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9th February 2017
Main photo: Ian Robertson
Ash Smith is a 37-year-old Yorkshireman living in Sospel at the Southern tip of the French Alps, a stone’s throw from the Med.
He’s best known as the founder of Mavic Trans-Provence, a week-long bike race which, by blending gravity MTB thrills with the adventure of a point-to-point journey, was the first of it’s kind when it broke onto the scene in 2009.
We caught up with Ash to ask him how his planning is going for the 2017 and to give those new to MTB rally’s an insight into what they are all about, the spirit of the event if you like. There’s some fun stuff in here too..
What’s new and where will the future take the event?
As per every year we’re keeping it fresh by adding trails which, I am sure beyond reasonable doubt, are new to the participants. “On sight” or “blind” racing in MTB Enduro is the arguably the most honest form because it’s the closest that a competitive format can get to replicating the sense of discovery which is a (or indeed the) key draw of MTB in general.
It also provides a level playing field as long as you’re sure that your route can be kept a universal secret. When mountain bike Enduro exploded in 2012/2013, there was -and still is- a lot of scepticism over whether on-sight racing could be provided sustainably, with worry that the locals would always sniff out and pre-practise whatever trails an organiser was running through their backyard.
Gallery: Sven Martin // Mavic Trans-Provence 2016
I’m out to silence the naysayers, not to prove anyone wrong per se (and to be honest, I personally bloody love following more in-bounds racing like World Cup DH and Enduro World Series) but because my ideology in mountain biking has always been that of a live adventure into the unknown, I can’t really imagine organising any other kind of race.
The future, for Mavic Trans-Provence, will be a natural evolution along these lines.
What’s so unique about the route?
Well we once again ride from the Hautes Alpes to the Mediterranean coast and it’s a similar story to previous editions as far as the stats are concerned. A daily average of 1500m of on-bike ascent, for 3000m of daily descent, so almost 20 vertical kilometres of descending over the course over the week.
But big figures aside, the number one thing that’s sets our route apart, and indeed the reason I became interested in the High Provence and Maritime Alps in the first place, is the terrain variety. It seems like every 10 minutes, all week long, there’s a completely new view, a totally different trail type.
Gallery: Sam Needham // Mavic Trans-Provence 2016
Over the course of 6 days, the itinerary takes riders through 9 different major valleys, across and down the other side of the majestic ranges which separate them. Each zone has its own feel, its own rock type, its own colours, and its own levels of surface grip. The riding never gets same-y, even after 10 years.
Your favourite mountain range and why?
I’m not very well-traveled compared to some and would say home is where the heart is and vice-versa. Home feels like the whole of the Western Alps, i.e. the stretch of the Alpine horseshoe separating Lake Geneva and the Med, and separating France from Italy. It’s a pretty ideal stretch of mountains and valleys for losing oneself within the realm of on-bike discovery; an extremely lengthy and rich agricultural past has left us several thousand kilometres of singletrack, superimposed onto huge elevation differences.
Photo: Sam Needham // Mavic Trans-Provence 2016
Much of the rideable terrain is mapped, much of it is indeed so old and/or underused that it was already hidden below the surface before mapping was invented. So there’s several lifetimes’ worth of riding to do and trails to uncover, and that’s why I’m here.
What other sports do you like to do apart from MTB?
I used to do quite a bit of backcountry and touring skiing but to get stuff done it’s quite a commitment in terms of a minimum stint away from the house. With mountain biking on the other hand, I find that you can achieve something pretty meaningful in as little as 2 or 3 hours which is a huge consideration when you want to be able to successfully juggle sport with family life and other commitments.
Dream bike?
I honestly think that I already own ride the best “quiver killer” MTB that the money can buy: Santa Cruz Hightower CC. Put it this way, there’s nothing I’d rather own; until of course Santa Cruz tweak or evolve it into something even more capable.
Your dream mountain destination?
This is a tough one because everything I do in mountain biking, be it personal or professional, is about a journey rather than a destination. But if I had to be based in one place for a while, it would have to be a fairly out-there settlement from which I could get out into relatively wild, relatively uncharted terrain on foot, bike or skis, and NOT an established resort with all the infrastructure and crap. I don’t think that’s the hard part though. The challenge would be finding a small, removed place like this but with a well-frequented friendly bar serving decent beer and food. This combination is, to my knowledge, unheard of certainly in the French Alps but if I ever find this holy grail, I’ll let people know (or maybe I won’t).
Photo: Sam Needham // Mavic Trans-Provence 2016
What would you do with £1million?
Probably something boring like a real estate project with my kids, but somewhere as cool as possible such as the aforementioned dream mountain destination. I might have to treat myself to a Tesla Model 3 first though! (a steal at 30k£)… although I guess it’d only be fair give the wife 30 grand to spend on something frivolous too. Mavic Trans-Provence
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