How does an off-road full-suspension mountain bike cover over 613 kilometers and 10 alpine passes?
Faced with the prospect of participating in the first ever women’s Rally Turin-Nice, my thoughts quickly turned to gear. After driving over 600 km on alpine roads and military gravel in the Alps, what do you need for comfort and functionality?
Arrow or flat bar? Rigid frame or suspension? Gravel bike or mountain bike? Rally Turin-Nice is a race like no other, but what tool is best for the job?
If you haven’t heard of the Turin-Nice Rally yet, you’re in for a treat (and so am I). Several friends have taken this course in previous years and touted it as the best bike trail they have ever ridden. They are not wrong.
Organized by James Olsen in 2015, the event aims to explore parts of the Alps often overlooked by riders, connecting dirt roads and mountains with valleys and towns as supply points.
He also supports the Smart Shelter Foundation, a charity that creates building guidelines and builds earthquake-resistant buildings such as schools, homes and hotels in high-risk areas like Nepal.
The rally itself is held annually at the beginning of September, although the route can be completed at any time (except in winter). Komoot joins as title sponsor of the 2021 annual event with re-routing due to damage caused by Storm Alex in and around Roa Valley in October 2020.
Riders can vote by sending cards to Founder Olsen (darling), and women are automatically guaranteed a place in the initiative to increase participation. Great job, TNR team.
This year’s first women’s rally Turin-Nice took place at the last minute in a breathtakingly spontaneous manner when Ultra Endurance frontwoman Lael Wilcox pitched the idea of a mass women’s start to Komoot Global Community Manager Gaby Thompson.
The rest is history. Fast forward a few weeks and about 28 women, aged 22 to 54, have gathered on the mountain from all over Europe and North America to take the journey together.
Horse: New Juliana Wilder, 120/115mm full-suspension off-road mountain bike with some modifications for Rally Turin-Nice including stronger, faster tires, standard seatpost instead of seatpost and ergonomic design. handle with built-in end of the rod. Of course, everyone is loaded with bike bags.
Track: Turin-Nice Rally: From Turin, Italy to Nice on the south coast of France, a total of more than 600 kilometers, including highway mountain roads and high-altitude gravel military roads. There are 10 major passes along the route, the highest of which is the 2744 meter high Col Agnel pass on the French-Italian border.
Goal: Survive? Complete the entire route in eight days with 28 tough women from around the world as part of the Komoot Women’s Edition, including provocateur Lael Wilcox and her wife Ryu, Emily Chappell and countless other inspirational and enduro riders.
Rally Turin-Nice usually offers a lot of route options, but for this trip and to ensure that everyone follows the same route, we chose a route that avoids the highest peaks in the case of alpine passes at the beginning of the snow season.
However, the route included 620 kilometers (385 mi) by bike, climbing 15,800 meters (51,837 ft) and climbing at least 10 passes, including the cobbled Col d’Isoare, Col Anel and Col de Turini, as well as a closed – Col del Colombardo, Colle delle Finestre, Gardetta pass and streets of Colle di Tenda.
We planned to ride it for a little over a week, with something like a finish party on a service course in Nice on the afternoon of the eighth day.
The Turin-Nice rally circles the French-Italian border and also runs some of the most spectacular Alpine military and gravel balcony roads, including the Strada del Assietta, the Strada dei Cannoni and the breathtakingly beautiful “Little Peru”.
Rally Turin-Nice is intended to be a self-sustaining bike-collecting event, and its spirit is refreshingly human: “[Don't] get hung up on simple style, the unwritten rules of self-sufficient racing, or any other such thing. If you offer a 3 course dinner with a shared 3 liter bottle of wine, you will accept it, right?”
Recently tested the new Juliana Wilder for BikeRadar and that was my first thought when I heard about the Komoot Ladies Torino-Nice Rally.
I rode the 330km Catalan Trail in the Pyrenees a few years ago and learned the hard way the importance of bike choice: while we were riding gravel bikes with touring gear, the locals were riding light XC bikes with minimal gear planning to spend the night. in a mountain retreat.
I don’t have enough gears in the hills anymore, the SRAM Eagle 10 to 50 tooth Wilder cassette is too good to resist. But is this capable off-road bike designed as a cross-country/cross-country bike capable of hauling riders back into the hills rather than 600km through the Alps really for long hauls? With some adaptations, I’m close to finding out.
You may also wonder about suspension; surely this makes pedaling very inefficient over long distances? Thankfully, both the FOX 34 Step Cast Factory fork and the FOX Float Factory DPS shock have three modes: open, medium, and hard. In hard mode, the XC bike is very solid.
I’ll admit I was a little apprehensive about cycling the Wilder as I’ve never done long mountain biking outside of a three day holiday around Dartmoor. I decided to figure out how to turn this very interesting off-road gear into something more endurance oriented.
Tires first. While I had no issues with the original Maxxis Rekon Race tires (XC semi-slick racing tires) during testing, I switched to a dirtier front tire, the word “race” didn’t give me confidence over a week of bumpy, long-distance riding.
I turned to Teravail for a recommendation because I had previously been impressed with the durability of their tires and the brand has a great reputation in the bike pack world. Teravail also offers several sizing options, which meant I could choose 2.2-inch Sparwood or Rutland gravel tires for my Wilder’s Reserve 29er wheelset.
It was the slightly thicker tread of the Rutland tires that finally caught my eye, and I of course opted for the strong carcass option. A few extra grams might cost you more time on alpine climbs, but I’d rather it than spend 15 minutes flattening the side of a road in the middle of nowhere.
In terms of comfort, my biggest concern is how well my hands, wrists, and upper body work in the straight bar position. There are fewer options for changing hand positions than for lowering, so I use the handlebar ends to mix things up a bit on longer climbs.
The very comfortable ESI foam grips have been replaced by less attractive Ergon GP3 ergonomic grips with a flared palm area and integrated three-finger handlebar ends. I can’t say that they look good (sorry Ergon), but I really hope that they will feel comfortable in the saddle for up to eight days.
The last tweak I made to the Wilder was to remove the RockShox Reverb Stealth dropper post and replace it with the stock Thomson stock post I had on hand.
I didn’t expect to have to use a dropper post a lot, as the terrain promised to be less technical than my normal mountain biking, and I didn’t want to damage my 16.5L pack by strapping it to it. As an added bonus, the switch also saves a few grams.
Want to know what I need for eight days in the mountains? This is how I pack my night gear, gear, and parts into my bike backpack. I’m preparing for hotter weather and temperatures that can drop to freezing at night, although camping in the valley and fine weather mean it’s never too cold.
At 8 o’clock on the morning of Friday, tension arose in the Place d’Italie. If you look at the transcripts of all drivers, you will be amazed. North Point 4000, Silk Road Mountain Race, French Divide, Transcontinental – these women have completed some of the toughest cycling and hiking races in the world. I lined up with a bunch of real hitters.
After a long, level mountain ride from Turin, we made our first ascent, which we were warned would be the most difficult of all.
The 1,888-meter Colle de Colombardo climbs sharply uphill on tarmac, meanders and turns through the forest with grades often exceeding 18 percent, and turns into a wide but rough gravel double track at the farm. The intense midday heat began to take its toll, as the ascents began, the shade became less and less, in stark contrast to UK-only trips in years past.
On fresh feet, the Colombardo isn’t as bad as feared, especially thanks to the wide 32-50t bottom gear. I was able to keep spinning up when other riders were forced to walk, although I quickly realized that short walks from time to time could be a good way to change that and ease the burden on myself.
However, starting after each pause took some getting used to: with the standard seatpost and high bottom bracket, I had to actually climb into the saddle. This is especially difficult when you start climbing again!
Higher up, the road often turns to gravel, and that’s when Wilder really comes into his own. I switch the forks to medium suspension and sometimes the rear shock for rougher terrain.
There is only one problem, however: my first generation Ortlieb seat bag is a little “sagging”, so it needs to be lifted and tightened before these rougher parts. I found an Ortlieb strap on Sarah’s aftermarket bike that was perfect; I’m investing in one of these until next time.
In a dull atmospheric mist, I clambered up the endless gravel road of Colle delle Finestre, sweat trickling down my knees as if I were in a turbo trainer.
The horror I felt as I descended from Montgenèvre during a thunderstorm, the rain lashed my face and pale pink lightning flashed in the sky. Check into your hotel in Briançon for the night – just a few hours before sunrise.
Naturally, we decided it was time to go to the Col d’Isoare, just two hours before sunset, to complete the 20 km climb and reach this unique, desert and moon-like rocky pass in the last golden rays of the daytime mountain peak.
Climbing the magnificent Col Agnel, the highest point of the route at 2744m, crossing the Italian-French border, we were all in down jackets and trousers tucked into baguettes on the impressive descent after spotting marmots on the way up.
At night, while camping among the terraced olive groves, a sneaky mouse stole one of Nick’s AirPods and hid it in a dry stone wall (yes, really).
The Strada dell’Assietta, sacred of high-altitude gravel roads, a 17th-century military road through the fog offering breathtaking views of peaks and valleys, and the wild and wonderful Little Peru, 16 kilometers of gravel dotted with Piedmontese cows guarded by dozens of kestrels.
My body is also starting to adapt to the loads. After lower back pain on the first day, perhaps due to the steep slopes of Colombardo, I now feel surprisingly comfortable on the bike.
The Ergon GP3 grips definitely help here as I can easily switch between grips and ends on longer climbs. However, I would not like to tell anyone about knee pain, as if it would really confirm and emphasize its existence. After you haven’t played this kind of riding for so long, there are bound to be little problems.
I get off at the Col d’Eze, the last climb before descending to Nice. Not surprisingly, after eight days my body cleared up and a fetid runny nose crept in when I was at my most vulnerable.
Around the corner, Lael and Ryu waited: I couldn’t match the speed of the more aerodynamic, tired gravel-on-tarmac riders, steadily picking up speed as we approached the salty sea breeze.
Ultimately, though, I’m happy that I chose the Wilder for the last 600km or so. It all comes down to what you like: if you want to race on paved mountain trails, hard and slick tires will have the edge here. If you want to glide down gravel slopes, a mountain bike is probably the way to go. For me, I knew that just climbing the mountain pass was the hardest part, so ultra low gear was a priority. Great ability in rougher stuff is just an added bonus.
For me, the absolutely perfect bike for the Rally Turin-Nice would be a bike with a large frame and 2-inch tires, but unfortunately I don’t have one in my garage. In fact, most kit makers don’t seem to get it very well that we like really wide drop bar bike packs for hills and luggage. Gravel bike gear is still designed for sporty riding, not heavy multi-day epic rides.
Post time: Dec-07-2022