  It's the Roc d'Azur next week which attracts more like 10 000 MTBers. Tempted by either?
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__________.jpg) Yup, looks great. Love the area but only ever been road riding there.
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 Respect the guy in the video racing XC on a Spesh Pitch! Hauling 32kg up those mountains would have been fun!
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Respect the guy in the video racing XC on a Spesh Pitch! Hauling 32lbs up those mountains would have been fun!
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 I'm tempted by both How long are the courses?
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 not sure of the "up the shorts" camera angles ! 
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The Roc d'Ossau race is about 35kms and there are randos up to 56kms Jools. The guy that made the vid was on the 45km rando I think but I'm not sure exactly which variant as almost all the filming was done on sections common to the race. The Roc d'Azur is around 45-55km depending on which day you do. The traffic jams can be awful. My MTB club is planning on a trip next year in which case we'll take the tandem as there are only about 250 in the tandem race apparently. I'll have to look at some past results.
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 John Are there any decent Randos that coincide with the school holidays over here? I'm looking for an event next summer to maybe slip into the summer holidays. Might look at the etape if the timing is right - but a MTB one would be equally fun.
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A whole week of them. La Semaine Fédérale cyclotouriste based near Verdun next year has a rando VTT every day of the week. It's the first week of August every year, we'll be there. Semaine Fédérale VTT
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 That's an excellent video, not just for that ride but for mountain biking in general. "Up the shorts" was a bit odd but the forward & backward views showing what the suspension was doing was pretty cool. There's something wrong with that Federale Week website John - there's no clicky Union Jack in the corner for us non-euros... Hot Point - que? Is that the bike wash?
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Looks interesting... got stuffed on holiday this year as I wanted to enter a little sprint tri down in the Vendee, but unlike the UK where you just pay an extra £5 for a day licence for the BTA, they wanted a medical certificate or an international race licence!! - As that would have taken longer than the race was going to last I could not be bothered. Will it be the same for MTB events?
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'Fraid so for races and randos. The semaine fédérale is FFCT (cycletouring) so they just require membership of any affiliated club, CTC membership would do and if not just join the FFCT, the saving on camp site fees for the week alone would make it worthwhile. Any French doctor will do you a certificate after a two-minute test for €21 though with your euro medical card it will only be about €7. Open MTB races generally accept international triathlon licences.
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So much for European unity eh! - I even had my BTA card in the summer and promised not to drop dead or sue Edit - in french too - though that may have been the problem
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| Edited: 12/10/09 21:26 |
